Pasadena’s Early Child Development and Early Learning Task Force Proposes Changes to Policy Approved in 2015

Pasadena’s Early Child Development and Early Learning Task Force will present amendments to the city’s 2015 Early Child Development Policy before the Human Services Commission, which meets on Wednesday, Jan. 11, at the Jackie Robinson Community Center.

The meeting is in person and begins at 6 p.m.

The Pasadena City Council approved an Early Child Development Policy in March 2015, which contained a Master Plan for the Young Child that intends to bring together a range of services and programs for the benefit of young children. To carry out the Master Plan and the 2015 policy, the City established an Office of the Young Child and approved a critical standing committee to support the work of the office.

The City Council also approved a resolution to support development of an Early Learning City by the year 2025. In its simplest sense, being an Early Learning City is about building the political will to commit to a shared vision of ensuring children’s health and well-being, and learning how we achieve better outcomes for children and families by aligning efforts by a diverse group of stakeholders who contribute to their welfare.

Last November, the City Council moved to approve updates to the policy, taking into account the serious impact of COVID-19 to programs in support of the Young Child.

“The needs of our youngest children and families have not changed, only that today they are worse and requiring more support than ever,” the 2022 update said. “The effects of the pandemic and the larger economic and social concerns have heightened the need for our City and community to serve as leaders in supporting children and families.”

The update also included facts and figures about the state of young children in Pasadena.

“As of 2020, Pasadena had 10,265 children with ages birth to five years old,” a statement included in the update said. “These young children represent 7.2 percent of the more than 140,000 residents living in Pasadena. This represents an increase of 11 percent of children younger than six years of age than there was 10 years ago. This increase occurred among all racial/ethnic groups, except for Black/African American. At the same time, on average, there are 59 less births to Pasadenans each year.”

The number of Pasadena children living below the poverty level had also been trending downward, the statement added.

“There were approximately 1,387 children aged birth to 5 years old living below the poverty level. This is around 14 percent of the birth to 5 years old population,” the statement said. “Here again there remain disparities in outcomes when considering geography. There are two zip codes, 91101 and 91103, which had the lowest median household income levels in the Greater Pasadena region.”

At the core of the Master Plan for the 2015 Policy were eight “building blocks” to address the early childhood needs of children birth to 5 years old and those of their families. The statement said the updated 2022 policy retains the comprehensive concept of “building blocks” through an update and consolidation into three Core Elements: Partnerships/Collaboration and Aligned System for Young Children, Data Collection and Measures of Success, and Strengthening Families.

The presentation for Wednesday’s Human Services Commission meeting was prepared by Carla Hegwood, Program Coordinator of the Library Information Services, and Dr. Vera Vignes, Chair of the Early Child Development and Early Learning Task Force.

At the end, the presentation will stress on some key recommendations for focusing the work of the city’s Office of the Young. These include financing strategies for programming and support, strengthening data collection related to young families, and strengthening the structure and support for implementing the 2022 policy and the Office of the Young Child in general.

The meeting of the Human Services Commission is open to the public.