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First 5 Riverside Bulletin March 2019
A MESSAGE FROM TAMMI Dear Friends, Can all of you feel the momentum behind Governor Newsom’s bold budget and priorities for early childhood? The excitement and enthusiasm continues to grow here in Riverside County as we anticipate what our state will look like with young children at the forefront! Our new governor continues to "walk the walk" in ensuring every child in California has a healthy start in life in his budget priorities but also in who he is selecting to serve beside him. He recently appointed the state’s first-ever California Surgeon General, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, a pediatrician who has built her career around the link between childhood adversity and long-term health impacts of young children. She also founded an organization that focuses on educating parents on the connection between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and their children’s physical and behavioral health. Please be sure and read more about Dr. Burke Harris in the "In the News" section of this report. Spring is also a time to celebrate and spotlight early learning and the impactful work our Quality Start Consortium partners are doing as part of the National Week of the Young Child. First 5 Riverside will be present at several Day/Week of the Young Child events in April. See below for a schedule of events. Lastly, please RSVP to attend the California Baptist University/First 5 Riverside 2 nd Annual Symposium on Infant and Toddler Mental Health and Adverse Childhood Experiences featuring Dr. Bruce Perry. We know this will be popular, so we are moving this to the Riverside Convention Center that will hold up to 1,600 people. Happy Spring! Sincerely, Tammi Graham, Executive Director First 5 Riverside (F5R)
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GOAL AREAS UPDATE 1. QUALITY EARLY LEARNING Raising A Reader (RAR) is an early literacy program where weekly book bag rotations (3-4 different books each week) occur for at least 20 weeks to increase family literacy habits. From program inception up to Dec. 31, 2018, 1 ,2 8 7 children received the RAR program at targeted school sites, on a monthly basis. For more information on RAR, click here.
On March 5th and 6th, First 5 Riverside and Riverside County Office of Education staff attended the Quality Counts California meeting in Sacramento. This quarterly meeting brings together state leads (California Department of Education and First 5 California) and County leads participating in a Quality Rating and Improvement System. The meeting addressed the governor’s proposed budget, California’s Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five, and state agreements on Quality Counts California goals and next steps.
2. COM PREHENSIVE HEALTH AND DEVELOPM ENT Help Me Grow Inland Empire (HMG-IE) Summit Part 2 About 120 community partners attended the second HMG-IE Early Intervention Summit on February 6 in San Bernardino, which featured a panel of representatives from six California counties who shared the unique challenges and learnings of building a Help Me Grow system. Presentations from Alameda, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Clara and Ventura counties helped guide afternoon discussions in the design of HMG-IE. The third and final HMG-IE Summit is on Wednesday, March 20. Details will be posted to the First 5 Riverside website.
NAP SACC Update The Nutrition and Physical Activity SelfAssessment for Child Care (NAP SACC) program promotes child health by supporting Quality Start Riverside County (QSRC) providers in incorporating nutrition and physical activities into policies and practices at their sites. 12 of 35 QSRC child care sites have are NAP SACC certified. 201 of 200 child care providers from QSRC sites are trained in NAP SACC 25 of 50 QSRC child care sites enrolled to participate in NAP SACC program.
(From program inception up to Dec. 31, 2018) For more information on this program, click here.
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HealthySteps is Live! Riverside University Health System (RUHS) Medical Center has started seeing children and families as a part of the F5R funded HealthySteps program. From now until June 30, 2021, HealthySteps, which will be implemented by Borrego Community Health Foundation, Rady Children’s Hospital, and Riverside University Health System – Medical Center, will serve an estimated 4,675 to 5,900 families in Riverside County. For more information on HealthySteps click here.
3. RESILIENT FAM ILIES The F5R funded home visiting (HV) agencies have been actively enrolling families. Training staff and creating referral pathways to ensure the children and families are aware of the services being provided throughout Riverside County. In ongoing efforts to boost referrals, HV agencies have partnered with the Braille Institute Rancho Mirage Center, Inland Regional Center, local WIC offices, and coordinated with Head Start/State Pre-school programs. HV agencies are exploring other expansion opportunities that includes training that addresses coaching capacity, as well as, work force development to expand target population and sustainability. In addition, the Home Visiting agencies are participating in the Quality Start Riverside County Initiative, as Alternative Sites. This includes regular Community of Practice meetings and training opportunities such as Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3/ASQ-SE). Commission staff are continuously working with HV agencies to strategically ensure integration of F5R investments, connecting and supporting families in a holistic way.
Click here to view our 2nd Quarter Agency Progress Report
IN THE NEWS Governor Newsom Announces Two National Experts in Child Development will be Key Leaders in Administration’s Efforts to Help the Youngest Californians Governor Newsom has appointed two nationallyrecognized experts in child development to be key leaders in his administration’s efforts to help the youngest Californians. Dr. Nadine Burke Harris (top right), a national leader in pediatric medicine, will serve as California’s first-ever Surgeon General, and Kris Perry (bottom right), a national leader in early childhood policy, will serve as Deputy Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency for Early Childhood Development and Senior Advisor to the Governor on Implementation of Early Childhood Development Initiatives. Read more here.
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The United Way was featured on NBC Palm Springs and the Raising A Reader program, which is partly funded by F5R, was mentioned about minute 1:40! Click here to view the video.
THANK YOU Thank you Commissioner Walsh-Reuss a n d Santa Claus Inc. for the swimsuit donation. The bathing suits will be made available to families participating in swim lessons with F5R funded partners.
NEW STAFF
New F5R staff, left to right: Gervase Hammond, Senior Administrative Analyst Vanessa Miranda, Community Services Assistant Jan Deluhery, Accounting Technician II Zachary Romawac, Community Services Assistant Jill Kowalski, Administrative Services Officer
About First 5 Riverside First 5 Riverside, the Riverside County Children & Families Commission, is a division of the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services. The Commission is funded by tobacco taxes generated by Proposition 10, which passed in November 1998. The act created a system of programs that promote, support, and improve the early development of children from the prenatal stage to five years of age.