I'd like to call to order this meeting of the First Five Sacramento Commission for Monday, June 2, 2025.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the statute of quorum?

Yes, sir.

Chair Serena?

Here.

Commissioner Wesley?

Here.

Commissioner Fernandez-Y Garcia?

Here.

Commissioner Gordon?

Here.

Commissioner Cossierier?

Here.

Commissioner Guattari?

Here.

Commissioner Mulk?

Here.

Commissioner Kennedy?

Not here.

Commissioner Hassett?

Here.

Commissioner Williams?

Here.

Commissioner Evans?

Here.

Commissioner Lloyd?

Not here today.

Commissioner Kravis-Swertz?

Here.

Thank you.

We have quorum.

Very good.

If you can please read our statement.

This meeting of the First Five Sacramento Commission is live and recorded with closed captioning.

It is cable cast on MetroCable Channel 14, the local government affairs channel and the Comcast and direct TV U-verse cable systems.

It is also live stream at Metro14live.saccounty.gov.

Today's meeting replaced Sunday, June 8th at 2 p.m.

On MetroCable Channel 14.

On MetroCable Channel 14.

Once posted, the recording of this meeting can be viewed on demand at youtube.com slash MetroCable14.

Thank you.

Very good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner Hassett, will you please do us the honor of leading us in the pledge?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, again I'd like to welcome everyone to this month's first five commission meeting.

I think this is the first time back for me in a little bit I've had a few scheduling conflicts.

I do want to thank our very capable vice chair for covering in my stead.

I know we have some very special individuals with us today that are going to share with us some of the great work they're doing.

This is a commission meeting I've been looking forward to for some time.

We also have a special guest with us, one of my colleagues from the board of supervisors, Rosario Rodriguez, is here as well.

So with that, Madam Clerk, I know we have a full agenda.

I will just remind everyone, anyone that does wish to address the commission, we certainly invite you to do so.

We ask you to keep your comments to two minutes, that way everyone who wishes to address the commission has an opportunity to do so.

And if you could please complete a speaker slip and give it to our clerk, that way we have the correct spelling of your name for the record.

And we will call you in order that we receive those requests.

So first item, please.

Item number one, approval of April 7, 2025, draft action summary.

Okay.

Does any member of the commission wish to make any changes?

I see none.

Madam Clerk, do we have anyone's time to speak on this matter?

No, sir.

Okay.

Then at this point, I entertain a motion.

Happy to move it.

Okay.

It's been moved.

Second.

Moved and seconded.

Roll call vote, please.

Chair Sardom.

I'm going to abstain.

I think that was the meeting I missed.

Commissioner Wesley.

Aye.

Commissioner Fernandez-Garcia.

Aye.

Commissioner Gordon.

Aye.

Commissioner Casirier.

Aye.

Commissioner Guattari.

Aye.

And Commissioner Moke.

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion passed.

Very good.

Thank you.

Next item, please.

Item number two, public comments on off-agenda items.

This is the public's opportunity to address the commission on any item that is not on the agenda.

You're certainly welcome to do that.

Madam Clerk, do we have anyone sign up on off-agenda?

No, sir.

All right.

Very good.

Next item, please.

Item number three, introduction of Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez.

All right.

As I mentioned, we are fortunate to have one, well, actually, two-fifths of the board here,

but one-fifth at the podium.

So welcome, Supervisor Rodriguez.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And what a fantastic group of individuals on this commission.

That's awesome to see.

Good morning, Chair Serna and members of the commission.

My name is Rosario Rodriguez.

I am the most newest county board of supervisors, and I've been on the job now for almost five months.

Just a little bit about me.

I am a native of San Francisco.

I was born and raised there.

I've been in the Sacramento for 19 years now.

I came out here when I married my late husband, and Sacramento, the region, has become a love of, a love.

It's a great place to live and raise a family and have a business, and there are so many great amenities that I appreciate.

I am a local restaurant owner.

I've been a restaurant owner for the past 10 years.

I spent four years on the Folsom City Council before I ran for the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, and that's where I am now today.

Some of the top priorities as I was running for this office that still remain very important to me are three areas.

Our business community is very important.

When you have a strong business community, you have a very vibrant environment,

and that has such an overflow into other areas of how we govern this region.

Veterans are very dear and important to me, so I'm always a supporter of veteran programs.

And then the third one, which is probably something more relevant to you, is youth.

Anything related to youth.

I'm a believer of investing in youth that could have a positive outcome long-term for many areas of our communities and cities and programs.

I am actually very much, I put a lot of focus on disadvantaged youth and foster youth,

because those are the areas that oftentimes when I look at some of the issues and disparities,

those are where we can make some investments as a county.

I have a big heart for foster youth because of the outcomes that I see that if we continue to invest in them,

it's with the hope that they can live very productive lives.

When we look at some of the issues that we have, whether it's incarceration, homelessness, mental health,

oftentimes some of the issues that are identified in their lives that created barriers oftentimes happened when they were young.

So if we can continue to invest in youth, hopefully it will have some preventative measures down the road.

Some of the top issues that I have been working on since my taking office has been homelessness, transportation,

and of course public safety.

And it's something that as we look at this next budget, because I really don't know what to expect.

So as the budget comes around, those are areas that I hope that we can continue to invest in

and not take funding away as we have this structural deficit.

So some of the priorities when it comes to youth and families in my area is that I am really big on investment of high school programs and grad night.

That is something that when we look at our TOT money that we're given, I tend to invest in programs related to young people.

Little league programs.

Our office has assisted the youth council in Rio Linda in helping develop a new program that can help underserved population,

but also to invest in their own leadership.

So the youth council is something that is being created right now.

Our office supported the Sacramento Barnyard Bidders in Rio Linda, which is kind of similar to FH program.

And I was really impressed with this organization because they came to see me, about 12 youth,

and they pitched their program.

And I did a sponsorship.

And then for the Sacramento County Fair, they invited me to come back and meet some of their animals.

But when I met with this young, they're all young.

They're all under like 12 or 13.

And I asked them, how do you emotionally disconnect yourself from your raising an animal, whether it's a pig or whether it's a chicken or whether it's some of them are eggs, goats.

How do you separate the emotions of you're raising this animal and now you have to send it off to become food?

And it was really neat to hear that it was about one of them said it's about the money.

The other one said it's a great way to learn about business.

So it left me really in thought of how can we take a program like that and connect it to youth who are maybe incarcerated or have some kind of issues.

Because there's a direct link of being able to help children who are having issues in their lives.

And maybe this could be a program that can help develop them.

Anyways, that was just an idea that I had that I came back with.

But I was really impressed with the program.

I was impressed with what they do and what the kids learn as they are growing this livestock.

What else here?

Personally, I would like to thank you guys as a commission for what you do.

I did get a chance to meet with your executive director several months ago and was really just impressed with the work that you do.

I tell people that if there's one thing I've learned about my colleague, Chair Serna,

is how his investment and his care and love for young children, that is something that I have learned from him.

Because we come into these jobs and we really don't know the impact, but he's got a big heart for youth.

And I really do appreciate that on this board we have that type of investment into young kids.

Because when we look at, I look at my own personal upbringing.

I came from immigrant parents.

My parents were Spanish-speaking at home.

I spoke English with my sisters.

But my parents didn't know the programs that were going on in our community.

And so when you have that connection, especially when there's a language barrier,

there's a lot more that can be gained from these families that have special needs.

Some of the other things that I'm working on is, you know,

Antelope High School is looking at getting an SRO into their team

because they want to be able to connect that connection of kids

and understanding what the impact of, like, law enforcement and respect.

And so that's another area.

You did mention community meetings.

And I do have them in the next two weeks.

And I'm so bummed as I was coming down here that we didn't make that connection.

But I would love to invite First Five to be a part of my community meetings.

I have about seven every three months in different areas of District Four.

And so I will take you up on that offer.

But thank you for all the work that you do.

I really appreciate it.

If there's anything on my end that I can assist with,

I'm more than happy to have that sit down and have a conversation

and see what I can do to help this commission thrive.

Thank you for all your work.

Thank you, Supervisor.

And I just have to say I think you're the first newly elected supervisor

to ever come down, well, at least to my 15 years here,

to come down and share with us and with the public your priorities

and your experiences, your life experiences,

and what brought you to public service.

And so it's very refreshing to hear that you've taken the time to join us

and do exactly that.

And you're always welcome back.

And it's great to understand that I have another colleague

that is so focused on some of the same high priorities

that I've set for myself and for my constituents.

And so I just wanted to say thank you for joining us

and sharing your words.

Commissioner Moak.

Yeah, no, I was going to – this is one of those times you said you've been here 15 years.

I think I've been here 10 more years than you have, or close to.

So I'm like the elder on this, which is so odd because I'm in my 20s.

So it's like crazy.

It's crazy.

How did that work?

I was going to say the same exact thing, Supervisor.

Thank you.

In all those years, since whenever it was 2003, 4, 5, I can't remember when I started.

They didn't keep records then.

We have never had a supervisor come forward like this.

When we saw this on the agenda, I think we were all – I don't know.

I was a little nervous, to be honest.

I'm like, oh, God, we're in trouble.

Like, what have we done?

What have we spent?

What happened?

And so to hear you introduce yourself this way as a longtime sacramentan, lifelong sacramentan,

and someone that has eaten the seafood tacos at your taqueria on Sutter Street, thank you for that.

Thank you for sharing your vision and some of the things that you're working on,

and you can see clearly the interaction between what we're doing and what you're doing.

But lastly, thank you for – this guy, as we all know, loves praise, especially public praise for all he does.

It's his favorite thing.

And so thank you for sharing those words about what he has meant to this commission,

has meant to so many families, has meant to young people that he takes on as his own

and has done so for decades and his dad before that.

So thank you for doing that, and thank you for being here today.

It's awesome to have you.

Yeah, no, I am a big fan of Chair Serna.

He – you know, when I first came aboard, it was actually – and this is what I tell people –

it was Phil Serna who really has maybe opened doors and gave me – given me opportunities that maybe I wouldn't have had,

and so I really do appreciate that.

And I've got to tell you, when I came up here, I was going to say, Scott, I'm a big fan of your program.

I refrain from saying that, but I am a big fan of your program, which I think is on – what, an hour ago?

It was on an hour ago, yes.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Well, thank you for having me.

I appreciate it.

And I mean it about the tacos.

Best ever.

So thank you for that.

Commissioner Wesley.

Yeah, I just wanted to say also thank you.

I'm actually a foster youth serving in this capacity, so it does matter to have Board of Supervisors

who care about this issue deeply because we do grow up and we do become part of our communities in a meaningful way.

So I just want to say thank you for letting us know where you sit and where you stand,

and where you have intersectionality around this issue.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you again, Supervisor.

All right.

Next item.

Madam Clerk, next item.

Item number four, Executive Director's Report.

Good afternoon, Commissioners.

It's things like this that make me enjoy my job so much.

It's so good.

You have a full Executive Director's Report, and because we didn't meet last month, it's long.

So I'm not going to cover everything, but just a couple highlights.

I wanted to start with our Home Visiting Summit that happened on May 22nd.

We joined forces with nine other First Fives in the Sacramento region, and using First Five California's dollars,

we funded and sponsored a Home Visiting Summit for over 250 home visitors and family support workers in the county.

And it was just such an inspirational day.

It was all around self-care and keeping yourself strong so that you can do the very hard work of strengthening families, as we know.

And there's a lot of trauma involved and secondary trauma.

And that moment to pay attention to yourself and to spend time on yourself was just so appreciated.

We got a lot of feedback from the participants already, and it's all just been so positive around that.

And then shift gears to our Safe Sleep Baby update.

So last month, we wrapped up the Safe Sleep Baby 2.0 initiative.

This is a complimentary funding that I think four years ago I went and did a presentation to the Office of Child Abuse Prevention

and walked away with $250,000, which we've partnered with CAPSEE and Department of Child, Family, and Adult Services, of course,

ran with this program to really make changes within the child welfare system to use that Safe Sleep money to change their system

and to train all of their CPS social workers and cultural brokers on Safe Sleep Baby

and then to distribute cribs through the cultural brokers who provided the actual information and training to parents.

So it was fantastic, and much of it will continue because it was policy change and systems work.

It continues even though the funding ended.

And one of the really nice things is that we worked with our evaluators at ASR to create a toolkit

that we shared with every other first five and all 18 of the black infant health programs

that are state funded in the different counties so that they could also create similar policy and training and stuff.

So it's pretty amazing.

Really, really pleased with it.

And the partnership around the table to do that work also included Department of Public Health and Sierra Health Foundation.

A little more good news around foster youth.

I'd like to draw your attention to the handout that's in your packet.

It provides a summary of Sacramento County's foster care population over the last 25 years.

And you'll see that there's an incredible 84% reduction in children in foster care over that time.

And that's really because, I believe, it's because of the philosophy changes, the practices and protocols

that changed within the Department of Child, Family, and Adult Services during that time.

We, of course, are a proud partner along with Child Welfare in that we fund this family strengthening.

We co-fund family strengthening programs at Birth and Beyond and the Crisis Nurseries, all contributing toward this work.

But I really just had to give a special shout-out to Commissioner Lloyd because I do think that it's her leadership,

along with our former Commissioner Callejas, who really lifted family voices, was able to hear and focus on the disparities

and just continually track that data, look at it, and talk about what could be changed, and then do those changes.

So huge accomplishment.

Thank you so much.

And then also just a moment to personally thank Commissioner Lloyd for her time on the commission.

She stepped in when Commissioner Callejas transitioned out, and she has made the transition so smooth for me and the staff.

Just really appreciate that.

Unfortunately, I do now have you on speed dial, and you're not going anywhere.

So I will definitely continue to reach out.

But just thank you for sharing your insights, the thought partnership, just your enthusiasm for what you do is so contagious.

I've really enjoyed having you up there on the dais and working with you, too.

And I know that will continue.

And then that leads me to another announcement about future commissioners.

So we have two new commissioners that will be joining us in August.

Commissioner Lloyd will be replaced by Shelby Boston, who is the new Michelle Callejas,

the new director of Child, Family, and Adult Services, who started a couple months ago,

and will be taking that seat as alternate to Commissioner Kotari.

And then Rebecca Gross left her seat a couple months ago, and I expect to hear, I think, next week,

that City Council Member Eric Guerra will be filling the space that is Commissioner Kassiria's alternate seat.

Behind...

No.

No.

Never, Dr. K.

No.

Alternate seat behind Commissioner Kassiria.

Okay, so...

Breathe deeply.

You're still...

We don't let you go, ever, ever.

So those are just some changing, rotating seats that you'll see coming up.

But we will have a full roster again for the August commission meeting.

Okay.

Still talking about commissioners.

This is a reminder that the phenomenal Commissioner Moak has offered, generously offered,

to extend an invitation to commissioners and staff and our advisory committee members to join a SAC Republican...

SAC Republic FC Noche Latina game.

Sorry, not Republican.

Sorry.

Noche Latina game on October 1st.

Quite the slip.

Quite the slip there.

Sorry.

Very sorry.

Just Republic.

Okay?

Just Republic.

So we're clear.

Hard stop on the...

Thank you.

Just saying.

If you're interested in attending, please reach out to me or Maria and let us know that you'd like to come.

And you can bring a plus one, so let us know.

And one, yeah.

October 1 is what we...

October 1.

Yeah.

Super exciting.

I think we're going to try to have, like, a section that's all the First Five sections, so it'll be awesome.

Okay.

From the soccer field to Fairytale Town now, we have First Five California kicked off their Stronger Start campaign with a media event at Fairytale Town on May 8th.

That campaign, if you haven't seen it, check it out on their website.

It's all about toxic stress and how to help kids and parents deal with that toxic stress.

Chair Cerner represented us very well.

Thank you.

He spoke to our continued investments in racial equity and social justice.

Also in attendance were Commissioner Fernandez-Y Garcia and our past commissioner, Dr. Richard Pan, as well as our wonderful Help Me Grow team from SCOE, who had a wonderful booth set up, all just contributing to a really successful event.

As well as our future commissioner, Councilmember Guerra.

So...

Was there.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um...

And now I'll switch again to an update on the Child Safety Forward Champion for Prevention Award, um, which I spoke to you all about, uh, months ago.

Um, it was just recently bestowed last month, uh, at, um, the Board of Supervisors to former Commissioner Michelle Callejas.

Um, this recognition celebrates just her outstanding dedication over the years.

Um, and services to prevent child abuse and neglect in the county.

Um, the award was created by CAPSE to honor former Commissioner Steve Wirtz and his legacy to improve the lives, uh, health and well-being of all children in our county, zero to five, and their families.

So it was a very feel-good moment and, um, very well-deserved.

Um, okay, almost done.

Uh, I wanted to draw your attention to, um, uh, I, I did a fairly in-depth update.

Thank you, um, Commissioner Kravitz-Wirtz for the information on, um, the Children's, the Measure L Fund, the SAC Children's Fund dollars.

Um, I just wanted to highlight a couple of things here.

Um, so, um, the city received 121 applications totaling more than 125 million in funding.

And they have about 18 million available.

So a lot of requests for funding.

Um, 15 of those 121 applications were for the zero to five population.

Um, and the, that request totals about 18 million, which would be the total amount of funding available.

However, um, the staff did put together, uh, recommendations.

And they weren't approved yet, but they're coming back to the city council on the 10th, um, for approval.

And within that, there were five that were, um, being recommended for funding, totaling about $4.7 million.

So, um, I wanted to let you all know that first five will reach out with those funded partners.

We'll look at how our services, uh, can complement, dovetail, connect, uh, collaborate with each other.

So that, um, we're really filling each other's gaps and, um, and co-serving as best as we can.

Anything you'd want to add?

Nope.

Good.

Okay.

Um, and then, uh, finally, just the governors may revise budget for 2025-26.

Um, it had some really good news in it.

Uh, the, the big good news was there's no proposed cuts to the CalWORKs home visiting contract.

As you know, that brings in, um, over $6 million a year to Sacramento County and funds both the Nurse Family Partnership and our Birth and Beyond program.

Um, so no cuts to that at this time.

Um, and it also maintains many of the prior commitments around childcare.

Um, it did have some bad news in the way of cuts to Medi-Cal for adults, cut to dental for adults, and didn't follow through on all the childcare promises.

And one of the big, um, one of the big hits there was the Foster, um, Child Care Bridge program specifically for foster children.

So, um, I'm sure a lot of advocacy is happening.

I know we're advocating, um, to bring that back and, um, as well as all the other things.

And, of course, the big, you know, the big gorilla in the room is what's going to happen with, um, the federal budget, which we are all tracking.

I want to end on some kind of bad news, which I hate to do, but just as far as a federal update, that was that our AmeriCorps program was, um, eliminated across the nation, which really had an impact here in Sacramento.

Over a million dollars per year and a cut to that AmeriCorps program, which funded, um, more than 30 home visitors and the birth and beyond program.

Um, so, uh, Shelby Boston and I are working with, um, leadership from CAPSE, um, and those Family Resource Center directors just to look at flexibility.

Do we need some model changes?

What can we do with a million dollars less, um, to see is there any opportunity?

Never let a crisis go, uh, you know, uh, without finding some opportunity in it.

So that's what we're looking at to see, like, what kind of changes can we make and to be as flexible as possible to make sure that that money still is impactful.

Um, okay, one more slightly just scary news was that the Trump administration did close the five regional Head Start offices.

Um, one of them being the office over in California.

Um, and I did reach out to our own Head Start, um, director just to see, like, what, what, what the impact is.

Right now not an impact for them, but, um, Head Start does receive $74 million a year.

Sacramento Head Start receives $74 million a year and serves over 5,000 children in Head Start and Early Head Start.

So that has a huge potential impact.

Um, so we've been doing a ton of advocacy around that, sending letters, making phone calls, doing all the things you would want us to do to make sure that that doesn't happen.

That concludes my executive director's report.

All right.

Thank you, Julie.

Uh, any questions or comments?

Commissioner Kaseyri.

Um, I just wanted to give a shout out to DCFAS, um, Commissioner Lloyd, and, of course, Commissioner Kaseyri, because we've spent many meetings discussing the numbers, looking at the disparities for African American children.

And, um, even at the beginning with the Blue Ribbon Commission and, um, thinking of new ways of actually, um, running the program.

I thank you again for your openness in being willing to look at new ways of, uh, providing the, um, services to the foster care children.

And in light of all the bleak news that you have provided, um, our distinguished executive director, I just wanted to, again, highlight the, um, the little light of, uh, good news that we have in bringing down these numbers.

And also, again, wanted to, um, acknowledge the work of the reducing African American child deaths because they have worked so closely with DCFAS and the teams to, um, bring down these numbers.

And I know that the numbers, uh, translate into better outcomes for these children.

So I just want to thank you for that work.

And speaking of speed dials, I have her on speed dial as well.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Uh, I do want to bestow, um, a lot of praise, um, in the direction of, uh, Commissioner Lloyd.

Uh, we did, we, the Board of Supervisors, did receive a fairly detailed presentation not too long ago about, uh, some of the progress that's being made.

Um, so we're certainly still in a very celebratory mode, uh, about those, uh, accomplishments.

But, um, I think as we always do, uh, we take the time as we celebrate to also understand that the work's not done.

And, um, um, there's a lot more, uh, to do in that space.

And, uh, one of the things that, uh, and Melissa knows this, uh, that I've been very, um, uh, intentional and focused on in recent years is making sure that Sacramento County's, uh, family, uh, reunification efforts as it relates to foster care.

Um, making sure that those metrics, uh, get to where they need to be.

And we're not there yet, but we're going in the right direction.

So, um, really delighted to, to know that, um, the, the professional staff that have dedicated their careers to child welfare are, um, doing what they're doing to, to reverse course.

So, um, thank you.

Uh, madam clerk, do we have anyone sign up to speak on the executive director's report?

Yes, sir.

Oh, no, sir.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next item, please.

Item number five, advisory committee update, April 11, 2025.

I believe we have our chair.

Yes, our chair is here.

Great.

Good afternoon, chair, Cerner and commissioners.

My name is Junior Gores.

I'm the chair of the first five advisory committee.

The advisory committee met on April 11th and our meeting focused on two areas, the equity in action initiative and strategic planning for 27, 20, 27 to 2030, 2030.

For the equity in action initiative, the committee continued our discussion on the selection of priority zip codes for the equity in action initiative.

We reviewed data on risks and barriers and made a full, I'm sorry, we made a final recommendation that 27 zip codes be selected as priority areas for the equity in action initiative.

The zip codes included 11 unique neighborhoods, each with their own community assets and challenges.

These identified priority zip codes plus the criteria developed from the community assemblies were used as a scoring tool for the equity in action committee's applicants.

And then for the 2027 strategic planning efforts, we created an ad hoc committee to assist with the community input processes for the 2027 strategic plan.

The ad hoc committee includes members of the advisory committee and parents from our parent mentoring and advisory groups run by Lee for Tomorrow.

They met twice in May and the committee discussed the format and structure of parent focus groups and outreach for participants.

Six focus groups will be conducted over the next two months, many of them led by ad hoc committee members.

Our next meeting is scheduled for June 13th and that concludes my advisory committee report.

Very good. Thank you.

Any questions from commissioners?

All right.

Don't see any.

Great.

Thank you very much.

Madam Clerk, do we have anyone to speak on this matter?

No, sir.

Okay.

Next time, please.

Item number six, evaluation committee update, May 19, 2025.

Okay.

Who's given it?

It is.

I'm clear.

We met.

I can give it.

We met on May 19th, just very recently, and we reviewed the data and report on our reducing African-American child death.

We were, at that time, lacking the final data from the CDRT report, so we did a preliminary review.

Since that time, the data has come in, and we finalized that report, and so you will all be receiving that at the August commission meeting.

And the group decided to rotate the chairmanship of that committee every month to having a new commissioner rotate.

Did I get that all pretty much?

Okay.

Perfect.

There you go.

Good.

Thank you.

Any questions for Julie?

All right.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, do we have anyone to sign up to speak on this matter?

No, sir.

Okay.

Next item, please.

Item number seven, financial planning committee update.

We did not meet.

It's short and sweet.

All right.

Madam Clerk, do we have anyone to sign up to speak on the matter?

No, sir.

All right.

Next item, please.

Item number eight, system optimization and sustainability committee update, April 16, 2025.

So I'll read that update.

We met on April 16th.

We had a rather long meeting with a full agenda.

And we received an update and discussed several items, including state-level policy and advocacy activities, the 2027 strategic planning, including a timeline of activities and decisions that we'll need to make.

Sacramento Airport Child Care Facility Partnership, an exciting activity that's being planned.

And sustainability efforts with managed health care plans, which is an important topic, I think, going forward.

And the committee also reviewed the recommendations from the advisory committee for the equity in action initiative on the priority zip code selection.

Our next meeting is scheduled for June 18th.

That concludes the report.

Thank you, doctor.

Any questions, comments from commissioners?

Seeing none.

Madam Clerk, do we have anyone's time to speak on this matter?

No, sir.

Okay.

Next time, please.

Item number nine, presentation of the 2025 Parent Leadership Training Institute graduates.

Alejandra Labrada is going to lead this.

Good afternoon, commissioners.

I'm very happy to present to you a celebration of our third year of Sacramento PLTI.

It is the first year of partnering with Sacramento Children's Home to implement PLTI.

And just as a reminder, we are funding three PLTI cohorts over the three-year strategic plan.

But thanks to DCFAS, with their generous support, we were able to sponsor two this year, one in English and one in Spanish.

So there will be 30 new graduates this year for the cohorts.

And bringing our total of PLTI graduates to 75 over three years.

So it's very exciting.

Thanks to PLTI and the community, we have many community projects in the works.

We have several alumni who are giving back and returning to PLTI as speakers, mentors, or facilitators.

And now I would like to turn it over to the PLTI site program manager, Michelle Garibay, to kick us off.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh.

This one.

Okay.

Oh.

Sorry.

Yes.

So I'm Michelle Garibay, coordinator for the PLTI of Sacramento.

I want to give thanks to First Five and DCFAS for making this opportunity come alive.

I also want to give thanks to Sacramento Children's Home for implementing this for our first year.

And then I want to give thanks to our amazing team of six facilitators.

And yes, we successfully have 30 graduates.

We have 17 out of the Spanish cohort, 13 out of the English.

Our goal was to get the most male participation we have had.

And we had five males in the English cohort, five in the Spanish cohort.

And they will be presenting their projects to you.

I will have six participants come up and they'll be presenting their project and their successes in this.

So if I could have Sabha Hamad come up, please.

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo! come way!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo! Und!

Woo! workout!

This is Sabja, and she said that the project that she's focusing on

is something that happened to her family directly.

This is a project that is designed specifically for primary care and also in mental health,

designed for Latino children.

The intention is to be able to attend in the first year to 500 Latinos,

so that the emergency care in hospitals in the local hospitals

is reduced due to prevent preventive children.

So that the mothers and parents of these children can be able to be able to

be able to take care of the attention in terms of anxiety and psychosocial

that they can have these children for that they attack from a early stage.

The cost of the initial project is $100,000,

which would be distributed in the local delivery,

more medical equipment, medical pediatrics, specialists, bilingue,

and also personal of services social and especialista in attention of mental health.

We invite you to participate in this project and participate with us

so that we can change the lives of Latinos Latinos

and we can prepare a place of safe and safe place.

We want you to be our voice.

Muchas gracias.

You oldest.

Muchas gracias.

You remembered all that, right?

.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Never mind.

It's okay.

Don't go.

Don't go.

Don't go.

Don't go.

I'm just going to try to translate some up.

Yeah.

So her project is regarding a clinic treating 500 kids Latino,

and she's trying to gather doctors and psychotherapists to treat 500 Latino kids

because there's a need that she's seen and a disconnection with the language.

So she's trying to prevent that.

And she said that she needs $100,000 at the beginning.

So and that will be the cost of renting the place and having the proper doctors,

the medical equipment that it might be needed.

And this is to prevent and to help with the flow as going to the emergency room.

And also to treat and the mental health of these kids so that they can feel better by themselves.

And Subje is inviting you to collaborate with her.

So again, $100,000.

And so that's her project.

Very good.

Thank you.

Gracias.

As you can see, she's prepared.

Hi, everybody.

Hello.

Mi nombre es María Guadalupe Loya y yo soy una madre líder.

Soy una mujer testigo de cómo las emociones nos dañan a las familias,

a nuestros hijos y a la sociedad.

Hoy quiero proponer un proyecto de prevención, prevención emocional y fortalecimiento de la salud al servicio de nuestras comunidades.

¿Han escuchado la frase?

El cuerpo grita lo que la mente calla.

Sí, ¿verdad?

Yo sé.

La ciencia y las estadísticas confirman que las emociones mal gestionadas tienen un impacto directo en la salud mental, la salud física, la convivencia familiar y el desarrollo de nuestros hijos y la estabilidad de nuestras comunidades.

Una de cada cinco personas padece una enfermedad mental.

Y una de cada cuatro personas padece un trastorno mental.

No podemos seguir ignorando esto.

Esto es una realidad que está sucediendo.

Y este es el proyecto que les presento.

Se llama Corazón Equilibrado.

Es un taller vivencial, comunitario y transformador.

Está diseñado para el público en general mayores de 21 años, sin límite de asistentes y es un taller gratuito.

Tendrá duración de tres días, viernes, sábado y domingo.

Ya le quiero cambiar la fecha.

En un ambiente seguro, tranquilo, respetuoso para la introspección.

A través del trabajo interior y con la guía de profesionales de desarrollo en procesos de sanación emocional, serán guiados para conectar con su ser.

Utilizarán técnicas prácticas de autocuidado emocional, ejercicios, dinámicas vivenciales, herramientas de conexión y tendrán un espacio para hablar.

Que es lo que necesitamos muchas veces, ¿verdad?

Expresar lo que tenemos, lo que sentimos.

Los objetivos, prevenir la ruptura emocional de las familias.

Fortalecer una salud emocional colectiva.

Promover la educación emocional de nuestros hijos.

El futuro del mañana.

Crear generaciones con mayor inteligencia emocional.

Dejar una herencia emocional en los que vienen.

Solicito un apoyo económico de una mínima cantidad de cinco mil dólares para cubrir gastos honorarios de los facilitadores, materiales impresos, herramientas vivenciales,

espacio de lugar, acondicionamiento de lugar, refrigerios y también un honorario.

Ok.

Esto no es un gasto.

Esto es prevenir.

Es apostar por la salud pública, la unión familiar y el bienestar emocional de las comunidades.

Cuando una mujer sana, sana una familia.

Cuando una familia sana, sana una comunidad.

Y cuando una comunidad sana, sana generaciones.

Así que los invito.

Les dejé las hojas traducidas al inglés para que se les sea más fácil.

Espero participen en este taller que es para todos.

Y los invito a apoyar con una sociedad colectiva más sana.

Gracias.

Gracias.

Gracias.

Gracias.

Gracias.

Gracias.

Gracias.

I think I'm going to just read what she provided to you.

So she says that she's a mother and leader, a woman who witnesses how unmanaged emotions can break up families, harm generations, and make the body ill.

Today, I want to propose a project of emotional prevention and straining of mental health serving our communities.

Have you heard the phrase, the body screams while the mind keeps silent?

And she says, science and statistics confirm that poorly managed emotions have a direct impact on mental health, physical health, family life,

the emotional development of our children, and the social stability of our communities.

One of five sufferers of mental, suffers from mental illness.

One of four sufferers from emotional disorders.

And this is without receiving timely help.

We can no longer ignore this reality.

What is balance heart?

This is a free experiential community-based and transformative workshop designed for adults over 21 with no limit of attendees.

It will last three days, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, in a safe, calm, and respectful environment for introspection.

Through inner work and with that, the guidance of experienced human development professionals, the Couch of Life workshop will accompany participants through a process of emotional healing,

healing, reconnection with their inner selves, and restoration of emotional balance.

The objectives prevent the emotional breakdown of families,

external collective emotional health, promote emotional education as a tool for transformation,

create generations with greater emotional intelligence,

leave a healthier and more resilient emotional legacy.

We request a financial support of $5,000 to cover for the aspects of professional facilitator fees,

printed materials, and experimental tools,

physical space conditioning, refreshments, and logistics for the three days.

And this is not an expense.

This is not, it's a preventive investment.

It is investing in public health, family unit, and emotional well-being of communities.

When a woman heals, she impacts her family.

When a family heals, she impacts a community.

When a community heals, it changes the course of generations.

Whew!

Whew!

Wow!

Investing in the healing of a single person is planting a seed that will flourish and transform communities and generations.

I invite you to be part of this movement of emotional transformation,

because an emotionally healthy society is a freer, more humane, and a stronger society.

Thank you, and God bless you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That was a good question.

And while we wait for the next presenters, just for clarification.

In their course, they learned about grant writing and advocacy.

So they're pitching their thoughts.

And we also sponsor grant writing courses.

Preguntas?

No?

No.

Great.

Thank you.

Gracias.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You're SCHUZ volts.

ätze.

Thanks.

東лу,

And future of hearing supply Un exactamente resumers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, please.

Thank you.

You're welcome to the office today.

Thank you Rockwell in Latin might begin.

Thank you quelle I will!

Thank you.

No, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no.

No, no, no.

No, no, no.

No, no, no.

No, no, no.

No, no, no.

No, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

with my parents and my grandmothers.

There was a lot of love.

They taught us the values alive,

and I know who had this chance to live and experience that.

We're conscious about our generations,

elderly generations, and very respectful towards them.

This project is running.

We got invited by the coordinator of the home,

and there's a group of families who come,

and we spend time with the elderly there,

with the residents.

There's activities, a lot of learning,

and a lot of love, lots of smiles.

It's magical moments for the kids

and for the residents who live there.

They are very well taken care of,

but they're missing love.

You can see it when the kids come, their eyes shine.

The kids also learn the value of life

and respect for the elderly.

They know, they could learn that one day

you have everything, and the next day you're lonely

without your family,

and the person that you really care about.

Our kids learn to have more compassion,

and they learn what is the true love towards a human being.

With our project, you're gonna have kids

with good education, good values.

They're gonna be better citizens of this community,

of elderly community, who already serve and support,

who contribute to this community.

They could receive a little bit of what they gave,

and they really deserve it.

A need that we're gonna have soon,

it's the silver tsunami.

That's why my project's important.

Today is June 2nd, and in the few next weeks,

you guys have to found some of the community engagement.

If you guys have some funds towards any of our projects,

of our cohorte, thank you.

But if you help me with some funds towards my project,

I guarantee you that I will let my community know

that you guys care,

and you guys will have more followers,

and more support towards your polity projects.

I'll take $25.

I could buy some water, some snacks,

for the people that come to my projects.

Today, we are the example,

the funds that you give one day,

are already giving good benefits.

We have learned to be better citizens,

and they have given us resources to be in front of you.

And to show that projects really work.

And thank you, dreams can become true.

As a member of this community,

I ask you to keep funding

First Five Sacramento Children's Home, DCFAS.

Their labor is great.

We have no words to describe what they do for us.

And to PLTI, thank you for believing on us,

to teach us how to be here for our community,

and our families.

And to the facilitators, thank you.

Their work was great.

There's no words to thank you.

And to Juanita Chavero, who was the one inviting me to this project.

You know, she didn't know it was a project.

And it was, I mean, we're making a run.

As you see in the pictures, there's activities.

There's a kid that got to the project there without knowing how to play chess.

And right now, he's schooling the grandpa.

But we don't even call them a residence.

We call them grandpas, because we have become a family.

And to my wife, who dragged me to this project,

because I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her.

Thank you.

And one thing I said, too,

we all have the special grandpa,

but some of us don't have it with us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So before we hear from the next speaker,

I just want to make sure expectations are where they need to be here.

I'm not sure where the messaging may have gotten sideways.

But the first five commissions not in a position to provide any funding.

At least not right now.

We understand there's financial need associated, I guess,

with all your projects.

But this is the first time we've actually heard these,

you know, and they're very uplifting experiences that you're sharing with us.

But there is a more effective way, I'll just put it that way,

a more effective way for impressing upon decision makers,

whether it's here at first five or board of supervisors or city council,

when it comes to budgeting.

And certainly there are specific parts of those budgets that are open for competition.

So I would encourage you to learn about those various opportunities.

But I just want to make clear that we're not in a position today,

probably not in the near future, whether it's $100,000 or $25,

to make decisions about your financial needs.

So I just want to be clear about that.

Thank you.

Hi.

My name is Monica Cardenas, and thank you for all you do for children and for the community.

I was here probably 10 years ago with a community project, building project.

I think that's how it was called.

And I was really excited about that project.

But I want to be really honest.

I was not prepared.

I was unprepared to take on that project.

And I was very successful.

And let me tell you, you heard the projects right now.

We're just explaining what the projects we developed.

They developed.

So they had to create kind of like a budget and all.

We're not asking for the money to you guys, but it's just explaining anything.

So, but what I see the difference between me and them,

you are creating an army of parent leaders.

And they have the tools.

They have the tools to make changes in the community.

And they're doing it already.

Roberto is doing it.

Juanita is doing it.

Juanita is going to do it, like, really quickly.

There are other projects that have been funded in different places.

Or they're doing it on their own.

So I thank you for supporting them.

And I tell you, they are powerful.

These are our community, both Spanish and English.

They're amazing people.

And I'm so glad that you're going to have people behind you

in the community with these projects.

So thank you for that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Here comes Eilena.

I just want to do a time check.

How many more speakers do we have?

Three.

Two more characters.

And then I think we have one more, right?

Okay.

It's fine.

I just want to do a time check just because I know

commissioners might have other demands on their times

and they might be peeling off.

But I want to make sure we can kind of hear from everyone

while the full commission's in chambers.

Good afternoon.

Hi.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Eilena.

I'm a parent leader.

And I'm very excited to share a little bit about my journey through PLTI

and my community project.

PLTI helped me understand how decisions I made

and how I am valued as a parent and that my voice matters.

One of my favorite parts was how personal the journey was.

So we talk about our stories, our beliefs, and what matters.

And that helped me realize I do have something to say, actually,

and my story matters.

So for my community project, I have created emotional intelligence cards for kids

because sometimes kids act out, but it's not because they're bad,

but because it's hard to say that I'm sad or I feel so bad.

So this game is simple and colorful.

Each card, I got cards.

So each card shows emotions like happy, angry,

and along with a little prompt of body cues like smiling, giggling,

sparkling eyes.

And I have a separate spinner for the actions.

So the example of what would you do, show it, explain it,

or describe a time.

It's not a big, actually, flashy project,

but I think emotional awareness is something that helps kids to grow

and helps families to communicate.

So I'm really grateful to PLTI for the encouragement to stand up,

speak up, and make a change.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Monita Ford, Monita Ford, and I am a proud parent leader.

I am the mother of three children, a 35-year-old, 32-year-old, 29-year-old,

and two grandsons, and I live in Rancho Cordova.

The project that I am doing today, my project is called Connie's Closet.

Well, the National Alliance to End Homelessness indicates that in January 2023,

over 40% of people were unsheltered.

The state of homelessness in Sacramento County states that 16,000 to 20,000 people

have experienced homelessness.

My mission statement is to uplift others through dignity, confidence, and care.

In honor of my mother, Connie Ford, who got her wings 2021,

I have created Connie's Closet, which is a heartfelt community project

dedicated to providing clothing to individuals and families

who are underprivileged and experienced homeless in Sacramento County.

My mom's initiative celebrates her passion for giving back and her belief

that when you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you do good.

What I am providing is an outfit and a smile.

Sometimes that's all it takes, you know, an outfit and a smile to help uplift others

because self-care are tools for empowerment.

With Connie's Closet, I want to carry on my mom's legacy by helping others feel confident

regardless of their circumstances, background, or identity.

This is more than just closing.

This is where I can give hope.

This is a community effort inspired by love, dignity, and Connie's legacy.

Remember, it takes a village, and together we can rise.

And if you're interested in supporting, donating, or volunteering, you can reach out to me.

Our first giveaway for Connie's Closet is coming up June 20th,

and it is from 11 to 1, and it's at 9261 Folsom Boulevard in Rancho Cordova.

No ID needed, no anything needed.

And I just wanted to say thank you to the Parent Leader Training Institute

because without them, I wouldn't be able to get up here and give the speech.

So I just want to thank you.

And if you want to give or donate,

my email address is monetalford at gmail.com.

Thank you.

Very good.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Paulo Flores Rodriguez.

I am a Parent Leader.

PLTI has helped me out.

Figure out this community is very impactful,

and just to figure out a way how I could be impactful in my community.

PLTI has helped me come up with a project called Let the Barrio Breathe,

which is a hands-on experience where you learn how to use power tools.

People don't know how to use power tools.

This is more educated to the youth,

but it goes for anybody from young to old and everything in between.

The mission statement is to empower underserved communities

throughout hands-on training and empower tools, DIY projects,

career development and skills,

and then fostering mentorship while also self-sufficiency

and pride in craftsmanship.

So a lot of the Sacramento area has a lot of good

but also has a lot of improvements,

which can make the community a lot more beautiful

with help of understanding how to use power tools,

getting together,

like a here's-your-neighbor type of help.

We don't know each other,

but we can always become more of a community

by helping each other out,

getting to know each other's backgrounds and whatnot,

and also encouraging partners from local businesses

to help out, to engage with people,

to help out and support pathways for jobs in the future.

There is a two-to-five ratio in the workforce

where if somebody wanted to enter in the trade school,

we are pretty much going to be not as sufficient later on in the run

with a lot of the older workforce retiring.

So within that, for every five, two people coming in.

For the Sacramento area, it's usually three to one.

So to try to combat that and try to lift up the numbers

with bringing in more people into the trade field

to gather more knowledge

and all the resources from other communities

and to gather around to benefit the community in a better way.

Thank you.

I'm Inzuma, Maria Elena.

Good afternoon.

My name is Maria Elena.

I came to you all three cohorts ago as part of the first cohort.

I am now finishing up my MPPA program.

I didn't lie about that.

Thank you, Chair Osirna, for the clarification.

As a student in the MPPA program and a facilitator,

we spent 10 weeks building up these participants

and being able to present these projects.

And my apologies.

Thank you for the clarification.

I want to make sure that just as we provided them a safe space

to be able to pitch these programs,

that they had the opportunity to go before someone and make an ask

so that it doesn't die after their 20 weeks,

so that they have the confidence to say,

you know what, I stood before a commission and I took that healthy risk.

And yes, I can go apply for this grant.

And yes, I can go to an elected official and ask for some help.

So again, thank you for the clarification.

I would also like to just say that the new partnerships that have arose,

it's so nice to have a home in Sacramento Children's Home

and have that place where we know we're going to be there every week

and it's our space and our flyers from our participants

are still there the following week.

It's a beautiful alignment.

And with that, I would like to introduce Mr. Baker

to come up and speak to you all.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair Cerna and Commissioners.

Michelle said I was going to speak last.

It's always really a setup.

I have to go after all these amazing folks

and all the amazing work they're doing.

But I just want to reiterate, wow, really impressive.

I've heard a lot about some of the projects,

but I haven't got to hear from everybody individually like that.

So some really great stuff.

And thank you to the commission and to DCFAS

for supporting this project.

And it's just such a, you know, Michelle came to me, I don't know,

a couple years ago about wanting to make sure this came over to be with us.

And I went to the graduation last year.

It was so impressive.

And hopefully we'll have some of you guys out this week

for the graduation on Wednesday night.

But it's just such an honor to hear the amazing work

that Michelle and all of these facilitators have done.

But more importantly, all these participants.

I'm so impressed.

And I'm sure Michelle is going to have you pitching to me next.

So it's good to get a little bit of preview for that.

But yeah.

But thank you so much.

I won't take too much time.

But it's really been an honor to be part of this.

And we look forward to these guys graduating

and the next groups coming through.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Does that conclude the program speakers?

Because we do have a few public speakers on the item here.

So we will now invite them up.

And again, in the order that we received your speaker request forms,

we will start with Crystal Harding.

I don't know if this still works.

I don't think so.

I don't know.

Give us just a second.

No rush.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Crystal Harding.

And I am a parent leader.

I reside in Foothill Farms, District 3, with Supervisor Desmond.

I also serve as a director on the North Highlands Recreation and Park District Board.

This is my second term.

First year, second term.

So I'm excited.

I had the privilege to be a part of PLTI, Class of 2023.

Can all of our previous alumni please stand?

Please stand if you are alumni.

Thank you so very much for coming.

Thank you so much.

I wanted to make sure we acknowledge them, their time and their contribution.

I'm also a Phase II facilitator.

I was able to facilitate last year and then this year, which has been very amazing.

And I support with alumni relations.

This year, I had the privilege to serve as data entry.

I love data because it tells a story if you interpret it correctly.

And because we don't have time, I just wanted to show you what our evaluations every night looked like and what it composed of.

And with the help of ChatGPT, I was able to, like, put it all together.

We actually did Google Forms.

So I interviewed every night.

I was able to tell our team what our participants shared so we can tweak and adjust and make it better the next session.

But ChatGPT took all 20 weeks plus retreat, put it into a nice summary about what they liked, learned, what they would improve.

But I just wanted to, because I don't have time, I'm just going to tell you the last thing.

Participants really expressed genuine growth, appreciation, and passion for change.

From public speaking to coalition building, this program sparked transformation on personal, family, and community levels.

Suggestions for improvement centered on time, clarity, logistics, and continuing the momentum beyond the classroom.

There was a quote that stood out.

Say it loud, say it proud, always say what you mean, own it.

And that was from our very own Jeannie Marie.

So thank you so much.

Thank you, Crystal.

Deborah Anderson?

Can you talk to me next so they can start live?

I did.

Oh.

Hi.

My name is Deborah Anderson.

But I am a proud, I am going to graduate this Wednesday.

And I am so happy to be a part of PLTI.

And I am a parent leader.

And I just want to tell you a little bit about my story and my son.

My story is called My Story.

My passion advocate began with my own personal journey as a mother.

My son was diagnosed with autism at the age of eight.

And from that moment, I became the strongest voice in the education system.

I was not, it was not easy.

My son was, I was a person, my son, my son, my son, my son, my son, my son.

I quickly learned that the system often overlook or misunderstand the needs of children with disability.

At one point, the school wanted to place my son in a separate disability class without considering the full potential he had.

When I tried to transfer him to a mainstream class, I was met with resistance.

It was only through determination and support of disability advocates that we were able to push back and get what was right for him.

That experience taught me the power of advocacy and the importance of understanding for our children.

The challenge continued in high school.

As my son prepared to graduate, a school counselor failed to include a critical class in his schedule.

We only found out in the second semester, and he had to complete the course online on his own time in order to graduate.

I was frustrated and unfair in spirit, especially when the counselor expressed that he didn't believe my son would go to college anyway,

simply because he was in special education.

Despite the many obstacles, my son proved them wrong.

Today, he is thriving.

He's in college with a 3.5 GPA.

This journey taught me not only the importance of advocacy, but also the difference it can make in a child's life.

The advocacy who helped us gave us both a voice, and now I want to do the same for other families.

I want to be an advocacy for children with IEP, especially those between the age of 3 and 18, because I know how critical those years are.

I want to help families navigate the system, fight for inclusion, and ensure that every child get a fair chance to succeed in this life.

Thank you for hearing my son.

Thank you.

Are you Manifo?

It's Manifo, right?

Manifo.

Okay.

Hello, everyone, and hi to the commission.

My name is Manifo Moira Grant.

I am a proud parent leader, and I am part of the current cohort.

I just want to take this opportunity to thank you guys for supporting this wonderful program.

As a health care worker and also a health care worker, also a mom of two, and also an immigrant from Africa,

I know how challenging it has been to navigate the health care system.

My project that I've been able to do through PLTI have encouraged me.

I've had this project in my mind for a long time, but I haven't had the opportunity to push through and get it started.

So PLTI has actually helped me figure out how to get Kikit starting, and it's an important part because our community needs it the most,

and that's the part that we don't get to access these resources.

So part of my goal is to provide a resource center, which is a one-stop shop resource for immigrant and women,

specifically immigrant women because that's the majority of people that are hard to reach.

Providing that, I will create an online website where we can have all these resources that are provided in Sacramento.

It could be there because it's hard to navigate different systems that are providing all these information,

and also providing in-depth, hands-on workshops that we can interact with each other and be part of each other's life

and a culturally-based support system that we can all participate in.

So thank you, and thank you to PLTI and the facilitators for all you've done for us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

My name is Akinese Agnes Lulunga, and I am a very proud parent leader.

I will be graduating this Wednesday coming.

I stand before you today to echo the powerful voices of my fellow parent leader classmates who have spoken before me.

As a survivor of domestic violence and as a single mother learned how to speak English coming to this country,

I know firsthand the challenge that many families have faced.

Becoming a parent leader not only empowered me personally, but it also has given me the tools to advocate for others

and to be a voice for my community.

In my professional role as a director of Asian Resources Incorporated, overseeing workforce,

being homeless in the past five years, seeing myself where I am today,

as also serving as a community representative for Set the Head Start Board Adversary Board member,

as well as I'm actively involved with the youth detention facility,

where I help design, helping families to improve their life,

helping them to regain experience in the workforce,

especially to implement step-down programs to support youth

as they transition back into this community.

Because as a mother, I do believe in the power of giving second chance,

ensuring they too have a real chance to succeed.

To conclude, I want to thank each and every one of you commissioners in this room today

for your commitment to serve on this platform

and for your leaderships, allowing us to be here as a safe space,

to express, to be heard,

and to allow us to advocate not only for ourselves, for our parents, for children who are in need,

and especially for the community that are not being able to be here today,

as well as more parent leaders coming in the future.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Alejandra, do you have any final thoughts?

Just that you're all invited to the graduation on Wednesday evening

to celebrate their successes.

Thank you.

Very good.

Thank you.

And thank you for your passion around this.

I know this is probably one of, if not the most personally important aspects

of your position with First Five.

And so we all greatly appreciate your focus on it.

Thank you.

So I'll start off with a few words,

and then my fellow commissioners might also want to chime in.

But first of all, I want to just congratulate everyone

that first took the initiative to engage with PLTI

and put yourselves out there the way you have.

And the thing that I always take from these testimonials is just how much you all look and sound like our entire community.

And it's just such a, it's an affirmative and confirming aspect of what I do as your county supervisor

to see and hear the people of the, you know, of one of the greatest and diverse communities we have in the whole country

come up here as proud Latinos, as proud African Americans, as proud immigrants, as proud men and women.

And it really is just a really great reminder of the fact that you represent a cross-section of this community.

And, you know, I've seen for myself, because I've had the opportunity to go speak in front of your classes in the past,

and I certainly hope to continue to do so into the future.

But to see the work that actually takes place in your meetings and the back and forth,

the sharing of ideas, the sharing of experiences,

that's also the greatest takeaway here is that when you share things, personal things,

like the fact that you may have been abused or, you know, your love for a grandmother

or the fact that you're a single parent raising multiple children,

you know, I can't pretend to ever understand any of that.

I'm not a parent.

I'm not a woman.

I'm not an immigrant.

But through your sharing, it gives all of us who perhaps didn't share your life experience

the ability to be that much more empathetic.

And that's a huge gift that you give to us.

So, again, I want to congratulate you all and thank you all.

And with that, we'll start with Commissioner Moke.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll echo just thank you for having the courage to be part of this program,

but also come here and share with us today the way you have.

I know that the times we seem to be in right now don't lend themselves to people readily having the strength

and bravery to come and speak this way, which only makes it more important that people like you do.

I love that each of you got up and said, I'm a parent leader.

It gave me chill bumps every time that you did.

And I now, you know, I felt like that was the coolest episode of, like, nonprofit Shark Tank.

Because I feel like now what happens is with between Alejandra and David and others that know people in this town,

those are really good ideas.

And there are probably people that are doing and wanting to do some of what you're talking about

in places where you could probably host a closed closet, a moment where for people to come in,

the concept about having a family resource center, a place for people to go.

We have those in this community.

And so now I think it's just a matter of keep on.

Like, just keep going until people say yes.

Because I feel like you're on to a lot of really good, clever ideas that our community and the people within them need.

So good luck and thank you for doing this for us today, for sure.

Thank you.

I like the Shark Tank analogy, except that in Shark Tank you always see people being sent away as losers.

And there's no losers here.

All right.

Dr. Kassiri.

Thank you.

I shouldn't have followed Scott.

But I really wanted to thank you all also because I know it's not easy to be brave, to stand up here.

I know that for some this could be rather intimidating.

And I know all of you have put a lot of work into preparing what you had to present to us.

We don't take it lightly.

We're very proud to be able to continue supporting the PLTI.

And we're hoping to hear more success stories.

There's a saying that goes, that do not despise the day of small beginnings.

And so I just want to encourage you, being an immigrant myself, I know the challenges that you have to overcome to learn the system,

to advocate for your children.

And especially if you're adding on the language barriers as well.

You're brave.

You're strong.

And we just want to let you know that we hear you.

And we are here to support you.

Maybe not financially right now.

But definitely we support what you're doing.

And we're very glad to hear all the work and all that you have learned during this time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Doctor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Very good.

I have no one else in the queue.

So I know we still have some more items here.

But again, thank you all for joining us.

And you're certainly welcome to stay for the balance of our meeting.

But it's going to become a little less inspirational, I think.

Okay.

Okay.

Next item, please.

Item number 10.

Approved Revenue Agreement with Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance for the

CalWORKs Home Visiting Program and Expenditure Agreement with the Child Abuse Prevention Council

of Sacramento for the period of July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026.

Good afternoon, Commissioners.

My name is just, I'm sorry, one second.

Sure.

I am going to leave the room now because I have a conflict of interest because of DHA

being under our agency.

Does Melissa also need to leave or she just doesn't vote?

She's DCFAS.

Okay.

Yeah.

Thanks.

You're good.

You vote.

Good afternoon, Commissioners.

My name is Chris Clinton, program planner for the CalWORKs Home Visiting Program.

And I have one item for your consideration and approval today.

The current CalWORKs Home Visiting Program contract is set to expire on June 30th and we

are requesting approval to move forward with the same contracting authority as last year.

Staff seeks authorization to enter into a new revenue agreement with Department of Human

Assistance for up to $4.7 million to support the continued implementation of the CalWORKs

Home Visiting Program and to execute an expenditure agreement with the Child Abuse Prevention Council

for up to $4.4 million.

APSE will oversee direct program implementation including the work performed by subcontracted

Family Resource Centers.

And first five will retain $240,000 to support program oversight and administrative costs.

However, since the state budget has not yet been finalized, we cannot confirm the exact

amount of the contract.

If the CalWORKs Home Visiting Program is reduced by DHA following the final state budget hearings,

the agreements will need to be amended at that time pending DHA's directive.

If CalWORKs allocation is lower than anticipated, the up to language included in this request allows

for flexibility to adjust the agreement amounts if needed based on the final state allocation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So does that mean that with the requested action of the commission today, we're still in a bit

of a holding pattern until September?

I'll try.

Okay.

And so this is state money.

Right.

It comes just from CDSS.

But it is part of the state's funding is from the FUDs.

So it, the state could very well say, we're not going to make any changes.

It's still in the budget.

We would go ahead and contract and then we could find out in September that there is a

reduction.

Okay.

In which case we would then have to make reductions to the contract.

Yeah.

I'm just trying to understand the sequence because as you're well aware, we're going to, we the

county will consider our recommended budget next week or on Wednesday.

Right.

And we don't finalize our budget until the state finalizes its budget, which happens in the late

summer.

And so that's why we always come back in September to finalize our county budget.

So.

And we'll do the same Chair Serna.

Yeah.

We'll provide you our recommended budget and then we'll come back in August, I believe,

and once we know more about what's happening and give you that final one.

Yeah.

Very good.

I know we're all looking through a foggy crystal ball these days.

Yes.

Any members of the commission have questions for staff?

Seeing none, Madam Clerk, do we have anyone side up to speak on this matter?

No, sir.

Okay.

Roll call vote.

Or let me ask, is there a motion?

I'll move to approve.

Okay.

It's been moved and looks like Mr. Mocha is going to second it and roll call vote.

Second.

Chair Serna.

Aye.

Commissioner Wesley.

Aye.

Commissioner Fernandez-Garcia.

Aye.

Commissioner Gordon.

Aye.

Commissioner Casirier.

Aye.

Commissioner Mohk.

Aye.

Commissioner Mohk.

Aye.

Commissioner Mohk.

Thank you.

Motion passes.

Thank you.

Next item, please.

Item number 11, approval of extended 2024-2034 strategic plan.

Great.

So this one will have Lindsay Dunkel join us and she's going to take you through the next

two items actually.

Chair Serna.

Okay.

Good afternoon, Chair Serna and good afternoon, commissioners.

Nice to see you.

At your April meeting, you discussed extending the strategic plan for the whole 2024-34 period.

So today I'm here to present you with the draft of that extended plan and you have a copy

of the whole thing in your packet under item 11, but I'll walk you through the highlights.

So last time around when we created the 2024-27 plan, the commission used a whole group

process that included discussions at commission meetings and two half-day retreats.

The goal was to build off of the resolution on racial equity and social justice that recognized

racism as the root cause of health, early learning, and family resilience disparities by centering

racial equity in the new strategic plan.

The planning started with community feedback, with focus groups of community members, and

staff at family service organizations and people in leadership positions throughout Sacramento.

The information from these focus groups was used to develop a survey that was translated

into four languages and was ultimately completed by over 850 parents and caregivers.

Those of you who were on the commission at that time received an analysis of the results of

all this, along with a community trend analysis by our evaluation partners at ASR.

Commissioners used this information and really deep discussion to set long-range priorities through

2034 using a consensus-building decision-making model.

And here you see the conceptual framework that grew out of that, that illustrates the strategic plan.

Children and families are at the center of the framework, informing and touched by everything that we do at First Five.

The five priorities encircle this center, interlocking as an illustration of their interdependence,

around the outsider First Five's core functions to invest, to advocate, to convene, to collaborate, and to build capacity.

So in April you agreed with the idea of maintaining the nine outcomes under those five priorities and the 14 goals under those outcomes.

We've only just begun the work in many cases with the participatory grant-making process not even having identified

allocations yet of that $4 million.

So we've moved specific fiscal information about each funding period into an appendix and will continue to create an implementation plan,

like in the past, that lays out the specific allocations for the strategies that have been identified for each funding period.

The commission wisely allocated funding for creating ongoing opportunities for community feedback,

as well as building community feedback into every direct service contract.

So we'll include all of that in an addendum each time.

We'll also update the child and family trend data about Sacramento County.

So the vision that we will continue to operate under is that First Five, Sacramento's vision is that Sacramento County will have strong communities

where children are safe, healthy, and reach their full potential.

And the mission statement continues to read,

in partnership with parents, caregivers, and their communities, we seek to advance equitable, inclusive, and culturally responsive prevention

and early intervention policies, systems, and practices that eliminate racial inequities, promote optimal health and development,

and improve the lives of children prenatal through age five and their families.

It's all one sentence.

So what does this look like in practice?

Here's a visual of the extended plan.

You have one overarching plan that lays out priorities, outcomes, and goals for that whole 2024 to 2034 period.

And then within that timeframe, there are three distinct funding periods.

The first one, 2024 to 27, that we're in right now, and then another three-year period, 27 to 30,

followed by a four-year period, 2030 to 34.

So each of these periods has its own spending plan and funding allocations across those same five priorities.

And then each funding period will have a corresponding implementation plan, which includes the strategies that are going to be funded,

the allocations across those strategies, and then the indicators that are going to show progress in each strategy.

So as a refresher, I thought we could go over what the outcomes and goals are under each priority area.

So this is the racial equity priority.

And our goals here are to implement the racial equity, diversity, inclusion, and cultural responsiveness, also known as READY plus CR plan,

to build capacity of nontraditional partners, smaller community-based organizations,

and to fund new and nontraditional partners to effectively address community-led plans to support young children and families.

The next priority is quality childcare.

The next priority is quality childcare.

And our goals here are to ensure coordinated countywide effort that effectively advocates for the prioritized needs of the childcare community,

and to increase providers' access to and engagement with quality childcare supports.

And then we have health and wellbeing.

And you may recall this is where most of our direct service work lies.

Our goals here are to increase whole child and family-centered services to support the wellbeing and safety of children and fortify family strengths.

To reduce perinatal health disparities for parents and infants through culturally responsive programs and services.

And to strengthen children's social-emotional development and increase early detection of developmental and behavioral health concerns among infants and toddlers,

while improving access to early intervention services.

Under our systems improvement priority, we have four goals.

To build public will and leverage resources in support of children's wellbeing and development.

To develop integrated and coordinated services between public agencies and community-based organizations.

To advocate for systems improvements.

And finally, to increase utilization of medical, dental, and mental health services.

And finally, under parent partnership, our goals are to cultivate parent-caregiver leadership in Sacramento County.

Check on that one.

Check on that.

Check on that.

To allow parents to have decision-making power within First Five Sacramento's programs, policies, and practices.

So finally, here's Appendix 1, which lays out the spending plan and priority area allocations for the current funding period 2024-27.

And we'll make one just like this for the next funding period when those decisions are made.

The strategic plan is eventually going to have three of these appendices as the commission makes decisions before each funding period that then guides the creation of the implementation plan for each period.

I'm going to interrupt real quick.

Commissioner Fernandez-Eegers here.

I had a quick question about the goals and outcomes.

Yes.

So are we going to revisit those goals or those goals will remain there for the 10-year strategic plan?

Those goals?

I mean, we could.

I would assume, you know.

The plans.

We might meet some of those goals actually within that time.

And I think the goals are broad enough in some ways that what we would be doing within the implementation plan is saying what are the specific strategies that we would fund in order to have an impact within those goals.

And that's where our flexibility lies.

Looking at the data.

Looking at what's been reduced or eliminated from a federal budget down to a state budget.

To say these goals and outcomes and the priority areas remain.

But how do, what needs, where do we need to be nimble and flexible in order to make the impact now?

And that happens every three to four years within that 10-year plan, if that makes sense.

No, I got it.

I just was wondering, like being the Pollyanna that I am, what if we actually achieve a goal?

You do review your strategic plan annually.

That's part of it.

Okay.

Because we could replace a goal.

We could replace a goal.

We could.

We might.

Something might bubble up as a new goal.

Yes.

I'm just wondering if we have.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's in statute actually that you have to review the strategic plan annually.

And I'll just say that, and I know others know this as well who have been here for some

time, that this has always been intended as a kind of a living, you know, I won't say document,

I guess it is document, but it's a living exercise.

And it looks very different today than it did when I started.

Mm-hmm.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Good question.

So that concludes my presentation.

Great.

Thank you.

Any other questions for staff?

All right.

Very good.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, do we have any sign up to speak on this matter?

No, sir.

All right.

We do need to consider this for approval.

So is there a motion?

I move to approve.

It's been moved.

Is there a second?

I'll second.

It's been moved and seconded.

Roll call vote, please.

Chair Serna.

Aye.

Commissioner Wesley.

Aye.

Commissioner Fernandez-Garcia.

Aye.

Commissioner Gordon.

Aye.

Commissioner Casirier.

Aye.

Commissioner Casirier.

Aye.

Commissioner Qatari.

Aye.

Commissioner Qatari.

Aye.

And Commissioner Moak.

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion passes.

Very good.

Thank you.

And thanks again for all your help on this.

Next item.

Item number 12, approval of the racial equity funding cycle duration.

Me again.

This one's just a brief presentation.

We're bringing you a proposal to keep the racial equity funding off cycle by one year from

the other four priorities.

So this is what falls under the racial equity priority in the current allocation.

There are five components.

As you can see, by far the largest part of that is the $4.2 million that is the funding

for the participatory grant making process that's now called the Equity in Action Initiative.

Is it 4.2 or 4.6?

4.6.

Sorry.

It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

If you're going to err on the other side.

That's right.

That's $400,000.

We could have bought all of that.

I just got done telling everyone there's no money.

They're gone.

It's 4.2 that's going out the door.

It's 4.6 that funds the whole initiative.

But we use a lot of that in the structure that holds and actually pays stipends to the people

who participate as well.

So thank you.

These funds are all very closely tied to one another.

So we're proposing holding over the current racial equity funding for one more year so that the current allocation continues through June of 2028.

And the main reasons for this request are that it will allow two and a half years for new grantees versus one and a half years.

We were anticipating this money will begin to go out in the new year in the beginning of 2027.

2026.

2026.

2026.

Thank you.

Too many numbers.

It alleviates staff workload by separating the funding processes.

So while we can get the funding processes for the other four priorities out during one year and then the racial equity funding out during a separate year.

And then best of all, it reduces the fiscal cliff.

We always love it when that happens.

So you can see if we kept things the way they are, we would have a 22.4% decline in available funding for the 27 to 30 period and a 21.1% decline in the 30 to 34 period.

If we carry over this money for one year, we only have a 20% decline in the upcoming funding period.

And then 20, 30 to 34 is a 21% decline.

Commissioner Moke.

Just a quick question about how I like the thinking is, is great.

With Touchstone, how do you ensure that they are also, I guess, aligned with the same timeline?

Yeah.

We would just, that funding would also shift along with it.

Okay.

I mean, the bulk of that work is happening now while we set up.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It just, but you could see, I mean, there's a real challenge if we were to get off course there, I think, right?

Yeah.

Correct.

I'm not asking for just that 4.6 million, but for rather all that, that whole priority area, which we didn't, we knew we were going to have to phase it in at least six months after getting all the money, all the other money out the door.

But so there's still a lot of unspent money.

Yeah.

Okay.

That we could roll into next year and start as the three years kind of then.

Thank you.

Thanks for the question.

Mm-hmm.

So I tried to make a graphic of what this would look like.

This is my attempt.

The general funding periods are in blue and these include the other four priority areas.

And then the racial equity funding periods are in white.

So essentially the current funding period, racial equity funds, will continue through June 30th of 2028.

And when you make your funding allocations for each priority for the next funding period, you will allocate money for three years worth of money for racial equity.

But it won't begin to roll out until July 1 of 2028.

So when you make your funding allocations for the 2030 to 34 period, you'll be making four year allocations for the other four priorities and then a three year allocation for the racial equity.

And then they'll end together at the end of the strategic plan.

And that concludes my report.

Great.

Thank you.

Any questions for staff?

All right.

Seeing none, Madam Clerk, do we have anyone to speak on this matter?

All right.

Entertain a motion at this point.

I'll move the item.

Okay.

It's been moved.

Is there a second?

I'll second.

It's been moved and a second.

Roll call vote, please.

Aye.

Chair Serna.

Still aye.

Thank you, sir.

Commissioner Wesley.

Aye.

Commissioner Fernandez Garcia.

Aye.

Commissioner Gordon.

Aye.

Commissioner Katsirian.

Aye.

Commissioner Katari.

Aye.

Commissioner Katari.

Aye.

Commissioner Moke.

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion passes.

Great.

Thank you.

Next item, please.

Item number 13, Presentation, Equity and Action Committee.

Great.

We're going to ask Stephanie McElmore Bray to join us at the podium for a brief presentation.

Yes.

Thank you.

Chair Serna and commissioners, thank you for having me back.

Before I get started, I know, and I'm going to go really quickly through this, you have

the presentation in your packet.

But I just again want to acknowledge the amazing First Five Sacramento team.

They have been extraordinary partners in this work.

And I'm deeply appreciative of Lindsay and her brilliance as we continue to move through

this.

And I also deeply appreciate your commitment, continued commitment to this work.

So, let's jump in.

So the participatory grant making is now the Equity in Action Initiative.

So just to clarify that.

And just to remind you that there were two phases to this work.

The first phase was the community engagement phase, which was meant to invite the community

to design the actual process for identifying a deliberative panel that would make decisions

about that money going out into those CBOs and non-traditional organizations that are focused

on racial equity.

And so, we are in phase two.

And we are about to convene that Equity in Action Committee to talk about the awards process.

And so what you're going to hear about today is how we got there.

And then who is actually going to be participating in that process.

And so, if you recall during the community assemblies, one of the things that we asked the community

members to do was to identify a set of qualifiers.

You know, who do you want to be on this panel?

And then how do we recruit them?

And so, the process we went through to identify the committee was we used those community defined

qualifiers.

We identified, and by we, first five, the team identified priority zip codes that were

based on outcomes data.

So, this is all very much data driven.

And I want to give a shout out to the advisory committee for their role in approving those

priority zip codes and the SOS committee for validating those zip codes as well.

And then we did, we touched on our team.

We did outreach to make sure that the pool reflected those community identified qualifiers.

And we had Commissioner Fernandez E. Garcia's voice in our head telling us, you know, we can't

have the usual suspects.

And so, we went to work.

Once we knew what those priority zip codes were, to identify those key communities that

we knew were underrepresented and under resourced.

So, the other thing I want to add too, and again, this is the brilliance of the First Five

Sacramento team, they also were able to bring, you know, their experience and understanding

of those communities to the decision making process as well.

And so, just to remind you, just a couple of things about the qualifiers.

So, the assemblies looked at things like making sure that the folks on the panel had lived experience.

Right?

They should have had some kind of engagement with a child zero to five, whether it's through

their household or through their work.

They wanted to make sure that folks came from the very grassroots organizations.

And they also wanted to make sure that there was youth representation, folks between the

ages of 16 and 24.

And there were a whole bunch of other qualifiers, but there were some that they were especially

concerned about and wanted to make sure were included.

And so, the process was, the nominations opened April 23rd, and they were open until May 17th.

And there was a survey tool that was developed that had a series of questions that was very short.

It took fewer than 15 minutes for them to complete.

It allowed for self-nominations.

And so, just to talk about the process itself, what we heard loud and clear from the community was,

let's stand up a nominations process.

Let's go out and ask people to self-identify that they want to be on this journey.

And we also allowed for self-nominations.

We used the zip code qualifier as an eliminating factor.

If you did not come from one of those zip codes, as was mandated by the advisory committee,

you were not eligible to serve.

And so, they literally could go in, and if they didn't have that, if they weren't in one of those zip codes,

thank you very much.

We're sorry, but you don't qualify.

We also looked at the demographic information to make sure that it was reflective of what we saw,

what First Five Sacramento identified as those disparities within those communities.

And then there were just a few open-ended questions, just to get a sense of, you know, why do you want to do this?

Or why are you nominating this person to do this?

What does racial equity mean to you?

What does it mean to make sure that communities that have been underserved and under-resourced have what they need

in order to improve outcomes for kids zero to five?

As we did with the community assemblies, we did specific outreach.

Again, making sure that we were really digging deep into those communities that were not really engaged.

We looked at the list of the assembly invitees, which were, it was well over 200 of those folks.

The PLTI list.

We looked at the broader First Five Sacramento list that included those folks that participated in the CBO landscape analysis.

And in particular, again, those focus groups where we really played a role in reaching out and getting their perspectives.

And these were folks who had not previously been funded by First Five, weren't really wanting to engage.

We also used website and social media channels, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn.

We had targeted messaging.

We really, really wanted to capture youth.

So there was some really amazing work done around that.

And we also sent out press releases to ethnic media, to broader media, to any media that we could think of.

And we gathered a whole list and curated a list.

So this is an example of the social media that we did.

Again, really being mindful of, you know, what young people respond to.

So there were daily affirmations.

There were some kind of pop culture references in some of those to really engage those young people.

And then the First Five website.

The nomination form was available on the website in addition to the e-blasts that we did to make sure that we cast as wide a net as we could to reach the folks that we really wanted to capture.

And so here are the numbers.

So there were 61 unique nominations that were received.

There were a couple of folks that nominated themselves and then they were nominated by other people.

So we had to kind of, you know, hash all of that out.

They represented 24 zip codes.

Gender, there were nine men.

And we really were hoping that we would get more men.

But we also recognize that a lot of those community folks, as you see with the PLTI, are women.

So 50 were female.

There was one non-binary, non-gender conforming person.

And then one person who preferred not to answer.

Race, ethnicity, as you can see the breakdown here.

We feel pretty good about the diversity of those numbers.

And then age.

That was the other piece.

We did receive two nominations for folks 18 to 24.

And then the largest group were 25 to 36, as you can see.

Immigrant status, 50.

The majority were born in the U.S.

Eight indicated they were born outside the U.S.

It was important for us to ensure that we had representation from immigrants or people who identified as immigrants.

And then there were some who preferred not to answer.

And then there was one that we didn't know.

And then percent with children age zero to five in the household currently.

So 67%, as you could see.

And then 33%.

So here's the framework.

How did the team, how did the staff select the committee members?

Well, one, if they completed the whole application, that was check.

The representation across neighborhoods.

They balanced gender, ethnicity, birthplace inside or outside the U.S. and age.

And then whether there was a child age zero to five in the household.

That was a big determining factor, especially when it came down to, okay, we've got more people than we need.

And the goal was to recruit 15.

I believe you all selected 18.

18.

So in case there was a need for alternates.

And here is the committee.

And just, is anybody here?

Yay!

Thank you for coming.

Yay!

Yes!

Yes!

Yes!

Please tell us your name.

Imelda Martinez.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for coming.

And so we did invite them to come so that they could be introduced.

And we know it was kind of a short notice and a lot of folks work and they have other commitments.

But we're really excited about this group.

And so here's how they break down.

There are two youths, three men, one non-binary person, one Afghan person, one Pacific Islander, one Native American, Hispanic Latino, six Hispanic or Latino, five African American, two Asian American, two white, and four born outside the U.S.

And these are the neighborhoods they represent.

And so that was another really important balance for the team.

And we really did some serious outreach to places where we didn't get any responses.

And we helped.

And our team helped.

It's like, well, wait a minute.

Let's call this person or let's text this person and really encourage them to apply.

And so here's the grant making timeline.

And as you can imagine, because of this process, because it's community designed and community led, one of the key principles is be flexible.

Right?

Go at the speed of trust.

And that's a mantra that we keep reminding ourselves.

And the team has even reminded me.

It's like, wait, Stephanie, no, no, no, you got to, you know, we got to slow down if it means we're going to go fast.

And so our panel has been selected and they'll be onboarded in the coming weeks.

There'll be an invitation to apply for funding that will be developed and hopefully will be launched in August.

And it'll close in September.

And then October, and this is our goal.

And again, you know, we as a community led project, you know, we are willing to be flexible and to move at the speed of the committee.

And so our hope is that in October, the awardees will be presented for your approval.

But we will keep you abreast as we move through this process.

And that's it.

Any questions?

Any questions?

Great.

Thank you, Stephanie.

Commissioner Fernandez-Garcia.

Awesome.

This is great.

I had a question about the committee members and the breakdown of those with children under five in the home.

Do you know what that is?

I'll let the team respond to that.

I think we had it in here.

Oh, that was just the nominees.

Oh.

Uh-huh.

I know that there were several where we had some equally qualified folks and we almost always went with the one that had a zero to five in the home.

Okay.

As opposed to worked with zero to five or something like that.

So it was one of those deciding factors for us.

But we can get that for you.

Yeah.

No.

My question is more about the committee's function.

And, you know, when you have a child zero to five working on committees, you might need different supports.

So if it was dominated by people with children zero to five, which would be my driver with kids zero to five, which I would like to see.

Yeah.

I was just thinking, you know, we should probably think about how to support those parents to participate fully.

Yeah.

And if I may.

And so, you know, back to the budget that you saw.

And Lindsey had mentioned that not only are there stipends, but there will also be childcare available just as we did with the assemblies.

And we also provided meals so that they didn't have to worry about feeding themselves or their children.

And so that's also very much a part of the project.

And that was also something that they said was going to be really important for this kind of a committee.

Right.

And they told us real meals, not pizza and sandwiches.

That's right.

They want real meals.

Yes.

Yes.

All right.

Very good.

Any other questions for Stephanie?

I have one question, overall, overarching question.

How much do we know about other first five's throughout the state that are, I would say, taking on racial equity as intentionally as we are?

Yeah.

Quite a few, actually.

That's good to know.

Yes.

Have developed plans.

Are allocating money differently.

We have a whole network.

We call it the ready network within the association.

I think we have a workshop coming up, actually.

So it's still definitely on our radar.

And at every summit, at every association meeting, there's an opportunity to talk to our peers about what we're doing and to present.

I've presented numerous times on what First Five Sacramento is doing.

But there's always those cross-learning opportunities.

So, yes, they are very much invested still.

And many of them move to place-based funding, too.

Mm-hmm.

Is it fair to assume that the level of intensity of that work matches generally what we know about coastal California versus the Central Valley versus far northern California?

Probably so, yes.

Yeah.

Which is too bad because that's arguably where it's probably needed the most.

Yeah.

Although Orange County's done some pretty amazing things down there.

Which county?

Orange?

Orange County, yeah.

Sometimes Orange County surprises us.

It does, yeah.

All right, very good.

Thank you for the presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

No need for a vote on this.

And we will now go on to our last item of the afternoon, which is commission member comments.

Looking to my right, looking to my left, seeing no comments coming from my colleagues.

Then in that case I want to thank staff.

I want to thank those that stayed with us for the entirety of the meeting.

And again, even though they're not here, I want to congratulate again the PLTI soon

to be graduates for their great work.

And if there's no further business before us, we stand adjourned.