In September several members of the Bright Beginnings and Bright Futures Backbone/Steering Partners attended a training from Strive Together, an organizer of nationwide Cradle To Career communities. Team members attended sessions about data collection, successful project examples and the importance of equity in our work. The newest member to the Bright Beginnings Backbone and First 5 Monterey County, Tamara Hamai, said, “Hearing the examples of successes in setting up and using data systems that promote data-driven decision making was exciting. We’ll be using these examples to guide our data work moving forward.” Janet Shing from the Community Foundation for Monterey County and Bright Futures Steering Partner shared a major takeaway for her from the conference is, “I am going to advocate even stronger to have the voice of lived experience among the steering partners. This may take extra effort in creating the space and supporting people who may feel intimidated, but it is critically important.” Tamara captured the feeling of the Monterey attendees, “Being surrounded by people with the same goals was great, but even better was building a strong shared vision between Bright Beginnings, Bright Futures and First 5 Monterey County.”
