Growing Up Garden Grove’s vision is to educate families and community partners about the importance of early childhood, encourage early learning advocacy, and empower adults with the tools they need so that all of Garden Grove’s children have an equitable start in school and life.
Growing Up Garden Grove is the newest Engaged Neighborhood, formed about three years ago. This group was formed as a subcommittee of the Garden Grove Collaborative to focus on the development of children ages 0-5 in the city.
Leveraging First 5 OC funds, the City of Garden Grove has designated key staff housed at the Magnolia Park family resource center and is working in partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Garden Grove to lead the Engaged Neighborhood efforts.
Engaged Neighborhoods in Action:
- Engaging community partners: Growing Up Garden Grove has engaged 15 partner organizations to strengthen the network of resources available to parents and caregivers.
- Meaningfully engaging parents: Growing Up Garden Grove has held over 20 family workshops and activities on topics from mental and dental health to building early childhood literacy through story times.
- Neighborhood focus: After reviewing the most recent Early Development Index data and Neighborhood Equity Index, the collaborative decided to concentrate its efforts on the Rancho neighborhood in Stanton, which supports families in both Stanton and Garden Grove.
Garden Grove Early Development Index:
The Early Development Index (EDI) is a population-based measure of a child’s readiness for kindergarten based on five domains: physical health, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communications skills and general knowledge.
Percentage of children on track by domain
Percentage of children on track in all domains by neighborhood
Looking Ahead
Each of the four Engaged Neighborhoods recently went through a process to identify their dreams and plans for the next three years with First 5 Orange County. Here are the areas that Growing Up Garden Grove is working on.
- Bringing Kid Builders resources to the community, and continuing to work with local libraries and other partners throughout the year.
- Using Early Development Index data to target outreach and trainings and bring tangible, needed activities and resources to families.
- Implement targeted supports to the Rancho neighborhood alongside the City of Stanton.