Want Fresno County to be a top place to raise kids? Focus on first five years | Opinion

Fresno County ranks among the best places to raise a family.

Imagine that headline in your morning feed or on the front page of The Fresno Bee. There is a collective effort to make that headline a reality — institutions working to ensure families are thriving all along the cradle-to-career continuum.

As a public agency charged with supporting the healthiest start in life, we at First 5 Fresno County see the health and well-being of our county’s youngest children directly connected to the well-being of the adults in their lives. Our work is inherently linked with every institution working to improve the quality of life for our residents. As a member of the Fresno Cradle to Career Partnership, we work alongside leaders from 10 different sectors, holding the shared vision that all children in our county are on a path to success in school, work and life.

Don’t take it from me, the Nobel Prize Economist James Heckman said: “the highest rate of return, specifically 13%, comes from investing as early as possible, in early childhood development, from birth through age five.” In other words, the greatest return on investment for our community begins in the womb and into the first five years of life when 90% of the brain develops.

Knowing this, might we all agree it is imperative we work together as neighbors, employers, colleagues, and as a society to make sure the babies in our spheres of influence are doing well? Things like normalizing conversations with friends and family about whether baby is reaching developmental milestones, implementing flexible work options to take care of children and supporting co-workers and neighbors when an emergency at home arises. All of these things help our community thrive.

Talking about developmental milestones sounds overwhelming, but it truly isn’t. Waving “bye-bye,” taking that first step and kicking a ball are a few examples of these milestones. Talk to your doctor about your child’s milestones and trust your gut when you have a concern.

According to the national Centers for Disease Control, “the connections in a baby’s brain are most adaptable in the first three years of life. These connections, also called neural circuits, are the foundation for learning, behavior and health … Early intervention services can change a child’s developmental path and improve outcomes for children, families, and communities.”

At First 5 Fresno County, we are grateful to share the vision of the Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools that only together we can build the community our Fresno County residents deserve. We are proud to partner with FCSS to offer a high-quality child-development center within the Lighthouse for Children in downtown Fresno.

We hear from parents like CJ whose three sons attended the child development center where they experienced smaller class ratios, were encouraged to maintain their home language and have their developmental milestones tracked and discussed with her regularly. CJ’s oldest son is weeks away from graduating from kindergarten and he’s already reading on grade level! Mom speaks of the joy she has when she hears her son read an entire book to her. That’s the hope we want for every child raised in Fresno County.

A thriving Fresno County named the best place to raise a family is possible if, in our sphere of influence, we do our part. Let us support the parents in our lives as their babies grow. Those babies will turn into third graders reading on grade level, who will then be more likely to be high school graduates ready to pursue college or other post-secondary options.

When institutions see themselves as each responsible for supporting today’s adults as they raise the adults of tomorrow, we inspire each other to find innovative ways to collaborate, improve systems for families and create a ripple effect that will make the community we call home the one we dream of.

Together we can make this vision of a vibrant community a reality — and it starts with supporting those critical first five years of life.

Fabiola Gonzalez is executive director of First Five Fresno County.