Impact of cigarette tax money to improve health outcomes for predominantly low-income children of color ages 0-5 in Northern California

California voters passed Proposition 10 in 1998, adding a 50 cents-per-pack tax on cigarettes to support children from birth to five years old in the areas of health, family support, and early childhood development. The funding, known as First 5, was targeted to be cut by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009, and is on the chopping block for 2010. In 2009, the twelve San Francisco Bay Area First 5 Counties hired Applied Survey Research to evaluate regional results for the first time, and overall contributions to the health of children in the program. Previously, the First 5s had not been able to tell their regional impact story. Data for 2007-2008 showed that: • Bay Area First 5s enrolled over 17,000 predominantly low-income children of color in health insurance and 14,428 children got dental care. Almost 35,000 children got checked for special needs. • Over 97% of young children in the twelve Bay Area counties had a “medical home” in 2007. • One in four low-income Bay Area children went to the ER in 2005, but by 2007, that figure dropped to 17%. • Subsequent emergency room visits for children with asthma who were helped by First 5 after their first visit to the hospital dropped from 65% to 13%, and hospitalizations dropped from 49% to 4%, in Alameda County.

Counties are using the data to help impact the public, legislators and policy makers. In May 2009, the public voted down a state ballot measure to severely cut First 5 funding.