First 5 Leadership Institute

Advancing California’s Early Childhood Leaders

Register for Upcoming Sessions

Field in Focus Track - A Journey Through the “New” Digital Childhood with Kris Perry, Children and Screens

What responsibility do we have in ensuring healthy digital lives for all children? In this special session, explore the new digital ecology of childhood, the decisions that build it, and what it will take to change it.

REDI Track - From Commitment to Practice: Spotlight on REDI in Action

Participants will explore common challenges, creative strategies, and lessons learned while reflecting on their own strengths and opportunities.

Nurturing Leadership Through a Connected Ecosystem

At the heart of our commitment to strengthening early childhood systems is the belief that leadership is a journey shaped by community, continuous learning, and shared purpose.

That’s why we’ve designed a Leadership Development Ecosystem that grows with you, offering multiple pathways for engagement and development over time.

This phased approach ensures that leaders at every stage, emerging, evolving, or established, have access to the support they need.

Each component of the ecosystem is intentionally designed to build on the others, creating a cohesive and dynamic structure.

"For advocacy, I used the guidance to create a Commission agenda item to endorse a ballot measure and to inform what actions I can take after that endorsement that is legal."

Advocacy TrackAdvocacy and the Law session attendee

"Plan to utilize some of Elliot Haspel talking points on the importance of child care when engaging with elected officials/business sector to advocate for financially supporting quality child care for families."

Field in Focus TrackReimagining America’s Approach to Children & Families with Elliot Haspel session attendee

Leadership Institute Offerings

Learn at your pace, deepen your impact

Virtual Learning Tracks

Focused, self-guided or facilitated sessions designed to build core competencies and explore emerging topics in early childhood leadership.

Grow through shared experience

Communities of Practice

Join peer-led groups where members explore challenges, share strategies, and deepen their practice in a collaborative, trust-based setting.

Additional Offerings Launching Soon

Launching November 2025

Affinity Circles

Spaces to connect and lead authentically.
Identity-centered groups that offer space for connection, reflection, and empowerment, helping leaders bring their full selves to their work.

Launching November 2025

Leadership Lab

Mentorship, support, and guidance through connection.
Pairing experienced leaders with emerging ones to foster one-on-one learning, reflection, and professional growth rooted in relationship-building.

Launching 2027

Fellowship Program

Lead with purpose and shape the future.
A capstone opportunity for early childhood leaders to apply their learning in a real-world project while contributing to system-wide change.

Leadership Institute Session Calendar

Skill-building and reflection

Family Partnership

What does it look like to center families in every stage of your work—from planning to decision-making to implementation? This 90-minute REDI session will spotlight how First 5 El Dorado and First 5 Santa Cruz are using Human-Centered Design to co-create services with parent leaders. You’ll hear from staff and parents about what worked, what was challenging, and what’s next—and leave with practical strategies for fostering authentic, equity-driven family engagement.

From Commitment to Practice: Spotlight on REDI in Action

Join us on October 23 for a peer learning session highlighting how counties are putting Race, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) into practice. This session will feature spotlights from First 5 Sonoma, Contra Costa, and Merced, sharing how they are navigating political pushback, strengthening community capacity, and innovating to advance equity. Participants will explore common challenges, creative strategies, and lessons learned while reflecting on their own strengths and opportunities. Together, we’ll dig into what it means to treat REDI as a verb and build a stronger, more inclusive early childhood field.

REDI in Action

Join us for REDI in Action, a quarterly virtual space designed for peer connection, reflection, and problem-solving around Race, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) in the First 5 Network. These lightly structured conversations center on rotating topics, with prompts to spark dialogue, share challenges, and highlight local innovations. The sessions also offer updates on the latest work of the REDI Core Team and provide opportunities to give feedback and shape the tools and supports being developed for the network.

Advocacy and the Law: What Public Agencies Can (and Can’t) Do

This session will equip First 5 leaders with a clear understanding of the parameters around legislative advocacy and ballot measures. Participants will learn how to evaluate different types of advocacy activities, identify clearly impermissible actions, and recognize when to seek legal counsel. The session will also offer practical guidance on using public resources responsibly while advancing policy goals.

The Power of Your Voice - Advocacy Messaging that Moves

Details coming soon.

Strategies for Engaging Elected Officials

Details coming soon.

Regional Commissioner Roundtables

First 5 Commissioners are invited to participate in a series of informal virtual roundtables designed to foster connection, shared learning, and peer support. Hosted by region—Northeast, Northwest, Sacramento, Bay Area, Central Valley, and Southern—these six sessions offer commissioners the opportunity to engage in conversation with peers from similar counties, explore common challenges, and exchange ideas to strengthen local governance and impact. Whether you’re newly appointed or a long-serving commissioner, these meet-ups are a space to connect, reflect, and grow together.

First 5 Commissioner Onboarding: Understanding the Network, Role, and Impact

Join us for an onboarding session designed to welcome new commissioners to the First 5 Network. This session will provide an introduction to the history and structure of First 5, the statewide case for investing in early childhood, and the essential responsibilities of county commissioners—including ethics, compliance, and key governance resources.

First 5 Staff Onboarding: Understanding the Network, Mission, and Our Collective Impact

Join us for an engaging onboarding session designed to welcome new First 5 staff into the statewide network. This session will introduce the history and structure of First 5, explore the powerful case for investing in early childhood, and provide an overview of key staff roles across counties. We’ll highlight how First 5 teams work together—within and across counties—to advance equity and improve outcomes for California’s youngest children and their families. Whether you’re new to the organization or looking to deepen your understanding of the network, this session offers a valuable foundation for your work ahead.

Reimagining America’s Approach to Children & Families with Elliot Haspel

First 5 Association invites you to a special conversation with author and early childhood policy expert Elliot Haspel, as he shares insights from his newest book, Raising a Nation. In this timely discussion, Elliot makes the powerful case that childcare is not just a service, but a core American value, essential to strong families, a strong workforce, and a strong nation.

Don’t miss this opportunity to be inspired and to reflect on how we can collectively advance a vision for a nation that truly supports children and the people who care for them.

A Journey Through the “New” Digital Childhood with Kris Perry, Children and Screens

Today’s children are growing up in a world unlike any before, for better and for worse. Technology and digital media shape nearly every moment of their lives. From parents checking their phones, their first video chat with Grandma, their first tablet, their first smartphone, their first social media account or viral trend – digital experiences are woven into how children learn, play, connect, and grow. But alongside the opportunities come new risks. What are the impacts of the new digital ecosystem that surround childhood? Has technology lived up to its promise? Most importantly, what responsibility do we have in ensuring healthy digital lives for all children? In this special session, explore the new digital ecology of childhood, the decisions that build it, and what it will take to change it.

Kris Perry, MSW, is the Executive Director of Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development, a leading research and education nonprofit in the field of digital media’s impacts on children and adolescents and the host of its Webby Award-nominated educational programs, the Screen Deep podcast and Ask the Experts webinar series. Prior to her current role, she has led systems change efforts at the local, state and national levels in her roles as Senior Advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom of California and Deputy Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, and Executive Director of First 5 San Mateo, First 5 California and of the First Five Years Fund. Recognized in the California Social Workers Hall of Distinction, Perry has fought to protect children, improve and expand early learning programs, and increase investments in low-income children. Perry was instrumental in returning marriage equality to California after the landmark 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Hollingsworth v. Perry, which she wrote about in her book Love on Trial (Roaring Forties Press, 2017).

Additional Resources / Optional Pre-Work

Screen Deep Podcast Episodes

Early Childhood Development and Screen Use | Dimitri Christakis, MD, MPH
Reading and Writing Skills in the Age of AI | Naomi Baron, PhD
Language Development, Learning, and Play in Early Childhood | Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, PhD
Parent Media Use, Technoference, and Its Effects on Children | Brandon McDaniel, PhD
More Screen Deep!

Ask the Experts Webinars

Research at a Glance

Visit our “Learn and Explore” library for additional resources.

Leadership Development and Learning Is Part of Our Focus and Our Future

Part of First 5 Association’s Strategic Framework goals is developing and implementing comprehensive leadership development programs and learning opportunities for members of the First 5 Network, the early childhood field, and other sector leaders.

Our goal is to have more leaders in California who prioritize the health and well-being of young children and their families—and have the knowledge, tools, and experiences to create sustained change.

Leadership Institute Advisory Council

The First 5 Leadership Institute’s Advisory Council is a small group of thought partners who will help shape the Institute’s design, implementation, and evaluation.

Our advisory council members bring a range of perspectives, professional expertise, and lived experience. They are committed to building an inclusive, innovative, and sustainable supports for California’s early childhood leaders.