Bilingual App for Early Childhood Educators

Access to tech and creative industry employment

South LA East LA West LA

Research (initial work to identify and understand the problem)

Early childhood educators are the backbone of our child care system, yet they are exhausted, underpaid, and under-resourced. Educators who operate small businesses often work in isolation, with limited access to high-quality, culturally relevant professional development. This is particularly true for Spanish-speaking educators, who face both language and cultural barriers. According to the 2021 LA County Child Care Needs Assessment, licensed programs serve only 18% of working parents with infants and toddlers. Meanwhile, 82% of children in the county speak Spanish, and 47% of the early childhood workforce in California identifies as Latino/a. Burnout is driving workforce shortages, especially in communities of color. Without culturally grounded, accessible support, we risk losing both quality care and workforce stability. As a former teacher and family child care provider, I’ve experienced this lack of support firsthand and that's what fuels my commitment to bring Brilla to life.

Brilla Early Ed is a bilingual (Spanish-English), educator-centered mobile app designed to uplift early childhood educators with practical, healing-centered tools they can access anytime, anywhere. This grant will fund a 9-month pilot across Los Angeles County, focused on those most often left out of traditional professional development such as family child care providers, new teachers, and leaders juggling multiple roles in under-resourced communities.
Brilla is built on four core pillars: emotional and professional coaching, social-emotional learning (SEL), accessible professional development, and community building. The app offers bite-sized videos, behavior guidance strategies, SEL tools, wellness practices, group trainings, and real-time 1:1 coaching- all rooted in cultural responsiveness, not just translation.
What makes Brilla unique is that it will center educators’ voices at every stage. During the pilot, we’ll co-create content alongside local teachers, expand our content library, and gather data on usage, satisfaction, and impact.
Our goal is to reduce stress, boost retention, and provide a culturally relevant alternative to rigid professional development models. This means meeting educators where they are, whether between diaper changes, after school, or during nap time. More than just an app, Brilla is a movement to remind educators they are not alone AND that they are worthy of support that reflects who they are.

Brilla Early Ed will help reshape LA County’s early learning workforce by offering sustainable, scalable support to educators who have long been overlooked. Our vision is a system where educators feel equipped, connected, and cared for. Brilla will support workforce stability by reducing burnout, improving retention, and promoting healing-centered, culturally responsive professional development. This includes both public and private sectors, especially small business owners like family child care providers and center-based programs. In a county as linguistically and culturally diverse as LA- where 82% of children speak Spanish and 47% of the ECE workforce is Latina- Brilla offers a tool that reflects their realities. As we scale, we’ll ensure accessibility and affordability across program types, strengthening the pipeline and sustaining child care availability.