Isabella Project
Highest-Quality Early Childhood Education Initiative
About the Isabella Project
In Ventura County, over 22,000 children are between ages 3 and 4, qualifying them for early childhood education. Unfortunately, approximately 12,000 of these children are unable to gain access to this vital and life-changing opportunity. Together, we can fix this!
The challenges are many, and include:
- Availability of appropriate facilities located throughout the county.
- Workforce conditions: is the system capable of hiring a relatively large number of qualified teachers, trainers and other specialists?
- Transportation for children from their homes to educational centers located throughout the county.
- Administrative operations that can manage the programs from either a centralized or decentralized system.
- Creation of a parental support system.
As you can see, the variety and complexity of issues currently preventing access to highest-quality early childhood education will take all of us working together to solve. There are areas in our own community where the likelihood of undergoing adverse early childhood experiences is extremely high. We see a pattern of ZIP codes that have a prevalence of poverty, food insecurity, single parent households experiencing daily childcare crises, and a lack of affordable housing. These risks expose children to an over 90% likelihood of one or more delays in their cognitive, language, or emotional development.
One of these ZIP codes is our beloved Santa Paula. Santa Paula is a prime example for demonstrating how the establishment of a high-quality early childhood education system can be paid through the existing government preschooling entitlements, combined with philanthropy. We believe that Santa Paula is uniquely positioned to be the first community in California where 100% of all children have access to full-time, highest-quality early childhood education opportunities, and that this pilot program will be the first phase of a larger effort so that all children in Ventura County are able to access the most effective and promising anti-poverty strategy – education!
Your community foundation is going all in to ensure the earliest possible interventions to help young children grow and thrive and to build strong, nurturing families.
The “Isabella Project” is the name of the pilot project to make highest-quality early childhood education available to 100% of 0- to 5-year-olds in Santa Paula. This group is comprised of over 120 community partners from across Ventura County and sectors ranging from higher education to child care to mental healthcare and more. The project aims to serve as a model to be replicated throughout Ventura County.
Make Ventura County a better place to live
Make Ventura County a better place to live
Isabella Project Newsletter
The Isabella Project newsletter provides updates on the awesome work of the Santa Paula Early Childhood Education Steering Committee, as well as community and policy updates regarding local education.
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Isabella Project Lunch & Learns
Join us for our Isabella Project Lunch & Learns, featuring guest speakers from the Isabella Project Steering Committee. These calls are available to all community members to hear about the awesome work happening in Santa Paula to promote highest-quality early childhood education.
Economic Development & Childcare with Bruce Stenslie & Laura Espinoza
Santa Paula Unified School District Strategic Plan with Jeffrey Weinstein, Tim Smith, and Dr. David Moore
Santa Paula Social Services Coalition with Anna Casillas and Sylvia Alvarado
| Date | Guest speaker & topic | Links (English) | Links (Spanish) |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 31, 2024 | Housing Access and ECE with Susy Lopez-Garcia (Community Action of Ventura County) | Register Now | |
| October 25, 2024 | Museum of Ventura County with Loribeth Gregory-Beck | View Recording | |
| September 27, 2024 | Businesses and Early Childhood Education with John Marquez (Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce) and Ashley Goldstein (Women's Economic Ventures) | View Recording | Audio en Español |
| August 30, 2024 | Update from Santa Paula Unified School District with with Jeffrey Weinstein (SPUSD) | View Recording | Audio en Español |
| July 26, 2024 | VCOE Early Childhood Education Initiatives with Alicia McFarland (Ventura County Office of Education) | View Recording | Audio en Español |
| June 28, 2024 | ECE Summer Programs & Activities with Michael Shanklin (kidSTREAM) | View Recording | Audio en Español |
| May 31, 2024 | Whole Child – Whole Family Approach to Early Childhood Development with Dr. Gagan Pawar (Clinicas de Camino Real) and Petra Puls (First 5 Ventura County) | View Recording | Audio en Español |
| April 26, 2024 | CSU Channel Islands’ Early Childhood Education Program with Dr. Mari Riojas-Cortez (CSUCI) | View Recording | Audio en Español |
| February 23, 2024 | Housing for Early Childhood Educators and Families, Demographics with Clay McCarter (County of Ventura) and Dr. Jamshid Damooei (California Lutheran University) | View Recording | Audio en Español |
| September 20, 2023 | Parent Ambassador Program with Stacy Miller and Eva Brune (Stacy Miller Public Affairs) | Video Recording | Audio en Español |
| August 16, 2023 | Youth & Homelessness with Kay Wilson-Bolton (Spirit of Santa Paula) and Maria Jimenez | View Recording | Audio en Español |
| July 19, 2023 | Child Development Resources with Jack Hinojosa | View Recording | Audio en Español |
| June 21, 2023 | Esperanza Project with Elvia Hernandez | View Recording | Audio en Español |
| May 17, 2023 | Santa Paula Social Services Coalition with Anna Casillas and Sylvia Alvarado | View Recording | N/A |
| March 15, 2023 | Santa Paula Unified School District Strategic Plan with Jeffrey Weinstein, Tim Smith, and Dr. David Moore | View Recording | Audio en Español |
| February 8, 2023 | Economic Development & Childcare with Bruce Stenslie & Laura Espinoza | View Recording | Audio en Español |
Creating opportunities, one child at a time
News
"The idea of 'children are the future' is not a cliché. It is one of the most potent arguments for creating a better tomorrow for all. The skill sets young children need to develop as they mature to create a good life, become productive, healthy, emotionally balanced and socially engaged are increasingly becoming a multifaceted subject."
Jamshid Damooei, Ph.D.