As a Bay Area native Calyn Kelley has grown to appreciate and value qualities such as perseverance, commitment, and hope. These qualities were essential in his personal triumph over escaping a childhood environment ravaged with poverty, drugs, and violence. Now as a parent and recent graduate of the University of San Francisco’s Urban and Public Affairs Program, Calyn emphasizes that values of perseverance, commitment, and hope must be paired with equity and accountability to progress from development of self to development of community. Calyn has worked with several community and school district educational programs developing curriculum for disadvantaged youth and believes that the effort to support students must start from birth. In 2018 Calyn served as a Measure A Campaign Field Fellow and has recently completed a 300-hour internship with the County of Alameda’s Early Care and Education Program. He looks forward to a career of public service with a focus on the development and implementation of equitable early care and education policy.