Priority Areas, Desired Outcomes & Objectives

First 5 Commissioners agreed to focus on three core priority areas, and explored ways to invest more meaningfully (but not exclusively) in “upstream” and systems-level changes as a way to leave a lasting legacy in the face of declining funding levels.  At the same time, Commissioners would like to maintain some support for much-needed programs and services delivery that have historically been the emphasis of First 5’s investments, while recognizing that declining funding levels do not allow for previous levels of funding to be maintained across the board.

For each core priority area – strong families, high quality early learning, and children’s health and development – an “upstream” approach to these priority areas would emphasize prevention and early intervention, providing the tools and opportunities that could avoid some of the adverse consequences of not investing early enough and changing or strengthening the infrastructure and systems that may inadvertently contribute to problems “downstream.”

The result of these discussions and deliberations is the Strategy Road Map, below.  Each priority area includes the following:

Desired outcomes – What First 5 and its partners hope to achieve

Community Level Impacts – Indicators of community-level progress that First 5’s investments would contribute to (but for which First 5 would rely on support from other community partners, as well)

Objectives - how First 5 plans to achieve or contribute to achieving the desired outcome

Strategies – categories of activities First 5 will invest in to achieve the outcome

Each strategy, in turn, is described in terms of key activities (organized by each of the four years of the strategic plan) that delineate key steps for First 5 Merced County.

Please see links below for detailed information regarding First 5 Merced County’s three priority areas.