Session: First 5 California: Providing Evidence to Support Funding and Policy Decisions, Program Improvement, and Future Planning.


Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

5092.0: Wednesday, December 14, 2005: 12:30 PM-2:00 PM

Oral

First 5 California: Providing Evidence to Support Funding and Policy Decisions, Program Improvement, and Future Planning.

First 5 California is a statewide program that distributes revenue from Proposition 10, the 1998 state ballot measure that levied a 50-cent-per-pack tax on cigarettes. First 5 California's goal is that “all young children in the State of California will reach age five physically & emotionally healthy, learning and ready to achieve their greatest potential in school.” Current research in brain development indicates that the emotional, physical, and social environment that children are exposed to in the early years of life has profound long-term effects on their ability to achieve their greatest potential. On the basis of this evidence, Proposition 10 was designed as a policy solution to promote coordinated and high-quality services that will lead to young children's success. The session will provide a description of First 5 California, as well as findings from the ongoing statewide evaluation conducted by SRI International. Presentations will include an overview of First 5 California's history and strategic goals, as well as its use of an outcome-based accountability system. The session also will include presentations of different types of evaluation findings and examples of how the findings are used to promote more effective programs and better policies at the community, county, and state levels.

Learning Objectives: This session aims to: 1. explain the vision and goals of First 5 California, and how outcome-based accountability can be applied to such a large initiative; 2. describe evidence of how First 5 programs are successfully promoting children's health and well-being; 3. present findings from the outcome-based accountability system and examples of how these data have been used to promote better programs and policies for children and 4. discuss the implications of the relationship between children's health and school readiness for First 5 programs and policies.

Organizer(s):

Dana Petersen, MA, MPH

Moderator(s):

Patricia Skelton, EdD

12:30 PM

First 5 California: History, strategic goals, and use of an outcome-based accountability system