First 5 LA Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Fund (EC PAF)

OVERVIEW 

Check out our informational video and slide deck! 

Community Opportunities Flexible Fund (Applications Due 12/20/24 or 2/14/25)

The Community Opportunities Flexible Fund (COFF) creates funding opportunities for organizations that are working to advance systems change for Los Angeles children prenatal to 5 and their families. Funds must support First 5 LA’s mission that every child in Los Angeles County reaches their full developmental potential throughout the critical years of prenatal to age 5. Funds must also advance progress towards First 5 LA’s three goals that children prenatal to age 5 and their families:

• Have their basic needs met
• Have nurturing relationships and environments
• Have a solid foundation for well-being, lifelong learning and success.

We encourage applications from initiatives led by people historically excluded from and/or negatively impacted by the systems for which they are advocating change. For example, this includes people who experience poverty and/or other injustices based on racism, anti-Blackness, disability status, home language, immigrant status, anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, and the like.

Please note that funds may not be used for direct services. Unsure if your work is connected to systems change? Our friends at Social Justice Partners LA put together a wonderful guide defining systems change and explaining how it differs from direct service.

FUNDING

The Community Opportunities Flexible Fund will distribute grants of up to $40,000. Activities must be aligned with one of three strategies to impact children prenatal to age 5 and their families:

• Public policy efforts at the local, state, and federal levels
• Advocating to strengthen public systems, services, and supports
• Growing a social movement to elevate their needs

Specifically, funded activities should support changing systems so that children prenatal to age 5 and their families:

Have their basic needs met. This includes:

• Reducing infant mortality
• Reducing poverty
• Reducing housing insecurity

Have nurturing relationships and environments. This includes:

• Increasing supports for maternal depression
• Increasing choices for healthy foods
• Increasing access to parks and open space

Have a solid foundation for well-being, lifelong learning and success. This includes:

• Increasing early care and education;
• Increasing early intervention services
• Increasing culturally-affirming services.

Applicants should also consider how their activities will be sustained beyond First 5 LA funding.

Funds may be used for a wide variety of purposes related to building community connections and uplifting the voice of people with lived experience to change systems affecting children prenatal to 5 and their families in Los Angeles County, including but not limited to:

• Community engagement
• Grassroots relationship-building
• Building or sustaining coalitions and networks
• Community convening
• Oral histories
• Culturally-affirming narratives and agendas
• Cultural celebrations and gatherings
• Policy and systems education
• Policy implementation and monitoring
• Educating gubernatorial and other candidates for elected office on early care and education and other 0 to 5 issues
• Capacity building, such as learning about the legislative/budgeting process
• Research and data collection to inform public policy, including community-driven research
• Communications campaigns
• Support for workforce development
• Other activities that help build grassroots connections and elevate the voices of people most impacted

Under First 5 LA by-laws, no funds may be used for grassroots lobbying.

APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY

We invite Los Angeles-serving nonprofit organizations, fiscally sponsored projects, social-benefit businesses, and government or tribal entities to apply. Applicants’ total annual budget must be under $6 million (feel free to contact us if you have any questions about this requirement).

FORMS OF AVAILABLE FUNDING

The Community Opportunities Flexible Fund offers funding in various forms to support systems change activities that advance belonging and justice for all Los Angeles children, prenatal to 5, and their families. These include grants, contracts, and payment of direct expenses such as translation services, transportation, equipment, space rental, childcare for meetings, catering, and others (this is not an exhaustive list).

UPCOMING APPLICATION DUE DATES

December 20th, 2024, with awards made in mid to late February.

February 14th, 2025, with awards made in mid to late April.

HOW TO APPLY

APPLICATIONS FOR THE DECEMBER 20th DEADLINE CAN BE SUBMITTED here.

All applications must be submitted through the online application platform Submittable. The application will invite you to answer both multiple-choice and open-ended narrative questions. You will also be asked to upload financial statements and a budget for how you would use funds (template is provided).

A link to apply for the February 14th deadline will be provided after December 20th.

Upon receipt of your application, a member of the Community Partners team may follow up to discuss your application in further detail. Depending on the nature and size of the request, we may ask you for additional information before final decisions are made by First 5 LA staff. Funding decisions may take up to 10 weeks following receipt of each application.

HELP WITH YOUR APPLICATION

We welcome questions via email to Priscilla Romero at promero@CommunityPartners.org (en Español tambien). We will also update our FAQ regularly based on questions we receive.

You can also sign up for our office hours on Zoom in English and Spanish (these are not presentations; they’re open space for questions and answers). We can provide interpretation in other languages if needed—please email promero@CommunityPartners.org to request.

Register for office hours on Wednesday, December 4th at 10am here.

You can also view our informational video and slide deck. 

Check out our informational video and slide deck!

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

Do we have to be a 501(c)(3) to apply? 
No. We will accept applications from 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, fiscally sponsored projects, 501(c)(6) membership organizations, LLCs/corporations/businesses with a social benefit focus, and government or tribal entities.

May we apply if our organization has received COFF funds in the past?
Yes, as long as your grant period will be completed by February 1st, 2025 for December applicants and April 1st for February applicants.

May we apply for both rounds of COFF awards?
No. Please choose one round to apply in.

May funds be used to purchase equipment such as laptop computers for our work?
Yes, equipment purchases are eligible for consideration for COFF awards.

Are statewide groups that are not headquartered in Los Angeles but are doing work in this area eligible for funding?
Yes. However, strong applications will demonstrate significant engagement with and leadership by community members in Los Angeles County.

Are grantees of the Reimagining Systems Fund eligible to apply for COFF awards?
No, Reimagining Systems Fund (RSF) grantee organizations are not eligible to apply for COFF awards. However, we encourage RSF grantees to share information about this grant opportunity with groups you are collaborating with, as field-building is an important priority for ECPAF.

Are current and/or previous grantees of other First 5 LA initiatives eligible to be considered for COFF awards?
Yes, as long as your COFF request is not for the same purpose as your other First 5 LA funding.

HOW DOES THE AWARD PROCESS WORK?

What criteria will Community Partners and First 5 LA use to evaluate and approve awards?
Strong applications will demonstrate that your activities are deeply rooted in Los Angeles County, strongly connected to systems change affecting children prenatal to 5 and their families, are community-driven and include community voices in leadership as much as possible, and are achievable.

Why does the application ask whether we are currently collaborating with the 11 EC PAF Reimagining Systems Fund grantees? Will we be penalized for not collaborating with these organizations?
In our efforts to understand intersections and movement-building across the field, we are collecting data specifically related to current EC PAF Reimagining Systems Fund grantees. There is no requirement to collaborate with these organizations in order to receive a grant and your application will not be negatively affected. We understand that you may be involved in other partnerships and are welcome to provide those details in questions 20 and 21, if you feel they would strengthen your proposal.

How long does the application review process take?
After we receive your application, a member of the Community Partners team may follow up to discuss your proposal in further detail. Depending on the nature and size of the request, we may ask you for additional information before final decisions are made by First 5 LA staff. Funding decisions will be made by mid to late February for December applicants and by mid to late April for February applicants.

WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS IF WE RECEIVE AN AWARD?

What do we have to do if we receive an award?
You will be required to sign an agreement and provide a W9 form and payment information.

What are reporting requirements if we receive an award?
We will send you a final reporting form near the end of your grant period.

What is considered grassroots lobbying?
Under First 5 LA’s bylaws, no EC PAF grant funds may be used for grassroots lobbying activities. Grassroots lobbying is any action to encourage others to take action to influence a new or existing public policy with a policymaker or staff (i.e., urging the general public to communicate the organization’s position on legislation to legislators). IRS information about grassroots lobbying can be found here.

HOW DO WE GET HELP?

Is there a way to talk with someone to get help with my application?
Yes. You can email specific questions to Priscilla Romero at promero@CommunityPartners.org (en Español tambien). You can also attend our office hours on Zoom. These are not presentations, they’re open space for questions and answers) in English and Spanish. We can provide interpretation in other languages if needed – please email promero@CommunityPartners.org to request.

Register for office hours on Wednesday, December 4th, at 10am here.

How do we use Submittable?
Submittable is an online application portal. To submit an application, you must first create a free, Submittable account: https://manager.submittable.com/signup. The email address associated with your account will be used to communicate about your application. Please be sure to use an email account that is readily accessible and that you check often. Submittable should be accessed on Chrome, FireFox or Safari (Internet Explorer is not supported).

How do we get help with Submittable?
For technical assistance related to Submittable, please contact Submittable Customer Support: https://www.submittable.com/help/submitter/. They are available between 9am – 5pm Mountain Time and aim to respond within 24 hours. Additional help for applicants can be found here: https://submittable.help/en/collections/185534-help-for-applicants.

First 5 LA has contracted with Community Partners as an intermediary to co-design and implement the First 5 LA Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Fund (EC PAF) over a five-year period, 2023–2028. Community Partners is facilitating the grant selection process, in alignment with input provided by key stakeholders as described below, and recommends awards for final approval by First 5 LA.

In co-designing EC PAF, Community Partners’ team held listening and learning sessions from July 2022 to February 2023. We interviewed a wide range of organizations and individuals, including service providers and parents from historically excluded communities. The purpose was to open further communications with persons, organizations, and professions (e.g., early childhood care and education providers) that have deep and direct experience and expertise with children’s early development and the systems and supports that help, neglect, or harm them and their families. Those interviewed included early childhood care providers, parents, members of underserved communities, policy advocates, community organizers, government officials, funders, and leaders of networks in Los Angeles County and statewide.

Community Partners made particular efforts to include parents and home childcare providers from highly marginalized communities and grassroots organizations serving – and in many cases led by – people with lived experiences of economic and other injustices, racism, anti-Blackness, colonization, and xenophobia.

We also commissioned a historian to research and write a short history of U.S. policy concerning families and children, and in particular the long history of exclusionary policymaking that continues to the present to harm marginalized communities. The purpose was to deepen our understanding of how policies, past and present, disparately affect quality of life amongst different communities today. We are using some of the rich information gained from these sources to help shape EC PAF.

The people we spoke with also recommended specific grantmaking practices, including providing flexible, multi-year funding with minimal strings attached, supporting compensated participation and leadership by community members, avoiding an “overseer” mentality, extending trust, being more transparent, and funding activities such as process, implementation, celebration, rest, and storytelling. We have tried to incorporate some of these suggestions and recommendations, in alignment with First 5 LA’s long-term goals of enhancing power-sharing and equity in systems, in the design of EC PAF.

For those who are interested, you can find the list of organizational affiliations for the 50 people who provided input at our listening sessions, as well as a summary of what we heard here. You can also read the history of US policy concerning families and children that we commissioned as part of our co-design process.

You do not need to read these documents to apply for funding, however. We are making these available in the spirit of transparency and a commitment to sharing information, as well as appreciation for those who contributed their time and experiences.

First 5 LA advocates for children and their families, to amplify community voice and partner for collective impact so that every child in Los Angeles County reaches their full developmental potential throughout the critical years of prenatal to age 5. First 5 LA uses a “whole child, whole family” framework that considers the context in which children and their families live, grow, and develop. Context includes, for example, economic security, quality childcare, social supports, food security, safe neighborhoods, housing security, mental and physical well-being, the quality of built environments, and the systems and institutions that serve these populations.

First 5 LA’s framework also addresses the pervasive discrimination and racism woven into institutions and structures across society that compound the challenges faced by Black, Indigenous, immigrant, rural, low/no-income, language/cultural groups, and others, and that harm children and families. Histories of colonialism, enslavement, segregation, xenophobia, disinvestment, and discrimination have contributed to current systems that too often fail and harm children and families.

First 5 LA envisions a future where every child is born healthy and thrives in a nurturing, safe and loving community, and works toward three main goals:

1. Children prenatal to age 5 and their families have their basic needs met: Healthy food, secure housing and economic security are the essential cornerstones needed for all young children to reach their full developmental potential.

2. Children prenatal to age 5 have nurturing relationships and environments: Young children’s interactions in both social environments — with their families, caregivers and communities — and physical ones — the spaces where they live, play and explore — have lasting effects on their health and well-being.

3. Children prenatal to age 5 have a solid foundation for well-being, lifelong learning and success: Access to resources such as early care and education, early identification and intervention services, and culturally affirming services and supports are crucial in ensuring children reach their full potential.

The Reimagining Systems Fund is awarding grants of $250,000 to $350,000, renewable for three additional years, to nonprofit organizations active in Los Angeles County. Read about the Reimagining Systems Fund grantees here.

Although the Fund is no longer accepting applications, we are including the information below in case it is of interest.

We invited applications from 501(c)(3) or fiscally sponsored organizations that are working to change public systems and services most critical to children’s development prenatal to 5 and their families, and are doing this in a way that meaningfully involves members of communities that have been historically harmed because of economic injustice and inequities, racism, anti-Blackness, colonization, xenophobia, ableism, anti-immigrant injustice, anti-LGBTQ+, and the like.

We had particular interest in organizations of any size that are in and from these communities and/or where people from these communities are active in leadership roles. We were also open to proposals from two or more organizations working in partnership.

Specifically, priority for funding is focused on organizations that:

• Have meaningful involvement and leadership in decision-making by community members negatively impacted by the systems they are advocating to reimagine, including people from communities that have historically experienced economic injustice and inequities, racism, anti-Blackness, colonization, xenophobia, ableism, anti-immigrant injustice, anti-LGBTQ+, and the like
• Engage in systems or policy change affecting children prenatal to 5 and their families, including but not limited to: agenda setting, narrative change, policy change, practice change, budget/financing change, community mobilizing, relationship-building, implementation, and policy monitoring.
• Are addressing in a meaningful way one or more of First 5 LA’s long-term systems outcome areas:
  • Equitable: Public systems eliminate systemic biases in mindsets, policies, procedures, and practices
  • Power Sharing: Communities and public systems share power in the development, implementation, and improvement of policies, procedures, and practices that impact children and families
  • Financing: The financing mechanisms of public systems are sufficient and incentivize a whole child, whole family, prevention-oriented approach
  • Accessible: Public systems are connected, aligned, and seamless

Funding from the Reimagining Systems Fund may be used for staffing (including health and other benefits, vacation and leave time, training, self-care, etc.), overhead expenses, and a wide variety of other activities directly related to changing systems serving children prenatal to 5 and their families. Examples include – but are not limited to – organizing early childhood provider communities, trainings and information sharing with a systems/policy or implementation change focus, health policy projects, community leader stipends, community-building, organizing, and policy implementation.

Under First 5 LA’s bylaws, no EC PAF grant funds may be used for grassroots lobbying activities (such as urging the general public to communicate the organization’s position on legislation to legislators). More information about grassroots lobbying can be found here.

Deadline and application process for the Reimagining Systems Fund

The application deadline for Year One of the Reimagining Systems Fund was Friday, April 21st, 2023. Organizations receiving funding may be eligible for renewal, subject to fund availability and grantee progress and circumstances, for up to three additional years.  All grant recommendations are subject to final approval by First 5 LA, while keeping in mind the recommendations and practices derived from Community Partners’ listening and learning sessions.

Reporting, convening, and other requirements for the Reimagining Systems Fund

Grantees are required to participate in a limited set of evaluation activities, including providing written reports/reflections and participating in occasional surveys or conversations with Community Partners and/or First 5 LA staff and evaluator(s) upon request. Community Partners and First 5 LA value learning about what grantees are finding that works as well as what doesn’t work. Both are important and equally valuable in understanding problems and solutions.

Grantees of the Reimagining Systems Fund may be required to attend at most one funder-led convening annually.

Reimagining Systems Fund Timeline

• Optional informational webinar: Thursday, March 30 at 3 pm
• Application due: Friday, April 21, 2023
• Award notifications: late May 2023 (delayed to mid-June 2023)
• Year One grant period: starts in June or July 2023

Application instructions 

A full proposal consists of the following:

1. Application form completed via Submittable.
2. Response to the five (5) required narrative questions, uploaded through your Submittable application in Word or PDF format.
3. Completed budget template, uploaded through your Submittable application in Excel format.
4. Organization’s financial statements from the most recently completed fiscal year, audited if available (in PDF or Excel format).

Review criteria

In evaluating proposals for funding recommendations, the Community Partners team is focused on:

Systems Impact: The proposal demonstrates the potential to create meaningful system change (policies, processes, institutions, common practices, etc.) impacting children prenatal to 5 and their families in LA County.

Equitable/Meaningful Involvement: The proposed work attempts to address root causes of inequitable systems and is led by community members who have lived experiences with inequities.

Actionable: The proposal seems feasible within the described timeframe and budget. The applicant appears to have the capacity, capability, and knowledge to execute the work.

For more information 

• FAQ (Last updated on 4/18/23 and including questions from the information session and after.)
• Slide deck from information session
• Recording of information session

For more information

Please send questions to Priscilla Romero at promero@CommunityPartners.org (en Español tambien).

You can also attend our office hours on Zoom. These are not presentations, they’re open space for questions and answers, in English and Spanish. We can provide interpretation in other languages if needed – please email promero@CommunityPartners.org to request.

Register for office hours on Wednesday, December 4th at 10am here.

For technical support with Submittable, please contact Submittable directly at https://www.submittable.com/help/submitter/. They are available between 9am-5pm MT and aim to respond within 24 hours.

For additional applicant resources, please see: https://submittable.help/en/collections/185534-help-for-applicants