Edhat Staff
Source: County of Santa Barbara
First 5 Santa Barbara will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the statewide First 5 network with a Family Fun Day and awards presentation on May 2 at the Capitol steps.
First 5, which was created in 1998 when California voters passed Proposition 10 and operate in all 58 counties, will celebrate the local partners and state legislators who support its mission of ensuring California’s kids thrive. Kids’ games, a visit from Sesame Street’s Walkaround Rosita, and appearances by several state legislators will mark the event.
“First 5 is so pleased to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Now more than ever, we believe that California’s success will be measured one day by the success of its youngest children,” said Wendy Sims-Moten, Interim Executive Director of First 5 Santa Barbara.
Assemblymembers Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters), Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno), and Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) will receive Champion for Children Awards for prioritizing young children. The legislators are backing efforts this session to increase pay and recruitment of child care providers (Aguiar-Curry, AB 2292); bolster home visiting for CalWORKs families with small children (Arambula, AB 992); and advance more rigorous developmental screening practices (McCarty, AB 11). Senator Mike McGuire (D-North Coast), a former First 5 commissioner, will also receive a Champion for Children award earlier in the day. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, will deliver the keynote for the awards program.
“Our kids are our collective future. These legislators’ commitment to the well-being of California’s youngest children is a step in the right direction,” said Moira Kenney, Executive Director of First 5 Association, which represents First 5s in the state’s 58 counties. “Families are struggling across our state—with poverty, quality child care, and access to early intervention services. By supporting kids in the early years, we can shape the course of their lives—and our society.”
Plans are underway to celebrate First 5 Santa Barbara’s 20-year anniversary locally this fall.
About First 5 Santa Barbara County:
First 5 Santa Barbara County Children and Families Commission, funded by Proposition 10 works in partnership with individuals and organizations throughout the county, to support the health, early learning and well-being of children prenatal to age 5 and their families. For information, please call (805) 884-8085 or visit www.First5SBC.org.
“Transparent California” is just one of the many names used by the tax-exempt “free-market think tank” Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI). NPRI refuses to provide its own funding sources, stating, “NPRI respects the privacy of our donors, which includes the amount of a donor’s gift”.
NPRI’s primary funding source, as determined by The Conservative Transparency Project, is Donors Capital Fund, a dark-money source of funding for conservative groups. Its donors also include The Cato Institute, co-founded by the Koch brothers, and organizations affiliated with the climate change denial movement.
NPRI spends 75% of its revenue on six-figure salaries and benefits. Its goal is to undermine support for employee unions nationwide, thereby decreasing salaries and increasing corporate profits.
Audit the promises First Five made to the voters when they passed this tax. Has it returned on its investment with measurable accomplishment markers. Or is it just one more glorified taxpayer funded baby-sitting program, allowing the government to take over role of parenting now indoctrinating even very young and impressionable lives. All we read about now is more failures coming out of K-12, when First Five promised they would all be high achievers. Facts and metrics please.
Speaking of scary, the words you just used, “black” and “border”, definitely cause fear and terror among your demographic.