FEATURED LEADERS
Our Featured Leaders are Early Childhood Community stakeholders who work to make Oakland smarter and stronger. They are parents/caregivers, providers, educators, and collaborators.
Diana Garcia, First 5 Alameda County
The strength of Oakland Starting Smart and Strong is our collaborative, made up of parent advocacy groups, early care and education providers, policymakers, community and systems partners, funders, and people like Diana Garcia, who has taken on many of these roles over her career.
Currently Senior Policy Administrator at First 5 Alameda County, Diana is also chair of the OSSS Policy Committee and a co-facilitator of the Oakland Family Child Care Policy Group.
How did you get into the early care and education field?
I’m the oldest child of immigrant parents, from northern Santa Barbara county, and because of my lived experience, I was always curious about how systems work and impact families like mine. After college, I started as an early childhood teacher in Head Start and Universal PreK classrooms in the Bronx. This was during NYC’s Universal PreK expansion, and I became really interested in the interaction between place, health, early education, and how different trajectories emerge when children and families are truly supported from the early years. Working directly in the classroom, I experienced firsthand the challenges I now advocate for, particularly around workforce support and comprehensive family services.
Fast forward to getting my Masters in Public Health and then a fellowship with the Packard Foundation where I got to know OSSS originally and dive into systems-building efforts that are in support of children, families, and communities. After that fellowship ended, I was interested in getting hyper-local, working on place-based efforts that center communities where I lived. So that’s when I came on to First 5, where I’ve been focused on supporting policy efforts that build a more equitable early care and education system.
Tell us about your work with Measure C at First 5. Folks may know you as the one who kept time during public comment!
Measure C represents an exciting opportunity that emerged from the dedicated work of our community and advocates. In my role, I've been providing regular updates at community meetings and staffing our Community Advisory Council meetings, where I facilitate the public comment section. As an organization, we deeply value community input, so it's essential that community members feel comfortable and welcomed when they participate in this process. And yes, I was the one calling out names and keeping time during public comment! (laughs)
What Measure C brings is the opportunity to build a more cohesive system that addresses the unique needs of young children—encompassing early care and education, health and well-being, workforce development, and support for the whole family. This coordinated approach will help us better serve our youngest residents and their families.
How is the federal landscape affecting your work?
This is a challenging time for entire communities, with significant uncertainty at all levels of government. In light of all these changes and threats to funding and policy, we need to continue to center family voice and family experience in everything we do. The big picture is that the core needs of families haven’t changed. Families still need access to quality affordable early care and education. Families still need their basic needs supported– housing stability, healthcare access, economic security, and community safety. What I try to focus on is staying grounded in our vision and continuing to elevate those core family needs, even as the external landscape shifts. We're working to build resilient local systems that can weather federal policy changes while maintaining our commitment to serving families. Working with our community partners is a key part of that approach.
Currently Senior Policy Administrator at First 5 Alameda County, Diana is also chair of the OSSS Policy Committee and a co-facilitator of the Oakland Family Child Care Policy Group.
How did you get into the early care and education field?
I’m the oldest child of immigrant parents, from northern Santa Barbara county, and because of my lived experience, I was always curious about how systems work and impact families like mine. After college, I started as an early childhood teacher in Head Start and Universal PreK classrooms in the Bronx. This was during NYC’s Universal PreK expansion, and I became really interested in the interaction between place, health, early education, and how different trajectories emerge when children and families are truly supported from the early years. Working directly in the classroom, I experienced firsthand the challenges I now advocate for, particularly around workforce support and comprehensive family services.
Fast forward to getting my Masters in Public Health and then a fellowship with the Packard Foundation where I got to know OSSS originally and dive into systems-building efforts that are in support of children, families, and communities. After that fellowship ended, I was interested in getting hyper-local, working on place-based efforts that center communities where I lived. So that’s when I came on to First 5, where I’ve been focused on supporting policy efforts that build a more equitable early care and education system.
Tell us about your work with Measure C at First 5. Folks may know you as the one who kept time during public comment!
Measure C represents an exciting opportunity that emerged from the dedicated work of our community and advocates. In my role, I've been providing regular updates at community meetings and staffing our Community Advisory Council meetings, where I facilitate the public comment section. As an organization, we deeply value community input, so it's essential that community members feel comfortable and welcomed when they participate in this process. And yes, I was the one calling out names and keeping time during public comment! (laughs)
What Measure C brings is the opportunity to build a more cohesive system that addresses the unique needs of young children—encompassing early care and education, health and well-being, workforce development, and support for the whole family. This coordinated approach will help us better serve our youngest residents and their families.
How is the federal landscape affecting your work?
This is a challenging time for entire communities, with significant uncertainty at all levels of government. In light of all these changes and threats to funding and policy, we need to continue to center family voice and family experience in everything we do. The big picture is that the core needs of families haven’t changed. Families still need access to quality affordable early care and education. Families still need their basic needs supported– housing stability, healthcare access, economic security, and community safety. What I try to focus on is staying grounded in our vision and continuing to elevate those core family needs, even as the external landscape shifts. We're working to build resilient local systems that can weather federal policy changes while maintaining our commitment to serving families. Working with our community partners is a key part of that approach.