Who We Are
The Long Beach Early Childhood Education Committee envisions a future where every child thrives and is supported by inclusive, high-quality early education. We strive to ensure families feel supported, educators are equipped with vital resources, and children have opportunities for success, building a stronger community from the start.
We are a broad-based collaborative composed of educators, advocates, ECE providers, parents, special education, health and mental health professionals who all have the common goal of enriching, advocating, and serving the early childhood community in Long Beach. For over 20 years, we have provided services, programs, and resources to families with young children ages 0-5. We have hosted countless Long Beach families at Early Learning & Kindergarten Festivals, providing professional development to over 600 early childhood professionals annually, spearheading ongoing policy and advocacy efforts for families, and being trailblazers for early childhood on a daily basis.
The LBECE Committee operates under the tax exempt status of its Fiscal Sponsor, Heluna Health. Heluna Health is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides various finance, administrative and human resources services to other individuals, entities or organizations providing services aligned with its mission.
Our People
Compassionate, Experienced, and Dedicated
Board & Staff
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Sarah Soriano
Board Chair
Executive Director, Young Horizons
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Jennifer Harper
Board Chair Elect
Executive Director, Long Beach Day Nursery
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Jessica Chon
ECE Program Coordinator
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Joelle L. Landazabal
Member at Large
Program Administrator III, Children’s Home Society of California, Long Beach
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Elia Rocha
Treasurer
Executive Director, Children Today
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Margaret Blevins
Co-Secretary
Director of Programs, Long Beach Day Nursery
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Sharon Barker
Workforce Enhancement Vice Chair/Co-Secretary
Retired LBUSD
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Christina Cortez
Community Impact Vice Chair
Program Coordinator, LBUSD
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Christina Hall
Vice Chair - Public Policy & Advocacy
Director, Community Initiatives at The Nonprofit Partnership
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Elisa Coburn
Fund Development Workgroup Chair
Executive Director, Un Mundo de Amigos
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Gaby Acosta
Marketing & Membership Workgroup Chair
Early Childhood Program Specialist, LB Department of Health & Human Services: Community Health
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Alejandra Moses
Public Policy & Advocacy Workgroup Chair
Early Childhood Education Coordinator, Long Beach Dept. of Health & Human Svcs.
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Karissa Selvester
Public Policy & Advocacy Workgroup Chair
Executive Director, Mayor’s Fund for Education
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Cindy Young
Workforce Enhancement Workgroup Chair
Retired LBUSD
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Danielle Wright
Workforce Enhancement Workgroup Chair'
Principal, Buffum Total Learning Center
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Lisa Robinson
Community Impact Workgroup Chair
NCJW
Our Members
Why ECE Matters
Long Beach Demographics and Early Childhood Statistics
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32,474
Number of children in Long Beach under age 5
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7
Number that Long Beach is in most populous cities in California
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10
The rank number of Long Beach across the nation in diversity
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40%
of Long Beach’s 500,000 residents identify as Latino/Hispanic
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29%
of Long Beach’s 500,000 residents identify as White
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13%
of Long Beach’s 500,000 residents identify as African American
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>12%
of Long Beach’s 500,000 residents identify as Asian
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26%
Of Long Beach residents are immigrants
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44%
Of Long Beach households speak a language other than English
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7%
Of the Long Beach population is under 5 years old
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27%
Of Long Beach children under five years old live in poverty
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3.6%
Children under 18 in zip code 90808 who are living in poverty
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5.7%
Children under 18 in zip code 90803 who are living in poverty
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35.7%
Children who live in households with Supplemental Security Income (SSI), cash public assistance income, or Food Stamps/SNAP benefits
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23%
Children who are eligible for publicly funded EC services; they meet state and federal enrollment requirements for childcare subsidies.
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23%
of Long Beach children are of eligible preschool enrollment age but are un- or under-served by child care/early education (i.e. preschool) services
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13.9%
Of households in Long Beach are headed by a single parent
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Triple
The amount a child's brain increases in the first two years of life
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90%
Of a child’s brain has formed by the age of 5
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16,164
Eligible children who are left unserved
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18 mos
The age when a gap in early vocabulary development between children in poverty and their higher-income peers is evident
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7–10%
Return on the investment that every dollar invested in high-quality early childhood education produces
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$8,000
Average annual child care cost for family childcare
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$13,000
Average annual child care cost for center child care