Meet Us

The Santa Monica Early Childhood Task Force was founded in 1980 with staff support from the City of Santa Monica to convene a diverse group of stakeholders focused on improving early childhood education. Today, our Task Force is a volunteer group of parents of Santa Monicans Under Five, early childhood educators and providers, community members, representatives from local agencies and institutions including Santa Monica College, the City of Santa Monica, and SMMUSD, and current and former elected city officials.

The Task Force is made up of two groups. We welcome everyone to our every other month General Meetings! Zoom in and learn more about what we're doing to support our youngest Santa Monicans! 

If you want to be more involved,  we invite you to join our Steering Committee, which meets monthly on Zoom. Our Steering Committee approves our annual workplan, sets the agenda for general meetings, and strategizes priorities and calls-to-action.

There is strength in numbers and we are eager to grow and develop the Task Force with the next generation of young parents and early education providers. Join our Google Group or contact us directly at  sm.earlychildhoodtaskforce@gmail.com.

Steering Committee

Julie Taren, Chair

Judy Abdo, former Mayor

McKenna Belgarde, past co-chair

Rocio Bravo, Providence/St. John's Health Center

Ivy Chang, City of Santa Monica

Jennifer Cowan, Connections for Children

Shari Davis, Santa Monica College, past co- chair  

Natasha Guest Kingscote, City of Santa Monica

Angela Herrera, Early Childhood Wellbeing Project

Betsy Hiteshew, retired SMC faculty

Louise Jaffe, former SMC Board Chair

Elda Lazaro, community member

Megan Kelly, community member

Sirinya Matute, community member

Pauline McPeake, Growing Place, past co-chair

Susan Samarge Powell, SMMUSD Child Development Services

Michele Sartell, community member

Ben Swett, Early Engagement 

Laila Taslimi, Untitled No. 1 School, past co-chair

Community Partners (past and present)

The Task Force and Santa Monica families are forever grateful for the extraordinary vision, persistence, and effectiveness of our pioneering leaders and early supporters, including Judy Abdo, Judith Brunk, Linda Gordon, Betsy Hiteshew, Iao Katagiri, Ellen Khokha, Joanne Leavitt, Irene Zivi, and others!