
Best Start is First 5 LA’s primary investment for engaging communities in a common vision and intention for children and families to thrive, working to strengthen community leadership and collaboration across sectors. Best Start is a promise that every child in Los Angeles County enters kindergarten ready to succeed in school and life.
Progress toward this North Star, however, requires more than publicly funded, professionally delivered services. An overwhelming body of evidence supports the idea that children thrive and families flourish in strong, safe, healthy, and engaged communities where people develop strong and lasting relationships, support each other, and act together to give children the best start possible.
Through Best Start, First 5 LA invests in 14 geographic areas that have faced historic disenfranchisement and oppression through political, economic, social and environmental factors that aggravate chronic family stressors such as violence and poverty. In spite of these realities, these are sites of great strength and resiliency. For decades, champions and community leaders, along with parents of young children, have been working to create better futures for their children.
Today, First 5 LA and communities are reimagining what is possible through Best Start. Inspired by the importance and strength of community connections, Best Start is evolving into a networks of parents, communities, local and regional decision-makers, and public systems – working together at a local and regional level – to affect important policy, systems and community change that improves outcomes for children and families.


First 5 LA’s commitment is to strengthen the collective will within communities, organizations and systems to promote the safety, healthy development, and well-being for children prenatal to age five and their families across the 14 Best Start communities. Since 2010, First 5 LA has supported 14 community partnerships – collectives of community leaders, parents and residents, and others – who have worked together to support each other and implement activities that support their vision for children and families.
In 2017, First 5 LA began its exploration of how to deepen connections and trust between communities and the systems that affect them. In the spring of 2018, First 5 LA partnered with community members to select five organizations to facilitate the evolution and expansion of the 14 community partnerships into strong local and regional networks of parents, residents, community-based organizations, advocacy groups, health, education and family support systems, and other stakeholders – all engaged in this effort to create strong community visions for the future. These local and regional networks are activated through collaborative and shared actions that build and center the leadership of parents and residents. First 5 LA is investing in these networks to enable a longer-term vision of robust, dynamic community ecosystems, that are accountable to, and acting for the interest of children, families and communities.

REGION 1
EAST LA | METRO LA | SOUTH EL MONTE/EL MONTE | SOUTHEAST L.A. COUNTY CITIES
Regional Network Grantee: Para Los Niños
Learn more about Region 1 Local Network Partner Organizations

REGION 3
PANORAMA CITY & NEIGHBORS | NORTHEAST VALLEY COMMUNITY
Regional Network Grantee: El Nido
Learn more about Region 3 Local Network Partner Organizations

REGION 5
LANCASTER | PALMDALE
Regional Network Grantee: Children’s Bureau of Southern California
Learn more about Region 5 Local Network Partner Organizations

REGION 2
BROADWAY/MANCHESTER | COMPTON/EAST COMPTON | WATTS/WILLOWBROOK | WEST ATHENS
Regional Network Grantee: Community Health Councils
Learn more about Region 2 Local Network Partner Organizations

REGION 4
WILMINGTON | LONG BEACH
Regional Network Grantee: Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership (d.b.a. The Nonprofit Partnership)
Learn more about Region 4 Local Network Partner Organizations
To learn more, please email us or call us at 213-482-6028.
If you’re interested in partnering with Best Start parents on community engagement opportunities, please visit: https://www.first5la.org/community-engagement-opportunity/
Mayor Opens Door for Best Start Palmdale
Best Start Palmdale had a special acknowledgement when Palmdale Mayor James C. Ledford attended its monthly partnership meeting recently and spoke about how his team is looking forward to helping the community. Accompanied by Palmdale’s Communications Manager John...
FREE DOWNLOAD: Best Start Community Perspectives
We are excited to share with you "Community Perspectives"—inspiring stories of leadership and change from our 14 Best Start communities in Los Angeles County. Click below to download your copy in English or in Spanish:Community Perspectives 2014 English (pdf)Community...
Community Member Spotlight: Pat Henson
It’s no surprise that a 70-year-old woman with 38 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren would eventually tire of running a children’s daycare center. But a year after closing her center, Pat Henson reopened it, and she credits Best Start with providing the...
Helping Families and Kids Off to Their Best Start
A life of service may have been predestined for Public Affairs Officer Alfredo "Freddy" Lee, who comes from a long lineage of community service-oriented family members who have selected careers helping those in need medically, educationally and spiritually."My...
Best Start Communities Help Literacy Take Flight for Families
Parents and their children from Best Start Communities are participating in the Flights of Fantasy Story Theatre “Engaging Family in Literacy” Workshops, which informs parents about the important role story time plays in a child’s development of language and how it...
Groundbreaking for New Tot Park in South LA
First 5 LA and Best Start celebrated the groundbreaking of the new Avalon and Gage tot park for children and families in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 3.The 1/3-acre park, which will be completed in October, will feature play equipment focused on helping to improve...
VIDEO: Central Long Beach Embarks on “Learning by Doing” Journey
Throughout Los Angeles County, Best Start Community Partnerships have embarked on the “Learning by Doing” journey – Best Start‘s approach to Community Capacity Building. Partnerships are collectively moving through the decision making points that will ultimately lead...
Best Start Families Framework Rolls Out
First 5 LA has recently undertaken the rollout phase of the Best Start Families Framework, or BSFF, at each of the 14 Best Start Communities, marking a significant step in the initial implementation of the BSFF.Approved by the First 5 LA Commission in November, the...
VIDEO: Covered CA Forum in Watts-Willowbrook
On November 20, 2013 the Watts-Willowbrook Best Start Community Partnership held a meeting on the Affordable Care Act and Covered California. Local experts and organizations came together to provide concrete support to the community by linking them to information,...
VIDEO: Best Start Metro LA and Panorama City & Neighbors Joint Communications Workgroup
On December 5, 2013, members of Best Start Metro LA and Best Start Panorama City & Neighbors held a joint workgroup meeting at the First 5 LA offices to share and learn about each other’s communications efforts and beyond. Pilar Marrero, journalist of La Opinión...