The Heising-Simons Foundation’s Education program invests in opportunities that seek to break the link between demography and outcomes. One area of focus for this strategy is elevating family voices to improve public services for families of young children in California, and ensure children receive the early experiences that support their long-term learning and development.

In 2018, the Foundation supported VIVA Social Impact Partners to gather stories from families, including their perspectives, experiences, and opinions on navigating public services, highlighting some of the challenges and promises California’s families see for their children and their future. These stories are now online at California Family Voices.

Using focus groups and interviews in three California counties—Fresno, Los Angeles, and San Mateo—California Family Voices captures lived experiences, highlighting the significance of including family perspectives in the discussion around systems change and better educational outcomes for children. It’s important to consider how California’s public support systems are affecting families and how they understand and experience the landscape of services available to them.

VIVA Social Impact Partners focused the project on public assistance programs, as nearly a quarter of California’s young children live in poverty. Access to these programs is critical as they allow families to receive support from public agencies, and as a result, create better lives for their children.

California Family Voices tells families’ stories in their own words. Visit the website to meet these families under the “Meet the Families” pages, or explore different aspects of navigating public services on the “Public Service Perspectives” pages.

There is still a significant amount of work to do to ensure families, as the true experts about their children, are front and center when it comes to early childhood. Join us in engaging with families and learning from them to inform our everyday work.