Charting a Course for Change

Our passion is children and families. It drives everything we do.

2017 saw another year of highly successful programs funded by the Children and Families Commission with nearly 29,000 people reached in our community. We saw homes and lives changed. We saw children learning and parents growing.

We have a tremendous number of things to celebrate.

CELEBRATING THE PAST AND BEGINNING THE PROCESS OF CHANGE

This past year was the beginning of some big changes for the Children and Families Commission. It saw the retirement of John Sims, a legendary Executive Director who literally built the foundation of the Commission from the ground up and developed it into a highly effective, results-driven, community-focused organization. His impact truly can’t be measured and the community is better off because of him.

Now, nearly 20 years since its founding, the Commission has begun a new journey and we’re charting a new course. Multiple changes in the operating environment have required the Commission to consider its future roles and strategies.

The Commission is funded by tax revenue that continues to decline, meaning our future investment decisions have to be more laser-focused than ever. It also means we can’t just continue to do what we’ve done in the past.

However, in this environment of change there is tremendous opportunity and the Commission is facing this head-on.

Starting in the spring of 2017, Commission staff began ongoing meetings with both funded partners and organizations not funded by the Commission to talk about the past, present and future. These discussions and listening sessions were highly instructive as to the status of services in the community and the families we serve. These meetings also began to lay the groundwork for how the Commission could begin to transition through an important, community-based strategic direction and planning process during 2018.

CHANGING OUR COURSE

In anticipation of the evolution of the Commission, we’ve already begun making some strategic changes.

We've changed our name to First 5 Stanislaus to reflect an alignment with the work of other First 5 organizations up and down the state and to honor the significant work occurring through First 5 California and our state association. We’ve always been a First 5 organization and now our name will reflect this.

We're strengthening the nature of our partnerships in the community. We're having deep, community-based discussions on what our future will look like and providing opportunities for community members, partners and other stakeholders to inform our future direction.

And as you’re seeing now, we're introducing our annual report online in a way that will reach more people and more cost-effectively tell our story. We hope you enjoy this new format and we love the opportunity for our community members to share how their lives are changing for the better.

In spite of funding changes, our passion is only becoming stronger. Our commitment to the community has never been greater and our outlook is becoming even brighter.

We expect the path for our new course will be outlined by late 2018. And while we celebrate the successes of the past and the influence on our community, we are boldly looking forward to even greater community impact in the future.

• David Jones
  Executive Director
• Kathryn Harwell
  Chair