A Community-Driven Strategic Plan for First 5 Sonoma County

The Challenge

With the November 2024 passage of Measure I, a voter-approved countywide sales tax, and the final year of the 2021-2026 Strategic Plan, First 5 Sonoma County was in need of a robust strategic planning process to map out the next five years. Additionally, the Measure I ordinance includes an eleven-member appointed Community Advisory Council to provide implementation recommendations to First 5 Sonoma County. Recognizing the opportunity to dramatically shift the early childhood landscape in Sonoma County, First 5 Sonoma County wanted a planning approach that deeply engaged the county’s voters and critical partners.

VIVA was engaged in early 2025 to design and implement the strategic planning process, which included the launch and ongoing facilitation of the Community Advisory Council.

The Approach

VIVA initiated our collaborative design process with First 5 Sonoma County by first grounding in their diversity, equity, belonging and anti-racism (DEBAR) framework, which centers around listening to those closest to the issues and designing for the margins. Using that as our guiding lens, VIVA conducted a review of current community-level data and identified several core planning groups, which included:

1. The Measure I Community Advisory Community (CAC): This Board of Supervisors-appointed group included representatives from the early care and education (ECE) workforce, parents or guardians of children under the age of six, the local Child Care Resource and Referral agency, and representatives from pediatric and/or perinatal health and/or mental health care systems. VIVA facilitated the CAC over six public meetings, where members reviewed relevant local data and detailed proposals from First 5 Staff, heard public comment, and then formalized recommendations about health and ECE strategies and funding allocations.
2. A Strategic Planning Committee: This Committee included two current First 5 Sonoma County Commissioners, four community partners, the First 5 Sonoma County Executive Director and First 5 Sonoma County Deputy Director. VIVA facilitated the Committee over four sessions to provide comprehensive feedback on the Strategic Plan framework, and narrowed feedback on two of the plan’s priority areas.
3. An Ad-hoc Joint Committee: VIVA facilitated a one-session ad-hoc group made up of two members from the Measure I CAC and three members of the Strategic Planning Committee to review a final set of draft strategies and ensure alignment across priority areas.
4. First 5 Sonoma County Commission: VIVA presented the draft priority areas and goals to the First 5 Commission and gathered input for a final draft plan review at a Special Commission meeting in November 2025.
5. First 5 Sonoma County Staff: VIVA facilitated seven planning sessions with the full program staff, and facilitated at least two dozen planning meetings with various combinations of staff to review synthesized input and develop draft plan components for review and feedback by the various planning bodies.

Each of the planning groups above were informed by input gathered and synthesized from numerous community feedback efforts. Complementing a needs assessment conducted by Equity First Consulting, VIVA held a listening session with ECE providers in both English and Spanish, a listening session with over 20 health community partners, and a focus group of Federally Qualified Health Centers.

The Impact

Through this comprehensive 9-month process, the First 5 Commission approved a set of early Measure I investments for rollout in 2025, and adopted the final 2026-2031 Strategic Plan in December 2025. Since then, VIVA has continued to support First 5 Sonoma County in its implementation of the strategic plan, including facilitation of a Sonoma County Early Relational Health Consortium.