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Accomplishments To Date

At-Risk Newborns, Children and Families Are Receiving More Support:

• To ensure that no child will lose access to health care because of a family’s lost employment or increased health care premiums, First 5 Contra Costa, First 5 California, and 57 other First 5 commissions allocated at total of $16.7 million to guarantee that no child 0–5 ends up on a Healthy Families waiting list.  950 children in Contra Costa received health insurance as a result. 
• Home visitors have served over 8,500 families, including first-time parents, families with medically vulnerable infants, and incarcerated and other high-risk expectant mothers. Services have improved parent-child bonding and ensured most children were up-to-date on immunizations and had health insurance.
• Over 7,500 parents and children have completed classes on parenting, child development, and raising children in smoke-free environments at the five First 5 Centers. Parents report feeling less isolated and 80% have made fundamental improvements in how they care for their children because of the program. 
• 150 mothers with substance abuse issues and at-risk of losing their children participated in residential substance abuse treatment, while their children received mental health services. Participating mothers have made improvements with addiction and parenting practices and most program graduates retained custody of their children.

Children with Special Needs and their Caregivers Are Receiving Help Sooner:

• Mental health specialists have observed over 1,800 children with emotional, developmental or behavioral problems. Children in need were referred to services to improve their long-term development.
• Over 450 parents and 220 child care providers received support for caring for children with special needs. Parents and providers both reported that services provided taught them new skills to address social, emotional, behavioral, or developmental delays and other disabilities displayed by young children.

Children Are Receiving Higher Quality Child Care:

• Over 5,000 child care providers have participated in a program designed to increase their education and training, both significant indicators of program quality.
• 50 child care sites, mostly located in low-income communities, have participated in a program that provides grants and coaching to help child care programs meet national accreditation standards, the country’s highest mark of quality. The number of accredited child care programs in Contra Costa County has doubled in just four years because of this service.

At-Risk Children Are Entering Kindergarten Better Prepared:

• School readiness preschools have helped 1,800 low-income children significantly boost their social, communication, and problem-solving skills.  Children enrolled for two years nearly doubled their scores on pre-and post-test assessments of skills needed to enter kindergarten fully prepared.
• 150 low-income children are participating in high-quality preschool through First 5 Contra Costa's Preschool Makes a Difference scholarship program. 

More Parents are Learning About the Importance of the Early Years:

• Over 65,000 Kits for New Parents – a “how to“ resource including parenting DVDs and information on child health and development – have been distributed to help parents care for their newborns.
• First 5 Contra Costa is a co-sponsor of 211, a cutting edge information system that is helping the growing number of families in crisis find the critical help they need. County First 5 commissions are the single largest funder in the state of 211.
• Weekly English and Spanish parent education radio programs reach over 25,000 Bay Area listeners each week.

As of June 2010