First 5 LA’s Board of Commissioners Meeting convened in person on June 13, 2024. The primary focus of the meeting was the approval of the agency’s proposed FY 2024-25 Budget and updates to the Long-Term Financial Plan (LTFP). Staff also shared updates on the implementation of the new strategic plan tactics. Additionally, First 5 LA’s annual report to First 5 California was presented as a public hearing and several amendments to strategic partnerships were approved. Due to time constraints, an updated presentation on the development of a First 5 LA Equity Index was postponed to the October commission meeting.
L.A. County Supervisor and Board Chair Holly J. Mitchell began the meeting by noting June was a month of celebration, from Pride to Father’s Day to Juneteenth. She added that it was also a full month for First 5 LA staff, thanking them for their work on the new strategic plan, the FY 2024-25 budget and other activities.
Mitchell next shared that she — along with Commissioners Summer McBride and Alma 
Cortes — had joined President/CEO Karla Pleitéz Howell and other staff in Sacramento for First 5 LA’s Day in Sacramento. Noting that the event was incredibly well-organized, she called out First 5 LA’s Public Policy and Early Care & Education (PPECE) team and California Strategies, the agency’s Sacramento-based advocates.
“Karla, you need to know how deeply impressed I was by your team,” Mitchell said to Pleitéz Howell. She noted that, in addition to demonstrating subject matter expertise, staff also demonstrated care and consideration when planning meetings that complemented the Commissioners’ own areas of expertise.
“I just really appreciate how deeply committed the team is,” added Commissioner
Cortes. “How well-versed everyone was in all of the research and legislation, but also how much you have already developed all these wonderful relationships. And how inclusive you were in asking us to provide context, information, and even stories to specific legislators about the issues affecting children and families in L.A. County.”
During her remarks as President/CEO, Pleitéz Howell added her own thoughts on First 5 LA’s Day in Sacramento, noting in particular the efforts of the PPECE Team. She also called out the contributions of the Department of Public Health and the Department of Public Social Services, as well as those of Mitchell and the other Commissioners who participated in the day.
“There was a lot of collaboration to make sure that we didn’t show up simply as First 5 LA,” she observed, “but as L.A. County advocating for our children.”
Pictured L-R: First 5 LA Senior Government Affairs Strategist, Jamie Zamora, First 5 LA Policy Analyst Erika Witt, Local Policy Specialist John Bamberg, First 5 LA Commissioner Alma Cortez, First 5 LA Board Chair Holly Mitchell, First 5 LA Policy Analyst Esther Nguyen, California Strategies State Advocate Monique Ramos, Government Affairs Strategist Anais Duran, California Strategies State Advocate John Benton and California Strategies State Advocate Jonathan Munoz.
Pleitéz Howell then shifted to introduce the main topics of the meeting, chief among them the Commission vote on First 5 LA’s proposed FY 2024-25 Budget and a discussion on the development of tactics for the agency’s new strategic plan.
“All the discussions today are about ensuring that every child born here in Los Angeles is healthy and thrives,” she said.
In her introduction to the presentation on the proposed budget, Commissioner and Finance Committee Chair Maricela Ramirez noted that staff has developed guardrails that will guide how the next iteration of the Long-Term Financial Plan will align with both the new strategic plan and the changing fiscal environment.
“By moving in this direction,” she explained, “the organization positions itself to minimize future fiscal disruption and create a strategic First 5 LA that continues to better L.A. County’s children.”
Finance Director Raoul Ortega and Financial Planning & Analysis Manager Daisy Lopez followed next with a presentation that focused on both the FY 2024-25 Budget and the updated Long-Term Financial Plan (LTFP).
Lopez first provided a recap of the proposed updates to the LTFP that consist of adjustments to estimated spending as well as to revenue estimates. Adjustments are being made to Total Estimated Spending for Fiscal Years 22-23, 23-24, and 24-25 so as to better align the agency with actual spending, mid-year revised budget, and proposed budget, respectively. Revenue estimates, meanwhile, are being updated to align with projections provided in January 2024 by the Department of Finance (DOF) and the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA), as well as anticipated external funding. Future funds through June 2028 would be formally assigned through the Long-Term Financial Plan and be formally committed as part of the annual budget process.
Current long-term financial projections would continue to reflect declining revenues, spending that exceeds revenue, and a declining fund balance, as spending in excess of revenue is offset by First 5 LA fund balance resources. “This growing gap between our incoming revenue and spending will be addressed with the revised Long-Term Financial Plan,” she added.
Lopez then provided a review of First 5 LA’s Draft Proposed Budget for FY 2024-25, which featured a total operating and programming budget in the amount of $91,721,392, an administrative cost cap of $14.3 million (15.69% of the total budget), a GASB 54 fund balance of just over $70 million, and a fund balance reserve of $45.8 million.
Following the presentation, the Board voted unanimously in favor of the budget resolution. The 2023-24 budget goes into effect on July 1, 2024.
To learn more about the updates to the LTFP, please click here. For additional information on the recently approved budget, please see the FY 2024-25 Draft Budget and the Budget Presentation.
The meeting then turned to First 5 LA’s ongoing work on the implementation of the new strategic plan. Consultants Chrissie Castro and Rigoberto Rodriguez provided an update on the next stage of the work, which focuses on the development of tactics — the concrete and organized activities that First 5 LA will utilize to achieve the strategic plan’s objectives. Rodriguez emphasized that a crucial element of this work was ensuring that the tactics developed were centered on the collective knowledge, wisdom and experiences of the community.
“This iteration of work is about anchoring ourselves in the knowledge and wisdom and experiences of communities,” noted Rodriguez. “That is the key to understanding what kinds of systems barriers we need to dismantle and how we can pursue a broader equity, racial justice and social justice agenda.”
To achieve this, the current phase of the strategic plan work focuses on engaging community members and stakeholders in a variety of ways, including an in-person community convening on June 21. In addition to prioritizing diversity and inclusiveness, Rodriguez added that outreach emphasized reaching out to individuals with lived experience in addition to those with decision-making authority within organizations and local agencies.
A second convening is also planned for August. Rodriguez noted that Commissioners will be a major part of the process as well.
The following actions were also taken at the June meeting:
Approval of 47 renewals: Staff submitted forty-seven (47) renewals to the Board for approval. The renewals, with a total combined contract amount of $59,933,471, are for the continuation or completion of a multiyear project or initiative in a number of strategies, including Communities, Early Care & Education, Family Supports and Health Systems. A description of each contractor and grantee’s project and scope of work, along with additional details, can be found here.
Approval of an Amendment to the Strategic Partnership with Catalyst California. The Board also approved an amendment to a First 5 LA strategic partnership with Catalyst California (Formerly Advancement Project California) in the amount of $200,000 for a total of $1,350,000 through June 30, 2025. Catalyst California supports First 5 LA’s systems-change work at the Regional and County levels by providing First 5 LA staff and its partners with products, tools and technical assistance related to data. Catalyst California also helps strengthen community engagement by amplifying and affirming community-identified priorities. Additional details can be found in the Board memo here.
Approval of an Amendment to the Strategic Partnership with Community Partners. The Board also approved an amendment to a First 5 LA Strategic Partnership with Community Partners, which serves as the fiscal sponsor for the Mayor’s Fund for Long Beach (formerly known as the Long Beach Mayor’s Fund for Education). The amendment, in the amount of $100,000, for a total of $400,000 through June 2025, will be utilized to continue engagement activities with local stakeholder groups to strengthen the Early Childhood and Education (ECE) Ecosystem in Long Beach and to continue and expand the Long Beach Early Learning Hub. Additional details can be found here.
The following was also presented as an information item:
Receive and File First 5 CA’s Annual Report: Data Strategy Specialist HaRi Kim Han presented on First 5 California’s Annual Report for FY 22-23. Pursuant to the requirements of Proposition 10, the annual report is a condition of receiving Proposition 10 funds and is a way of ensuring transparency and accountability across the 58 First 5 Commissions. According to the report, county commissions served more than 643,000 young children throughout California in FY 2022-23 alone. For more information, please read the Board memo, presentation and First 5 California 2022-23 report.
As a result of time constraints, the Board was not able to accommodate a scheduled presentation on First 5 LA’s development of an early childhood Equity Index; the item has been rescheduled to the October meeting.
The next Board meeting is scheduled for October 10, 2024. For more information, please visit www.first5la.org/our-board/meeting-materials 72 hours in advance of the meeting date.
