From the moment headlines hit back in 2011 about First 5 LA mismanaging funds under ED Evelyn Martinez to the day ED Kim Belshe indicated she was laying off an entire department because of declining revenues because there was no longer a need for those departments according to the new strategic plan - but then turned right around and promoted 4 staff members into Senior leadership positions- we should have known that this organization was doomed from the beginning because it hasn't fix what has clearly been the root cause of all it's issues: POOR LEADERSHIP. As a result, all decisions made, including major ones that have huge implications, rarely ever make sense and are rarely consistent in their justification across the board. There is a lack of true transparency and accountability!
When Kim Belshe took over, there seemed to be high hopes that someone who worked in the government sector could come and help bring a new energy and organization to First 5LA. And did she do that? Yes and no. Indeed, Kim is smart and organized, but she led with intimidation and fear. It was evident at Board meetings that even the Board was afraid of her. And everyone knows you can get true buy-in from staff on decision making processes if the culture you have created is one of fear and intimidation. People will follow you because they have to but when they find something better, they will be gone, which is what happend. We had lost a lot of key staff because of Kim's poor leadership. Kim also attempted to promote DEI but it was never a genuine approach that she took. It was obvious that it was done to just check off the box that it was done because of the whole black lives matter movement. And how could things ever get done when there were so many layers of approvals that staff had to go through. I mean Kim did a reorg that created so many leadership members that the approval process had more layers than a 9 layer cake! Not to mention that most of the leadership were/are incompetent, hide behind big fancy words, and are never held accountable for their lack of or poor actions. So even if they approved anything, did they actually know what they were approving? So why wouldn't they stay if they get paid a healthy salary to sit in meetings all day long and do absolutely nothing productive or anything that creates value for their teams or the organization themselves. Besides, they had ED Kim Belshe to protect them because she never did anything to course correct these problematic leadership members. Instead, what she did was promote them into senior leadership members.
And then when Kim Belshe informed the organization that she would be stepping down, again there was hope that things would be better. With a new ED, culture would shift in the right direction, staff morale would be boosted, true DEI would be embraced and leadership would be held accountable for their actions. But sadly, it did not. Why has ED Karla Pleitez Howell not addressed the culture in this organization and why has leadership remained functioning at the level that they do, which is an embarrassment and disgrace, given how much they are paid. Why has the Board and public not looked deeper into how First 5 LA really functions? How does First 5 LA expect to function with declining revenues when it's continually cutting funding on programs and services but spending more and more on staff salaries, consultants, and renovations???? Please make this make sense!!
