October 2003

1
Prop 10 Briefings

• October 2003

First 5 Association of California
2
October Association Meeting Highlights

• 35 County Commissions were represented in Burbank
  on October 15th, along with the State Commission
  staff, and a number of associate members.
• Update on Association Strategic Planning Goals
• Goal I Achieve and maintain financial stability
• A functional budget is in development for 2004
  which assigns cost to each Association program
  area. The ad hoc funding committee will develop
  recommendations on a new dues structure and other
  sources of funding for Association consideration.

3
Association Meeting Highlights (continued)

• Goal II Maintain capacity for participation by
  all counties in First 5 California activities and
  the First 5 Association
• County commissions strongly endorsed the policy
  statement supporting the augmentation and
  opposing opening up Prop 10s funding formula
  through legislation. While urban counties
  understand continued augmentations will come at
  the cost of other programs, the Associations
  priority is to maintain sufficient small County
  funding to ensure statewide continuation of the
  Prop 10 vision.
• Goal III Achieve a mutually beneficial,
  respectful and supportive relationship with First
  5 California
• The Executive Committee will discuss ways to make
  the communication process more systematic.

4
Association Meeting Highlights (continued)

• Goal IV Advocate and lead for young children.
• Members suggested ways to revise this goal to
  ensure it is realistic but still true to its
  intent.
• Goal V Develop and implement an effective
  infrastructure to provide for communication and
  peer support for Association members
• The TA Committee is involved in plans to upgrade
  the website and launch a peer mentoring system.
• Goal VI Develop and implement an effective
  infrastructure to provide for communication and
  peer support for Association members.
• The short-term objectives are mainly involved
  with GO SERV/VISTA. Staff is seeking input from
  members on what other services would be of
  interest to them.

5
Association Meeting Highlights (continued)

• Preschool for All (PFA) Task Force
• A draft document on the Associations perspective
  on PFA was presented. It positions PFA as a
  strategy toward the overarching goal of school
  readiness. The document is still in development
  and further input was requested.
• The Task Force will also focus on working with
  other partners advocating for PFA, developing a
  long-term vision and anticipating any issues that
  may arise.

6
Association Meeting Highlights (continued)

• Where are the County Commission on their 5th
  Birthday?
• The importance of developing a clear and simple
  way to describe the work of county commissions
  was reiterated by Mike Ruane (Orange). Sample
  charts developed by the Orange County Commission
  were shared and templates can be made available
  to those interested.
• Potential Threats to Prop 10 Revenues
• County Commission lost more than expected last
  year due to declining revenues and the annual
  backfill determination by the BOE.
• The Joint Legislative Audit Committee approved an
  audit of county commissions in order to examine
  their surplus funds.
• The state budget got patched temporarily but
  increasing scrutiny by the Legislature is likely
  of entities that have unspent funds.

7
Association Meeting Highlights (continued)

• Community Indicators Report and Inventory of
  Childrens Report Cards
• Trish Kelly from the California Center for
  Regional Leadership presented findings from
  Telling Our Story, Measuring Our Progress
  Californias Regional Quality of Life Indicator
  Projects, an effort to link regional indicator
  efforts with child-focused indicators.
• The indicator projects discussed in the report
  cover 77 of the states population. The
  California Center for Regional Leadership hopes
  to strengthen the projects by linking them with
  county First 5 Commissions.
• First 5 Commissions interested in the indicator
  projects are invited to contact Trish at
  916-448-2456.

8
Association Meeting Highlights (continued)

• Helping One Another
• Carolyn Wylie (Riverside) and Tammy Moss (Merced)
  reported on the Associations efforts to develop
  a peer mentoring/peer support structure.
• A survey will be distributed to gather
  information about ED and staff expertise in a
  variety of program and functional areas.
• The goal is to develop a data base to provide
  support and mentoring for new EDs and staff, as
  well as to make the website more user-friendly.
• Ways for the Association to support new EDs and
  staff are also being identified.
• EDs need to educate their Commissions that their
  participation in the Association is a valuable
  priority.

9
Association Meeting Highlights (continued)

• Association Business
• Pat Wheatley (Santa Barbara), will chair the
  Nominating Committee which also includes Anne
  Molgaard (Mendocino), Steve Thaxton (El Dorado),
  and Carolyn Wylie (Riverside).
• A slate of candidates will be put forward at the
  November Association meeting, with elections
  scheduled for January.
• 42 Commissions voted to endorse two policies 1)
  support for the current county allocation of Prop
  10 revenues, and 2) support for a consistent
  backfill determination methodology by the Board
  of Equalization (BOE).
• Regional representation on the Executive
  Committee An advisory vote indicated support
  for a 13-person Executive Committee, one
  representative per region except the southern
  region which will have two due to its size.
• The BOE meets on November 18th and will be
  considering the backfill issue. Members are
  encouraged to contact State Controller Steve
  Westly to express support for the BOE staffs
  determination.

10
State Commission Meeting Highlights

• Chairs Report
• Two new commissioners appointed by the Governor
  were welcomed Margaret Taylor, Director of
  Health Services for San Mateo County, and Elise
  Medina, International Executive Vice President of
  the Services Employees International Union.
• First 5 Los Angeles approved 500 million over
  five years to fund Preschool for All.
• A new round of paid advertising began October 8
  with two TV spots on the importance of preschool,
  one spot on parental involvement, and new
  anti-tobacco radio and print ads.
• Commissioner Elizabeth Rice Grossman was
  appointed to the Commissions Media and Advocacy
  Advisory Committee and Commissioner Alice Walker
  Duff to the Research Advisory Committee.

11
State Commission Meeting Highlights

• Chairs Report (continued)
• The State Commission, along with the five county
  commissions with the largest fund balances, will
  be subject to an audit approved by the Joint
  Legislative Audit Committee expected to begin
  between now and January 1.
• The California Supreme Court denied the petitions
  submitted by CART and Cigarettes Cheaper for a
  review of the appellate court decision in the
  consolidated cases challenging Prop 10.
• The State Commission is scheduled to meet next on
  January 15-16 in the LA area for one and a half
  days in order to review all the programs
  scheduled to end in 2004 and make final funding
  decisions.

12
State Commission Meeting Highlights

• Executive Directors Report
• 172 School Readiness programs are underway in 56
  counties.
• The Children of Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker
  project, funded at 10 million over four years,
  is ahead of schedule.
• The Children with Disabilities and Other Special
  Needs RFP was released in late August. Proposals
  are due October 30.
• A contract was awarded to ALOM Technologies in
  Fremont for production and distribution of the
  Kit for New Parents. It will include on-line
  ordering capacity and 24-hour shipping.
• AB 179 (Chan) has become law. It permits the
  State Commission officially to be known as First
  5 California.

13
State Commission Meeting Highlights

• First 5 Association Report
• President Mark Friedman (Alameda) gave a report
• The Association is working with state staff on
  the determination by the Board of Equalization of
  the amount of the backfill that will be required
  for Prop 99.
• The Association is reaching out to the tobacco
  control community to ensure coordination and
  understanding of one anothers efforts. Mark and
  Gloria Wyeth (Sierra) will meet with the Tobacco
  Education and Research Oversight Committee at its
  October meeting.

14
State Commission Meeting Highlights

• Health Access for All Children Initiative
• The State Commission unanimously approved
  allocation of 46.5 million over four years to
  support
• insurance premiums (42.5 million)
• outreach and enrollment (3 million)
• quality enhancement (1 million)
• The goals of the initiative are
• Increase childrens enrollment in existing
  insurance programs for which they are eligible
• Create a new program, with consistent benefits
  across county lines

15
State Commission Meeting Highlights

• Media an Public Relations RFP
• The Commissions media and public awareness
  contracts will expire in the next five months.
  The Commissioners unanimously approved
• A six-month extension of the current contracts
  (GMMB and Rogers and Associates) to allow for a
  new bidding process
• Two new three-year contracts to be competitively
  bid 67.5 million for paid media and 21
  million for public relations.
• Affordable Buildings for Childrens Development
  (ABCD)
• The Commission unanimously approved 3 million to
  support the ABCD Project, a Packard Foundation
  initiative with the goal of producing 15,000 new
  licensed child care spaces over the next five
  years.

16
State Commission Meeting Highlights

• Small County Support
• Mark Friedman (Alameda) introduced the First 5
  Associations proposal to continue State
  Commission funding of approximately of 3.4
  million for 31 small population counties,
  ensuring that every county has at least 200,000
  minimum allocation and a graduated augmentation
  for administration and travel.
• Commissioner Reiner asked the Association and
  State Commission staff to review the latest
  county audits and develop options for further
  discussion, including asking larger counties to
  share part of the augmentation, prior to the
  January meeting when the item will be up for a
  vote.
• Preschool for All
• Two meetings have taken place with interested
  counties.
• Staff is working with counties to look at the
  criteria for participation and to determine the
  readiness of local communities.
• AIR has developed a how to tool kit for use by
  local commissions and other partners.

17
State Commission Meeting Highlights

• Research
• State staff presented the Research Advisory
  Committees proposed criteria to structure future
  research efforts.
• The research funding schedule will be staggered,
  beginning with a focus on Preschool for All and
  children with special needs.
• Topics will be refined by a work group of
  Advisory Committee members, staff, county
  representatives, and identified experts. The work
  group will present recommendations to the
  Commission.
• The overall research budget will be 5 million
  over 4 years, beginning in 2004.
• Annual Review of Guidelines
• Staff presented a plan for the annual review of
  its guidelines, as required by statute.
• The First 5 focus on School Readiness will be
  incorporated into the guidelines.
• The Commission will form a workgroup of county
  and state staff to review the guidelines,
  recommend changes and approve any new language.

18
Upcoming Events
11/18 - Technical Assistance Committee
Meeting 100 500 PM Sacramento, CA 11/18
- Tobacco Cessation Toolkit Training 830 330
PM Sacramento, CA 11/19 - Association
Meeting Sacramento, CA 12/9 Statewide School
Readiness Symposium 12/10 Sacramento,
CA 4/20 State Conference 4/23 Burlingame,
CA