December 2024 F5M Newsletter

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December 2024 F5M Newsletter

Highlights from the First 5 Mendocino Team

30 Participants in Advanced

Motivational Interviewing (MI) Training

Coastal Coordinator Updates

Positive Parenting Awareness Month Advertisement

Why Our Kids Must Thrive

Bonnie Boek shared this fantastic and inspiring video with staff about why our kids must thrive.


How are the children in your community? If your answer can be “the children in my community are well,” you’re saying lots of things—food sources are secure, medical resources are abundant, infrastructure is operating, family units are intact, enemies are at bay, there is peace in the community. These things have to be true for children—and adults—to thrive. If they are not, it is up to us in the community to do something about it.


When we view children as simply replacements for the adults before them, this diminishes the beauty, opportunity, and humanity of these young individuals. What if every child, regardless of racial or socioeconomic status, had the opportunity to grow and become who they are already inherently capable of becoming? If we think of children as seeds, we can see what they are capable of if given what they need to thrive and flourish.


Chris Brewster is the founding leader of Santa Fe South Charter Schools in Oklahoma City. He strives to be a positive disrupter of systems that do not care well for children.

BrightLife Kids

A CalHOPE program by Brightline

Justice-Doing of Kin First Training

On December 4 & 5, Kevin Campbell presented the Justice-Doing of Kin First Training, sponsored by First 5 Mendocino.


Families, in all the different ways they may look and function, are the foundational unit of love and security in our society and should be seen as the greatest resource for children to grow and achieve their full potential. Kin First and Family Finding practices are essential in how all professionals work with families, as they emphasize the importance of maintaining and strengthening familial connections…


Read the entire blog post by clicking below:


Powerful Insights from the Justice-Doing of Kin First Training - First 5 Mendocino

25th Anniversary Proclamation

On December 3, 2025, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors adopted a proclamation recognizing the 25th Anniversary of First 5 Mendocino in Mendocino County.


Read the entire blog post by clicking below:


Celebrating 25 Years of Dedicated Service

Imagination Library

#EndDiaperNeed

Upcoming Events


  • Office Closed: December 24-25, 2024

  • Office Closed: January 1, 2025

  • January 3: Virtual Justice-Doing of Kin-First

  • January 13-17: Montana Winter Institute (10-11 AM Daily Online)

  • January 21-22: CASA CSEC Trafficking Summit  

  • January 22: Positive Parenting Awareness Month at the Capitol

  • January 31: Opioid Awareness Event, Consolidated Tribal Health

  • February 3: Finding a Way Through Trauma Conference

  • February 10-12: First 5 Association Conference in San Diego

  • March 5: SAVE THE DATE “The Way of Play” Dr. Tina Bryson and Georgie Vincent