By, Ruel Nolledo | Freelance Writer
May 22, 2025
First 5 LA’s Board of Commissioners Meeting was convened on May 8. Highlights of the meeting included a discussion on the proposed First 5 LA budget for the new fiscal year; a presentation on First 5 LA’s Maternal & Child Well-Being initiative; and an update on the development of a First 5 LA Equity Index.
As the meeting began, Los Angeles County Supervisor and First 5 LA Board Chair Holly Mitchell shared with commissioners the importance of First 5 LA’s long-term financial planning amid growing state and federal uncertainty. Referencing the decision to postpone a planned April 28 advocacy trip to Sacramento, Mitchell noted that rapidly changing budget conditions at the state and federal levels made it difficult to engage in effective policy conversations at this time. These budget challenges, she added, also made First 5 LA’s work toward long-term sustainability especially important.
“I’m thrilled that today we’re going to highlight the proposal for our Long-Term Financial Plan,” Mitchell shared with her fellow commissioners. “It’s a testament to your vision and commitment — as well as our shared strategic planning and strategic vision — that’s going to extend way beyond the challenges of today so that we can continue to meet the needs of our youngest shared constituency.”
First 5 LA President and CEO Karla Pleitéz Howell echoed Mitchell’s sentiments, emphasizing several federal threats that could significantly affect young children and immigrant communities. In addition to proposed cuts to Medicaid and SNAP as part of a forthcoming House budget reconciliation bill, she noted that the White House has also signaled potential reductions or elimination of Head Start services. Pleitéz Howell also pointed to the recent cancellation of the $22 million Citizenship and Integration Grant Program, which helped lawful permanent residents — including minors — move toward citizenship. These changes, she emphasized, represent serious risks to the social safety net supporting many L.A. families.
“In the midst of this federal uncertainty, I want to echo what our Chair shared in regard to the long-term financial plan,” Pleitéz Howell said. “When others are experiencing a lot of uncertainty, I hope that our Long-Term Financial Plan shows that First 5 LA is stabilizing funding for those organizations and grantees that we work with.”
Lastly, Pleitéz Howell shared findings from a recent round of Board member interviews aimed at determining commissioners’ activities and interests regarding the 2024–2029 Strategic Plan. The interviews revealed there was strong support among Commissioners for four shared priorities: federal response and advocacy, sustainable funding for home visiting, continued work in prevention and promotion (especially around immigration), and broad support for the agency’s long-term financial strategy.
A copy of the President-CEO Report can be found here.
With continued fiscal uncertainty at the federal and state levels, First 5 LA is taking strategic steps to steady the ground for community partners and families. Vice President of Operations and Sustainability JR Nino, Finance Director Raoul Ortega, and Fiscal Planning and Budgeting Manager Daisy Lopez presented the proposed FY 2025-26 Budget alongside an update to the Long-Term Financial Plan (LTFP).
First 5 LA’s proposed $80 million budget reflects a 12.8% decrease from the FY 2024-25 mid-year revised budget. This aligns with the LTFP’s step-down approach, which gradually reduces spending to match declining Proposition 10 revenues while preserving the agency’s ability to deliver on its 2024–2029 Strategic Plan. To provide greater transparency, the new budget format clarifies how dollars are allocated by distinguishing programmatic from administrative costs. Administrative expenditures were calculated using a time survey of staff activities and are set at 15.8% of the overall budget.
Despite reductions, the proposed budget maintains core investments across all program centers and reaffirms its commitment to essential initiatives such as home visiting, early identification and intervention, birth equity initiatives, community engagement, and advocacy for early care and education. At the same time, several legacy programs are also slated to ramp down in alignment with contract terms and evolving strategic goals. As part of the new budget, First 5 LA has transitioned its Emerging Opportunities Fund into the newly named Strategic Initiatives Development Fund, reflecting a broadened focus on responsive investments in pilot projects, data gathering, and strategic partnerships.
Lopez noted the importance of making responsible financial decisions that balance current constraints with future commitments, adding that the organization had made tough choices to stay aligned with declining revenues and long-term goals.
“This budget is reflective not only of our commitment to live within our means,” she added, “but of a proactive and responsive understanding of the evolving fiscal environment in which we operate.”
Following the presentation, Mitchell noted that the challenges would have been significantly greater had First 5 LA delayed its budget planning efforts.
“Cuts are never easy,” she added. “But the ultimate goal is to still be here and be a viable organization that provides the services you all identified as part of our strategic planning.”
Commissioner Summer McBride agreed. “We’re not giving up — period,” she said. “These families need us to be committed to the long haul.”
The Commission will take action on the FY 2025-26 Budget next June. A copy of the presentation is available online here.
Commissioners next shifted their attention to Maternal & Child Well-Being, one of the four initiatives through which First 5 LA will implement its 2024–2029 Strategic Plan. Led by First 5 LA Executive Vice President John Wagner and Family Supports Director Diana Careaga, the presentation provided an in-depth look at how home visiting investments and system-building efforts support maternal mental health and early childhood development in Los Angeles County.
Careaga provided an overview of First 5 LA’s decade-plus investment in home visiting, including the targeted-universal Welcome Baby program and its more intensive Select Home Visiting counterparts, Healthy Families America and Parents as Teachers. These programs collectively serve more than 12,000 families annually and serve as a vital entry point for identifying maternal depression and connecting families to support services.
The presentation also featured several guest speakers:
- Kelly O’Connor, Executive Director of Maternal Mental Health NOW, shared sobering statistics on perinatal depression and anxiety. O’Connor noted that over half of these cases go unaddressed in LA County. Home visiting programs outperform clinical settings in screening rates but still face significant hurdles connecting families to culturally relevant care.
- Lori Downing from the American Institutes for Research presented new findings regarding the Welcome Baby program’s shift to virtual delivery during the pandemic. The move resulted in increased enrollment and higher completion rates, especially among Black families, and improved access to health care and maternal depression screenings.
- Melissa Franklin and Ashley Skiffer Thompson from the LA County Department of Public Health outlined efforts to build a more coordinated, family-centered home visiting system. They highlighted tools such as a countywide “data lake” and a unified billing system that would improve data transparency, streamline eligibility and funding, and ultimately strengthen support for high-risk families.
Speakers highlighted the urgency of early screening, culturally affirming referrals, and integrated support systems to address maternal depression and anxiety — conditions that are both prevalent and preventable. This focus is central to the Maternal & Child Well-Being initiative, which prioritizes increasing access to services for pregnant and postpartum individuals experiencing or at risk for maternal depression.
As implementation of the Strategic Plan continues, First 5 LA and its partners will explore long-term visioning for home visiting, evaluate the implications of the virtual study, and coordinate with other systems, such as CalWORKs and the Prevention & Promotion Systems Governing Committee, to improve service integration. To learn more, you can read the full presentation here.
Last on the agenda was a presentation on a proposed Equity Index that, once finalized, will guide First 5 LA’s future investments. Vice President of Community Engagement and Policy Aurea Montes-Rodriguez led the presentation with guest speakers John Kim, President and CEO of Catalyst California, and Chris Van Walt, Catalyst’s Senior Research Director.
The development of an equity index for First 5 LA’s specific use was previously explored at a Board meeting late last year. Since then, the political and financial landscape has shifted considerably, creating new urgency around the need for strategic, data-driven decision-making.
“We want to reaffirm why this index matters,” Montes-Rodriguez said to the Board. “It’s about being more strategic with our limited resources. It’s also about building a tool that allows us to highlight disparities and guide decisions to ensure we’re investing where the need is the greatest. And it’s about keeping our focus squarely on equity despite the challenges in the broader political and funding environment.”
John Kim spoke next to the Board to offer broader context on the need for the Index. He noted that current political attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have made the work of equity-centered institutions more complex but all the more essential.
“We know that massive cuts at the federal level will trickle down to the states and local jurisdictions that are already dealing with structural deficits,” said Kim. “In this context of austerity, being smart, using data and prioritizing the highest need will always be the best use of limited dollars.”
Chris Van Walt followed with a deep dive into the methodology behind the development of the Index, starting with the criteria for selecting indicators. He noted that alignment to the Strategic Plan was high on the list of criteria, along with other factors like data quality, community input and data that focused on or incorporated children ages prenatal to age 5. Van Walt also highlighted the importance of building a tool that is asset-based, publicly accessible, and responsive to future data improvements.
Van Walt also shared early visualizations based on the indicators being considered, including maps that reveal both well-known and emerging areas of need, such as Pomona and the Antelope Valley.
Montes-Rodriguez noted that this initial version is intended to establish a baseline for future comparisons and improvements. Over the coming months, additional community input and data will be incorporated into the development of the Index before a final version is presented to the Board in October.
To learn more about the Equity Index, read the full presentation here.
The following were presented as information items:
- Contract Amendments: Welcome Baby Hospitals: Staff shared proposed amendments to extend contracts with nine hospitals to continue the implementation of the Welcome Baby Home Visiting Program. Board action is scheduled for next month. For more information, click here.
- Strategic Partnership: Community Partners: Staff shared proposed amendments to extend a strategic partnership with Community Partners to support the continued implementation of the Early Childhood Policy and Advocacy Fund. The item is aligned with the Integrated Policy and Advocacy Fund. The item is slated for action at next month’s meeting. For more information, click here.
- Strategic Partnership Amendment: California Community Foundation: Staff previewed an amendment to continue First 5 LA’s investment in AAIMM Community Action Teams and the Village Fund. Board action is scheduled for June. For more information, click here.
- Strategic Partnership: Health Federation of Philadelphia: Staff shared proposed amendments to support trauma- and resilience-informed systems change under the Help Me Grow LA initiative. Board action is anticipated in June. For more information, click here.
- Strategic Partnership Amendment: Southern California Grantmakers: Staff previewed an amendment to provide continued operational support for a public-private initiative to advance cross-sector systems change aligned with First 5 LA’s county partnership priorities. The item will return to the Board next month for approval. For more information, click here.
The next Board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 12, 2025. Board meeting materials will be available please 72 hours in advance of the meeting date at www.first5la.org/our-board/meeting-materials.
