First 5 Ventura County’s Neighborhoods for Learning model was selected nationally by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation as one of eight programs demonstrating a successful integration of children’s health and high quality early learning programs. The study Health Matters: The Role of Health and the Health Sector in Place-Based Initiatives for Young Children concludes that children’s health is a key facet of high quality early education and that the two areas can be successfully interwoven into a single, effective, site-based program.

First 5 Ventura County operates 11 community-based Neighborhoods for Learning. The concept, according to First 5’s executive director, Claudia Harrison, is based on creating a web of local services that serve the unique needs of each community. “We know that during a child’s first 5 years, supporting health, learning and family relationships impacts a lifetime. That’s the foundation of what we do. But Ventura County communities are extremely diverse, and they know best how to design that support so it really works for their specific region.”

Local decision-making and integration of community-based services are behind each of First 5’s Neighborhoods for Learning. While some common resources and guiding principles are shared across the county—they all focus on health, early learning and family strengthening, and each offer neighborhood-based developmental and health screenings; it’s the local NfL board and staff that guide these principles into action locally. Rio NfL director, Amy Mills, explains.

“One of our goals is to provide all children with high quality early learning opportunities. But when we started, our local board identified a serious lack of Rio preschool spaces. So now, in addition to developmental check-ups, family education and support programs, we have helped create 112 new Rio preschool spaces at existing public school sites. It has changed the face of our community for young children and families.

Ventura’s NfL tells a similar story. While the city had an adequate number of State-sponsored preschool spaces, they instead faced a lack of family support and early learning opportunities for the very young. “We responded with the creation or expansion of three family resource centers, based at public school and community sites, which offer classes and opportunities for parents to learn alongside their young children at facilitated play and learn groups,” says Ventura NfL director, Cathy Pucetti. “Through these centers and classes, families have a base of support that helps connect them with a wide range of health, learning and family strengthening services.”

Across the county, each First 5 NfL demonstrates its own brand of locally-designed, integrated programs and collaborations that support children and families where they need it most.

“It’s a broad-reaching, cost-effective model that impacts nearly 10,000 Ventura County children at a critical time in their lives,” explains Harrison, “and we are thrilled to get this recognition on a national level by the Kellogg Foundation.”