Orange County, California Pioneers Model to Help Cities Prioritize Kids Under 5

Only about half of the kindergarteners in Orange County, California, are developmentally ready for kindergarten, while about 80% have the emotional maturity and social competence necessary for school, according to the Early Development Index (EDI), an assessment of social-emotional development, cognitive development, language and communication skills and physical health.

The Early Childhood Friendly City initiative addresses these early learning gaps by supporting municipalities in prioritizing early childhood development across various sectors like education, health and housing. 

La Habra, California was the first municipality to join the initiative, which was launched in March by First 5 Orange County (First 5 OC), a public agency focused on enabling children to reach their full potential. The city issued a resolution signaling its commitment to prioritize early childhood development. “We’re going to see a whole different La Habra as far as education and success,” declared Mayor Rose Espinoza. “We believe in what you’re doing, we believe in our children, and we believe in our community.”

Erwin Cox, who leads family and community engagement at First 5 OC, says La Habra, which has a population just over 60,000, fits the initiative because of its size and character. “It’s a very small city, and everybody knows each other, and people tend to stay there.”

But what does it actually mean for a city to be early childhood friendly? “For us, it means community partnerships, learning each other’s systems,” said Joanna Perez, executive director for early childhood development in La Habra. 

The early childhood city designation represents a fundamental shift in how municipalities think about their youngest residents, she added. Rather than viewing early childhood services as separate from traditional city functions like infrastructure, public safety and economic development, La Habra has recognized that investing in children from birth through age 5 is essential for community prosperity.

“We’re intentional about where we’re placing things, how we’re doing it, with the ultimate goal of exposing kids to lifelong learning,” said Perez.  “We want them to be able to love learning and be confident.” Early childhood perspectives permeate all aspects of city planning and development. “Always having that early childhood or education person in the room, along with engineers and city council,” said Perez, “means that everybody relates to what we’re doing. It’s also their story.”

It’s Perez’s own story too. The mother of 6-year-old triplets was born in La Habra and benefited from the types of programs she now oversees. Perez explained that she helped design her role leading the city’s division of early childhood development, which she said is funded by grants from the California Department of Education, the California State Preschool Program and California Department of Social Services, along with federal funding for food programs.

The city’s early childhood journey didn’t start with the resolution. Tiffany Alva, First 5 OC’s director of partnerships and government affairs, described it as the public manifestation of a long process of engaging government, health care, real estate development and other business interests in the well-being of children. “La Habra already had a strong early childhood foundation,” she said. “The initiative isn’t about starting from scratch — it’s about connecting the dots, aligning what’s already there and expanding access so more families can benefit.”

Little Learners, a kindergarten readiness program in La Habra, exemplifies the kind of local program the initiative supports. The program has been serving the community since 2019. It brings together educators and families for activities and learning. 

Irish Domantay, a mother living in La Habra, said Little Learners contributed to her 4-year-old son’s development. As a toddler, he had a speech delay, she said.  “I wanted him to get a little bit more exposure to the community and among his peers.” She said he’s been attending Little Learner for three years, and it helped him grow. “Oh my gosh, he doesn’t stop talking now,” she said. At Little Learners, she said, “he’s with his peers and interacting. They also have the food pantry there, and so it’s just a really great way to not only get parent interaction, but also get extra resources.”

Andrea Granados, another local mom, benefited from the city’s efforts on behalf of families with young kids. When Granados moved to La Habra from nearby Buena Park, she felt overwhelmed. In Buena Park,  she said, “I know the whole school system, I know all the school teachers, I know programs of where to go to. So coming here was like, okay, where are we going?” Granados said the Gary Center, a health clinic serving La Habra and surrounding communities provided her with the guidance she needed. “The community liaison said Little Learners is probably a good place for you to bring your children. And we did.” Granados started taking her kids to Little Learners every Wednesday, which helped them build relationships with other families.

With the resolution, La Habra intends to help more families like Domantay’s and Granados’ gain access to early intervention services, peer interactions and high-quality learning opportunities for their young children. The initiative also aims to help parents find community, access resources and build the relationships that make a neighborhood feel like home. When city leaders make decisions about parks, transportation, housing and services, they will consider how those decisions will affect young children.

It’s too early to measure direct changes in EDI scores from La Habra’s resolution. In fact, Alva explained that a variety of efforts contribute to the kind of long-term impact EDI measures, but she said goals include:

• Strengthening cross-sector collaboration so city departments, schools and community partners are aligning policies and practices with early childhood in mind by 2026.
• Building parent and caregiver engagement in early development initiatives, with the goal of 50% of families participating in at least one city-supported program or event annually by 2027.
• Expanding access to quality early learning opportunities so that 90% of children ages 0-5 are engaged in some form of enriching care or preschool by 2028.

In June, the city of Anaheim became the second city to join the initiative and the vision is to continue expanding, explained Cox. “We’re trying to push forward resolutions in Santa Ana and Garden Grove as well, in an effort to bring in government, and bring everybody on board to support this.”

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