Now through September 15, 2005
Arts Change Exhibit: “Food and the Family Table: Re-Taking Time”
 
8:30-12:30 and
1:30 – 4:30 M-F
Richmond Health Center, First floor
100 38th Street, Richmond An exhibit exploring the history of food in Richmond, from the early Native American times to the fast food nation today. The exhibit, partially funded by a First 5 Family-Friendly Community grant, encourages families to return to cooking, talking and eating together.

Sunday, May 15, 2005
Special Needs Information Fair
 
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Saint Mark’s Church
149 Harbour Way, Richmond Come learn about agencies in the West County area that provide services and support for children with special needs. Informational workshops will be provided on immigration, parenting, and relationships. Contact(510) 758-6777 for more information.

Saturday, May 21, 2005
Inclusion Summit: Bringing the Community Together
 
9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Embassy Suites Hotel
1345 Treat Boulevard, Walnut Creek
The Contra Costa Child Care Council invites parents and providers to come together to discuss rights, responsibilities, and benefits of inclusive child care. Jean Murell-Adams, attorney and special education advocate, is the keynote speaker. RSVP to (925) 676-5442.

Saturday, May 28, 2005
Spring Appreciation Tea for Mothers
 
3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Nick Rodriguez Center
213 F Street, Antioch
The Antioch First 5 Center is hosting a special tea for mothers with children 0 to 5. There will be a story time and pictures with Clifford the Big Red Dog, arts and crafts, and refreshments. For more information, call: (925) 757-5303.

Saturday, June 25, 2005
Learning Together Multicultural Family Fair
 
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Ellis Lake Park
Between Clayton and Ellis, Concord
First 5’s Central County Regional Group presents their second annual Fair for young children. Enjoy games, prizes and entertainment, arts and crafts, parent information booths, and more. Call (925) 335-9991 ext. 38 for more information.

Childhood Matters schedule
 
Tune in to Childhood Matters Sundays from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on 98.1 KISS-FM
for parenting information and advice. Visit
www.childhoodmatters.org
to learn more and listen to past shows.

5/15/05:
Understanding Temperament

5/22/05:
Disciplining Our Children With Respect

5/29/05:
Fun Adventures with Your Kids

6/05/05:
Autism

6/12/05:
Sibling Rivalry with Dr. T. Berry Brazelton

6/19/05:
Involving Fathers

Nuestros Niños Topics
 
Childhood Matters’ Spanish-language counterpart, Nuestros Niños, airs every Sunday at 8:00 a.m. on KLOK Cumbia 1170 AM and KBBF, La Nuestra 89.1 FM.

5/15/05:
Nuestros Niños Who are Immigrants Also Have Rights: What Are Those Rights?

5/22/05:
Homework and After School Programs: How Do They Benefit Nuestros Niños?

5/29/05:
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism: Illness that Threatens and Spreads to Nuestros Niños.

6/05/05:
Benefits of Pre-School for Nuestros Niños.

6/12/05:
Foster Parenting.

6/19/05:
Celebrating Father's Day.

6/26/05:
Performing Arts and the Developing Child.

On behalf of First 5 Contra Costa, I want to thank the dedicated volunteers of our East County Regional Group for their hard work and success. Last month, the Group organized their fourth annual Week of the Young Child Fairs, which included three events throughout East County. Each Fair offered free activities for young children and valuable information for parents on health and safety, parenting, finding child care and more. Nearly 1,000 parents and children attended. We are so proud of the hard work our volunteers do to create safe, nurturing communities for our children. Congratulations to the East County Regional Group on the best Week of the Young Child Fairs yet!

-- Brenda Blasingame, Executive Director

• Our spring print newsletter is now available.
• On April 19, 2005, Rob Reiner and a broad-based coalition of business, labor and education leaders announced they will file a June 2006 ballot initiative to offer quality preschool programs for all California 4-year-olds whose parents choose to enroll them. Find out more.
• $500 Ready, Set, Read Literacy Fair grants will be available soon. Look for the application on our Web site starting May 13th.
• The First 5 Centers’ May calendar is now available! Click here to find programs and services happening at the Antioch, Far East and Monument Community First 5 Centers.
• Raising A Reader applications are due May 13, 2005.

Have you met TIGO yet?

TIGO is a new tool designed by First 5 Contra Costa to help parents be their child’s first and most important teacher. This practical resource contains high-quality children’s books, learning materials, and fun, engaging activities that encourage parents to talk, play, and read with their young children. All contents are bilingual, in English and Spanish.

TIGO is designed for 2 1/2 to 5-year-olds participating in our School Readiness Initiative, which provides new preschool, parent education, and outreach programs in 35 Contra Costa communities with low-performing elementary schools (e.g., schools with low standardized test scores). These communities are located in Antioch, Bay Point, Concord, Pittsburg, Richmond and San Pablo.

Approximately 70 percent of all children entering kindergarten in the eligible communities have not mastered basic school readiness skills, according to a recent survey of their kindergarten teachers.

To make sure that TIGO is instructional for both parents and children, the kit is only distributed by trained professionals and outreach workers via home visits, parent-child workshops, or play groups. Most families receive at least three visits on TIGO. At the third visit, parents complete a post-test to evaluate how well the kit is working.

Read more about TIGO in our spring newsletter.

TIGO is full of fun, interactive materials and activities to help young children learn:

• Colored blocks
• Colored beads and strings
• Play dough
• Child-safe scissors
• Puppet
• Crayons
• No-choke tester tube
• 3 books: A is for Airplane, A es para avión, Oh the Colors, De Colores, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?
• TIGO stickers
• Color and Shape cards
• On-the-Go cards: a series of no cost activities that parents can do to engage children while waiting, playing outdoors, exploring the neighborhood, shopping, and helping.
• At Home cards: music and movement, art, and cooking activities provide visual, step-by-step instructions to encourage parent-child interaction at home.

Contra Costa Health Services' Promoting Smoke-Free Families Project (PSFF) will launch a new public education campaign this month designed to decrease children's exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke.

The campaign consists of a made-for-television Public Service Announcement starring local children and print ads placed in bus shelters and movie theatres in Richmond and San Pablo. The message of the campaign is to tell smokers “no smoking in the house” and to “take it outside,” rather than smoke around young children in their homes or cars.

Children are especially vulnerable to secondhand smoke because they are still growing and developing. Infants and children exposed to secondhand smoke have difficulty breathing and are more likely to get colds or suffer from pneumonia, bronchitis and other lung diseases or develop asthma or allergies.

PSFF is a partnership between the Family, Maternal and Child Health Program and the Tobacco Prevention Project, Community Wellness and Prevention Program. We give them a $240,000 Tobacco Education grant to provide information and training on the harmful effects of secondhand smoke on children ages 0-5.

Information about the PSFF Project is available on www.cchealth.org.

300 participants attended our recent forum on Preschool for All (PFA). Now we’re ready to kick-off the PFA planning process! Join us on June 2, 2005 to outline the planning process and establish work groups on issues such as governance, workforce development, program standards, and facilities.

As a reminder, we’ve partnered with the County Office of Education and the Contra Costa Child Care Council to plan for PFA locally. We are not committing funds for universal preschool because we anticipate eventual funding from the state.

The meeting will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Willow Pass Center (2748 East Olivera Road, Concord). Please RSVP by May 17, 2005 to (925) 335-9991.

On April 30, 2005, Richmond’s Jack in the Box Preschool moved one step closer to offering the highest quality child care available in Contra Costa County. Dozens of workers – contractors, parents, and community volunteers – came together to replace outdated, unsafe play equipment with a brand-new play area.

Jack in the Box is one of 22 child care programs participating in the Contra Costa Child Care Council’s Early Learning Demonstration Project (ELDP). The ELDP helps licensed child care programs meet national quality standards. Fewer than 25 licensed child care programs out of 1,780 in Contra Costa meet these standards.

ELDP participants receive grants, one-on-one mentoring, intensive training on effective teaching practices, facilities improvements, and onsite support. Most ELDP child care programs are located in low-income neighborhoods. Studies show that at-risk children who attend quality child care as preschoolers are less likely to be enrolled in special education programs in elementary school and are more likely to go to college.

The Child Care Council implements the ELDP with a $600,000 First 5 Early Childhood Education grant. For more information, contact Rossnina Ruggieri at (925) 676-5442 or visit http://www.cocokids.org/index.taf?id=1001423.

The First 5 Centers are offering free activities on May 31st to celebrate World No Tobacco Day. Join them for children’s activities, arts and crafts, giveaways and parent information booths on asthma and the dangers of secondhand smoke.

Antioch First 5 Center - 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
315 G Street, (925) 757-5303

Bay Point First 5 Center - 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Ambrose Community Center, 3105 Willow Pass Rd.
(925) 709-2023

Delta First 5 Center - 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
760 First Street, Brentwood, (925) 516-3880

Monument Community First 5 Center - 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
1760 Clayton Road, (925) 671-6237

West County · 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
MLK Community Center, 360 Harbor Way S.
(510) 559-3031 *4000

Transportation Available!
Meet at Dover Elementary or the Nevin Center @ 4:45 p.m.