Contra Costa’s Earn It! Keep It! Save It! (EKS) campaign helped nearly 2,500 low-income working families and individuals file free tax returns last year, resulting in over $3.5 million in refunds.

As chair of the county’s Family Economic Security Partnership, a collaboration dedicated to increasing the income and building the assets of low-income families and individuals living in Contra Costa County, I would like to thank the 137 volunteers who helped prepare these returns.

First 5 Contra Costa has been involved in FESP since its inception because children thrive when they live in financially stable families. Research has shown that when a family’s income increased, the children were better able to identify colors, letters, and shapes, knew more words, and repeated grades less frequently.

In today’s financial climate, fundamental supports for children’s health and well-being are at risk – stable and safe housing, sufficient food every day, access to health care, safe outdoor spaces to play, and high-quality child care. The Earn It! Keep It! Save It! campaign is one way to boost a family’s income.

In addition to free tax preparation, volunteers help filers claim tax refunds such as the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Care Tax Credit, which are available for low- to moderate-income individuals and families. Some families may receive returns over $4,000.

While the campaign has helped 12,000 Contra Costans since 2004, the IRS estimates that 20-25% of those eligible for the EITC do not receive it, resulting in $9-12 million in unclaimed tax credits in our county alone. Many low-income filers pay up to $200 to get their taxes done, and many fall victim to predatory quick loans and inflated interest rates.

We have more work to do, and we need your help to do it. As we prepare for this season’s campaign, please consider sponsoring or operating a tax assistance site, providing equipment or laptops, helping us to recruit volunteers, or distributing information about available tax assistance sites.

To sponsor or operate a site, or for more information about how you can help in Contra Costa County, contact Carol Finis Perez, EKS Coordinator, at 510 412 9290 x 17. To volunteer for the campaign, please visit www.earnitkeepitsaveit.org.

- Sean Casey, Executive Director

• Find the latest info on California's budget at www.cbp.org.

• Lawmakers are considering modifying the state's safe-surrender law AB 1048 (Torrico) to extend the amount of time that parents can anonymously surrender their babies, from three days after birth to 30. The bill has passed the Assembly and is being considered by the Senate Appropriations Committee. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed three similar attempts to extend the safe-surrender period.
  

• Kidsdata.org is planning to expand beyond the Bay Area and will soon provide data that can assist communities across California in making decisions on programs and policies that affect children. Kidsdata.org, a program of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health, makes data easily accessible to policy-makers, service providers, grantseekers, media, parents, and others who influence kids' lives.

• Find tips to help ensure that your child is emotionally healthy from First 5 CA Exec. Dir. Kris Perry. KCRAinsider

First 5 Contra Costa Commissioners voted to extend funding to Planned Parenthood Shasta - Diablo last month for prenatal services while the agency finalizes a new, long-term funding arrangement with the County.

First 5 has funded Planned Parenthood’s prenatal care services for the last three years. Our funding has provided prenatal services to 1,500 high-risk women at three clinic sites. First 5 funding was set to end June 2009.

Meanwhile, over the last several months, Contra Costa Health Services has been working to contract with Planned Parenthood to provide prenatal services at its current sites. The goal was to get the new contract in place so that prenatal services were not interrupted when the First 5 grant ended.

Unfortunately, the contracting process has been very time-intensive and strained by the ambiguity of the state budget so Planned Parenthood and a coalition of local hospitals and health clinics asked First 5 to bridge the funding.

Commissioners agreed and allocated an additional $125,000 to Planned Parenthood to keep services up and running for the next six months. Combined with a grant from the County's Contra Costa Futures Fund, Planned Parenthood now has enough funding to continue prenatal services without interruption as plans with the County are finalized.

The Lift Every Voice Program, which has provided case management services for incarcerated pregnant women for the past four years, is now assisting teen fathers incarcerated in the County’s Juvenile Hall facility.

Probation officers contacted First 5 staff a few months ago when two clients were required to complete parenting classes. Partnering with Lift Every Voice was an ideal solution since the program has such in depth experience with the issues incarcerated parents face.

The program’s coordinator Jeannie Cummings says at first she tried to meet with the fathers in a group setting, but soon realized that incarcerated young men were uncomfortable communicating in front of peers. She then began meeting with the dads one-on-one.

“Keeping a public front is very important to these young men so I knew right away that we had to change course,” said Cummings. “Now I focus most of my time on helping them to understand what it means to be a father. This can be challenging since they’ve had very little experience being parented themselves.”

Ms. Cummings helps the fathers to understand what to expect when parenting an infant, including stages of development and the importance of bonding with their babies from the start. She also focuses on the issue of domestic violence and the damaging effects it can have on a child’s development.

Lift Every Voice is a program of Contra Costa Health Services’ Family Maternal and Child Health Program and is designed to help incarcerated pregnant women and teens deliver healthy babies. First 5 Contra Costa co-sponsors the program.

For more information, click here.

First 5 Contra Costa's Central County Regional Group implemented their sixth annual "Healthy and Active Kids" Family Fair last month. Congratulations to our dedicated volunteers, whose hard work resulted in over 750 local families coming together to learn more about child nutrition, school readiness, and the importance of physical activity in young children's lives.

This year's event focused on making Central County a healthier and more family-friendly place by teaching children to have fun with fitness through activities such as relay races and playing in a Bounce House. Children also participated in arts and crafts, got their faces painted, won raffle prizes, and enjoyed entertainment and music.

The Central County Regional Group is made up of volunteer parents and caregivers who conduct projects to promote healthier families and communities. This fall, they plan to continue coordinating low-cost physical activity classes for young children through their partnership with the City of Concord.

For more information about First 5 Contra Costa's Regional Groups, contact Rhea Elina Laughlin: (925) 771-7312.

Attention licensed child care providers! 

First 5 Contra Costa is offering grants up to $500 to purchase books at our annual Ready, Set, Read Child Care Literacy Fair. A total of $110,000 is available to support 220 different licensed child care programs. Recipients will be selected using a lottery system with priority given to sites not selected to participate last year.

Download the simple one-page application here.

Summer is still in full swing, but your child’s first day of kindergarten will be here before you know it. 
 
To help transition your child from a familiar home environment to an exciting new classroom, First 5 Contra Costa offers parents and caregivers the following tips to help prepare children for their first day of school.

•  Get immunized: Make sure your child is ready to start the school year by visiting your pediatrician and getting the required vaccinations for school enrollment.
   
• Set your clocks for school schedules:  A good night’s sleep helps young students to succeed in the classroom.  Put children on a schedule before school starts and have them go to bed and wake up earlier. Let your child become involved with picking clothes – lay them out the night before.        
   
• Prepare for the separation. If possible, visit the new kindergarten setting with your child. Introduce your child to the teacher or early childhood professional in advance. Arrange a play date with another child from the program or class so that your child will see a familiar face when walking through the door the first day.
   
• Eat breakfast: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  If you are not able to provide a healthy breakfast, contact your school to learn more about free breakfast programs available for your child.
   
• Read together:  Try to read with your child daily. Reading together helps your child to prepare for reading and listening to stories in the future. Even a few minutes of reading time each day improves a child’s readiness for school.
   
• Take an adventure together:  Before school starts and on weekends, try visiting places where you and your child can learn together, such as museums, libraries and parks.  Later you may ask, “What was something you learned today?”
   
• Always say good-bye to your child: Be firm, but friendly about separating. Never ridicule a child for crying. Instead, make supportive statements like, "it's hard to say good-bye." Be enthusiastic. If you are excited and confident, your child will be, too.

For more information about helping your child prepare for kindergarten, contact First 5 Contra Costa: (925) 771-7300 or visit www.firstfivecc.org.

Nearly twenty South East Asian pregnant and new mothers are participating in the Hand-to-Hand home visiting program, which launched one year ago to provide more effective support services to underserved African American and Asian families living in Richmond and San Pablo.

First 5 Contra Costa allocated $1.2 million over three years to form the Hand-to-Hand Collaborative, which is led by Aspiranet/Welcome Home Baby and includes Lao Family Community Development (LFCD), Bay Area Community Resources, and Neighborhood House of North Richmond. Services are provided to expectant parents and families with newborns living in North Richmond, "Old" San Pablo, and Richmond's Coronado and Iron Triangle Neighborhoods.

Amy Lieu, the lead case manager for Lao Family Community Development, credits the program’s cultural expertise, participation and recruitment incentives, and outreach strategies for successfully reaching previously underserved South East Asian families.

“It is very important to speak the same language as the families we’re trying to serve and adjust the program to respect their culture,” said Lieu. “Trust is an issue with most families we work with, but especially with refugees. These families are more suspicious about letting people into their homes and are more likely to distrust the government or government programs.”

Once enrolled in the program, Hand-to-Hand home visitors meet regularly with parents and provide information on parenting, child development, safety, health insurance, immunizations, and available community resources.

One effective recruitment strategy has been to hold monthly workshops and social events at the West County First 5 Center in San Pablo. The mothers determine the topics and activities and are encouraged to recruit friends and family potentially eligible for the program to attend. All attendees receive a participation incentive.

The program has also had success recruiting families from small, family-owned Asian markets in the community.

According to Lieu, the majority of West County South East Asian Families are Mien or Lao, followed by Vietnamese and Khmu. The First 5 grant has enabled LFCD to use new resources to engage Vietnamese families, which the agency had difficulty engaging in the past.

“In many Asian cultures, the parents’ role is to make sure they provide for their child and the baby grows up healthy,” said Lieu. “I spend a lot of time explaining the importance of talking, playing, and bonding with their baby. Engaging with their baby in this way is a new concept.”

Since starting last July, the Hand-to-Hand program has served nearly 80 families.

To make a referral, please contact (510) 307-4401.