First 5 Riverside Bulletin July 2019
Dear Friends, As summer draws to a close, many families are settling into a backto-school routine. It is important for young children to have a stable and safe environment where they can learn – whether it is in an early learning classroom or at home. Unfortunately, there is a growing number of families with young children in our county and throughout the region that do not have a stable place to call home. Nearly 30 percent of renters in Riverside County spend more than half their annual income on rent only. The costs of housing are outpacing income growth, forcing families to choose between paying for food and childcare.
. For children ages 0-5, housing instability can produce multiple health issues, developmental delays, lower kindergarten readiness, higher incidences of anxiety, depression and aggression and more. The good news is there are several initiatives in Riverside County that aim to address this problem. And, there are opportunities for First 5 Riverside to be part of a countywide solution. Yvonne Suarez and I recently participated in a convening sponsored by Lift to Rise about how public and private partners, including Riverside County Supervisor Manuel Perez, can work together to alleviate housing instability for families with children age 0-5 in the Coachella Valley. Being a key partner in countywide efforts to ensure all families with young children have access to affordable housing with necessary supports in areas of need is at the core of our Resilient Families Goal Area. As stated in a recent report on housing instability by Lift to Rise, “Children are born ready to learn and thrive. The quality of a child’s housing in their first 5 years of life – positively or negatively – impacts the rest of their life. We have a unique opportunity to intervene, in real time, and shape the future for thousands of…children.” To read the full report, go to: Activating Family Stability Through Housing. I look forward to sharing more on this important issue and how First 5 Riverside can be a catalyst in ensuring families with little ones have a safe and stable place to call home.
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In July 2016, the First 5 California Children and Families Commission (F5CA) authorized funding for a DLL Pilot Study. The goal of this pilot study is to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of existing strategies implemented in diverse early learning settings with young DLLs and their families. Results from the study will help F5CA determine and disseminate information about effective, scalable, and implementable DLL strategies across California.
The pilot study, led by a research team at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), began in 2017 and will continue through June 2021. In May, the F5R Commission accepted the offer to act as lead agency for the DLL Pilot Study Support Fund in Riverside County. First 5 Riverside Research Specialist II Rajni Lopez will be the local Study Liaison. When the agreement is in place with F5CA, Rajni will begin to engage and assist early childhood educators to participate in the DLL Pilot Study, who will be compensated for completing study activities.
First 5 Riverside is happy to announce the launch of the LENA START (Language ENvironment Analysis) program on September 17, 2019. LENA START is a program for parents of children 0-33 months to help increase interactive talk in order to close the early-talk gap, support kindergarten readiness, and build stronger families. Over the course of 10 weekly sessions, children wear LENA technology that provides parents and caregivers feedback on how much they're talking with their children. Families learn strategies to promote early language and literacy in the parent group classes, which will be offered in both English and Spanish. For more information or to register, please contact the Jurupa Valley Parent Involvement & Community Outreach at (951) 222-7872.
First 5 Riverside Commission Chair Jose Campos visited Quality Start site Town and Country Day School in Norco on Monday, July 29. Commission Chair Campos said, "It was a wonderful visit. I met many of the teachers that have increased their tiered rating and have benefited from the many educational opportunities available to them thanks to First 5 Riverside and the Consortium."
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The ZERO TO THREE (ZTT) 2018 Annual Report was recently released and stated that HealthySteps had reached more underserved families than ever. HealthySteps is an evidence-based interdisciplinary pediatric primary care program. According to the report, HealthySteps expanded to five new states serving 136,000 children with Tier 1 universal services through 137 pediatric primary care sites across 20 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. In Riverside County, First 5 Riverside implemented Healthy Steps services in 2019 and 2,845 children have been served with Tier 1 universal services. HealthySteps services are provided across 8 pediatric care sites through Borrego Health Centers, Rady Children’s Hospital, and Riverside University Health System. To read the full report, go to: ZTT 2018 Annual Report.
First 5 Riverside's Piera Causley, Administrative Services Manager, represented First 5 Association at this quarter's California Interagency Coordinating Council (ICC) in July in Los Angeles. The ICC serves as a forum for public input from parents, service providers, service coordinators, and other stakeholders about federal, state, and local policies that support the timely delivery of appropriate early intervention services. The ICC encourages a family centered approach, familyprofessional partnerships, and interagency collaboration. Its mission is to promote and enhance a coordinated family service system for infants and toddlers, birth to three years, who have a developmental delay or disability, and their families. Piera updated the ICC about statewide First 5 Association activities including: First 5 Commission Executive Directors and First 5 Association and First 5 California staff met with Governor Newsom's Early Childhood Team to discuss how F5 efforts to improve systems of care can be used to support new legislative and budget driven initiatives. First 5 Association is co-sponsoring AB 1004, which is the 2019 version of AB 11, which will create greater developmental screening consistency and oversight to ensure we are supporting a system of universal developmental screening. The bill passed through all committees unopposed and is in alignment with the current budget. Help Me Grow California 2019 Statewide is set to take place on October 23 at First 5 Fresno. The focus will be on statewide messaging and communications. Leadership from First 5's across California continue to engage with state and national leaders and organizations and provide representation on key initiatives. Examples highlighted at the meeting included: nd
First 5 Riverside’s 2 annual Symposium on Infant and Toddler Mental Health and ACE’s that is helping shift the landscape of early childhood health, strategic integration and connection with systems that promote prevention and early ntervention. i First 5 Alameda’s ED is representing First 5 Association on the AB 2960 workg oup to create an outward facing parent portal to improve access to early childcare resources and u s pports. First 5 Humboldt’s ED will represent F5s statewide on California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris’ Trauma Informed Care Task Force. First 5s Alameda, Santa Clara and Orange are working with Chapin Hall on a Toxic Stress Study that will focus on care coordination and referral and access barriers for families with young children.
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In First 5 Riverside’s Resilient Families Goal Area, stable and safe housing is the foundation of Protective Factors critical for families to be successful in nurturing, caring and providing for their children’s success and well-being. We will continue to broaden our role in this area where we can be a catalyst for providing concrete supports to families with children age 0-5 in need of stable housing. As shown in the slide above, families from all income levels need affordable housing. More families are coming to Riverside County from neighboring counties to find housing that is affordable; however, there is not enough housing in the current inventory to meet the demand. Families that live “doubled up” with friends or family or are forced to move when rent is increased are at-risk of living in inadequate housing, or, the worst case, spiraling into homelessness.
The Riverside County Department of Child Support Services (RivCoDCSS) provides community programs, services, and resources that help promote parental responsibility by enhancing the well-being of children and families. In celebration of Child Support Awareness Month (CSAM) in August, RivCoDCSS held a series of events to promote investments in children and families served by the agency. RivCoDCSS opened its Riverside and Indio offices to the public on Saturday, August 10 to promote Child Support Awareness Month with community partners and activities. First 5 Riverside had a booth with books and other giveaways for families. More than 120 families were assisted with their child support cases at the events.
Borrego Community Health hosted a Back-to-School Event in Thermal for migrant families on Saturday, August 10, 2019 in celebration of National Health Center Week. Families received physical exams for school, haircuts, backpacks with school supplies, socks, shoes, community resources, books, and dental screenings. First 5 Riverside donated "Potter the Otter Visits the Dentist" books along with dental hygiene kits. F5R currently contracts with Borrego Health for the implementation of the HealthySteps and DTI (Dental Transformation Initiative) programs.
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First 5 Riverside staff attend the World Breastfeeding Celebration at the Riverside County WIC office in Hemet on August 19, in honor of National Breastfeeding Month. The theme for this year's celebration was "Empower Parents, Enable Breastfeeding." The message conveyed is that breastfeeding is a team effort and when fathers, partners, families, workplaces, and communities support nursing mothers, the importance of breastfeeding is better understood . More than 100 families participated and learned about all the resources available to them.
In August, First 5 joined with fellow early childhood advocates to launch All Together Now, a new campaign bringing attention to the need to make policies, practices, and systems better for California’s kids. All Together Now’s website contains common messaging, fact sheets, and social media assets to help equip advocates of all kinds—including parents and families—with communications tools to ensure young kids are prioritized in policy and budget decisions. Priority areas for the campaign include developmental screening, early intervention, paid family leave, home visiting, and early learning. To learn more visit AllTogetherNowca.org
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First 5 Riverside team members had the opportunity to attend the retirement celebration for Dr. Bradley P. Gilbert, Chief Executive Officer of Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP). IEHP’s membership increased from 365,000 to more than 1.2 million members under Dr. Gilbert’s leadership. Its provider network has expanded to include more than 6,400 providers and its workforce has grown to more than 2,000 employees. During this unprecedented growth, Dr. Gilbert and IEHP’s executive leadership created a stable environment that inspired innovation and elevated the quality of services for members and providers. IEHP continues to be a great partner of F5R and we want to wish Dr. Gilbert a very happy retirement! Thank you for all the work you and your team have provided for our community throughout the years. Also, congratulations to IEHP's Chief Operating Officer Jarrod B. McNaughton, who succeeded Dr. Gilbert as Chief Executive Officer on July 20, 2019.
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Sean Pravica Public Information Specialist
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.
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