First 5 Digest: August 11, 2020
Local Early Childhood NewsREGISTRATION OPENING SOON: FREE BILINGUAL MENTAL HEALTH TRAINING SERIES
COVID-19 has highlighted the increasing need for strong mental health services. To support children, families, and providers during this challenging time, First 5 Monterey County is excited to announce that enrollment for our 9th year of Infant Family and Early Childhood Mental Health (IFECMH) training will be coming soon. The training series is designed to strengthen a diverse workforce of Monterey County partners across systems serving children, prenatal through age five, and their families. This training program will be offered virtually and is free for those who work with children and their families in Monterey County. Participants must live or work in Monterey County. Applications will be open until Tuesday, September 4. Space available until filled. Visit the First 5 Monterey County website for more information and to complete the application when released.
Learn more CALIFORNIA FACE COVERING GUIDANCE
To help stop the spread of COVID-19, the California Department of Public Health has released updated mask guidance: Face Covering Order:
Who needs a mask?
- Anyone going outside their home
- Workers in customer-facing industries
- Workers in offices, factories, or any group setting
- Doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals
- Other workers, as dictated by industry guidance
Who shouldn't wear a mask?
- Children under 2 years old
- Anyone with respiratory issues where it would impede their breathing
- Anyone unable to remove the mask without help
- Anyone with a medical condition, mental health condition, or disability that does not allow them to wear a mask
Learn More ROUTINE VACCINATIONS ARE STILL IMPORTANT DURING COVID-19
Across the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting a decline in vaccination rates as some families are choosing to forgo or delay their children's routine pediatric well-child visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. In California, the stay-at-home order has helped slow the spread of COVID-19 but it has also resulted in a decrease of more than 40% of children missing their recommended vaccines. And locally, First 5 Monterey County has heard from pediatricians that children are skipping vaccinations or delaying well-child visits. We encourage parents to make sure their children are up-to-date on their immunizations and to contact your child's medical provider if you have any questions or concerns.
Learn More UNITED WAY MONTEREY COUNTY ADVOCATES FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD
Thanks to United Way Monterey County's Katy Castagna and Doug Yount who are calling for Congress to act quickly to provide supplemental emergency funding for programs that support the financial stability of families among five additional actions to help uplift families across Monterey County. In a recent op-ed in the Monterey County Weekly they said: "Congress should invest in programs that are supporting our community response, including $150 million for 211, $17 million for VITA, $200 million for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, and $50 billion to stabilize the childcare sector. We at United Way have a proud track record of delivering these services to Monterey County, such as the recent distribution of $700,000 for emergency food and shelter services. These are our core strategies to deliver financial stability to families in Monterey County. Supplemental emergency funding will leverage our ability to do more."
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State and National Early Childhood Policy2020 CENSUS IS FOR ALL
The 2010 Census missed 2.1% of African Americans, 1.5% of Hispanics and 4.9% of Native Americans on reservations. First 5 Monterey County believes that everyone - including babies - deserves to be counted this year! "If a community is undercounted, the money does not go back to the Treasury - it goes to another community," Andrew Reamer, George Washington University research professor, shared in a recent Roll Call article. Learn more about the 2020 Census and ways to complete it here.
Learn More HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASSES SET OF BILLS TO SUPPORT CHILD CARE INDUSTRY
In late July, the U.S. House of Representatives passed two bills that provide over $60 billion in direct funding for the child-care industry in an effort to help providers nationwide reopen and improve the safety of their programs during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. One bill, Child Care is Essential Act, creates a fund to provide grants to help pay for personnel, sanitation, training, and other costs associated with reopening and running a child-care facility amid the pandemic. The second bill, the Child care for Economic Recovery Act, is designed to provide funding to help child-care providers reopen and improve the safety of care facilitates going forward.
Learn More CALIFORNIA'S HOME VISITING PROGRAM AIMS TO HELP THE NEXT GENERATION RISE FROM INEQUALITY
Research shows home visiting programs can help prevent child abuse and neglect, improve school readiness, increase physical and mental wellbeing of moms and kids, boost parents' confidence in caring for their children, and result in greater economic self-sufficiency for families. Home visiting services connect child development specialists with families. Locally, home visiting services funded by First 5 Monterey County greatly improve parenting practices and the frequency of parenting activities like reading and playing together.
Learn More UNION VOTE HIGHLIGHTS CORONAVIRUS CRISIS FOR CALIFORNIA'S HOME CHILD CARE PROVIDERS
Early childhood educators and home child care proprietors will vote this month on whether to unionize, a move many hope will reinvigorate California's ailing child care system in a moment of unprecedented crisis from the coronavirus.
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Community Events and MeetingsFIRST 5 SPONSORED COMMUNITY EVENTS
Our Sponsorship program is currently on hold to reduce the spread of COVID-19. OTHER COMMUNITY EVENTS
Send us your community events to share through our digest. FIRST 5 COMMISSION MEETINGS
Due to the shelter-in-place order, all meetings will take place virtually. The links to each meeting will be listed on the respective agenda which is posted on our website, in accordance with the Brown act. Visit our website for an updated schedule. Please note, Commission meeting dates, times, and locations are subject to change. Please check our website regularly for updates.
- August 24: Special Commission Meeting, 9:00am - 12:00pm
- August 31: Finance/Personnel Committee Meeting, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
- September 2: Evaluation Advisory Committee Meeting, 9:00am - 11:00am
- September 14: Executive Committee Meeting, 9:30am - 11:00am
Training and Grant Opportunities COVID-19 RELIEF FUND
The Community Foundation for Monterey County and the Monterey Peninsula Foundation started a COVID-19 Relief Fund. It was created to address the immediate and longer-term needs of our community. U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION DISASTER LOAN ASSISTANCE
The U.S. Small Business Administration has a COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan Application open to nonprofits. CALNONPROFITS COVID-19 RESOURCES FOR CALIFORNIA'S NONPROFITS
For more nonprofit COVID related funding opportunities.
Early Childhood Innovations and ResearchCHILD CARE
WHY ARE CHILD CARE PROGRAMS OPEN WHEN SCHOOLS ARE NOT?
The duality of the conversations around child care programs and public schools is rooted in a perceived gap between what "care" and "education" mean. That gap has set the two sectors on different paths of funding, governance, and professional power. CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC CREATES AMERICA'S FIRST FEMALE RECESSION AMID CHILD CARE, UNEMPLOYMENT WOES
During the pandemic, mothers have reduced their work hours four to five times more than fathers to care for children in a nation that hasn't created a strong caregiving foundation. AS CHILD CARES OPEN BACK UP, HERE'S WHAT PARENTS SHOULD BE CONSIDERING
"Of course I want to keep your children safe, but all the extra precautions can really do right now is give an illusion of safety." PARENTS ARE READY TO RETURN TO WORK, BUT WHERE WILL THEIR KIDS GO?
The resurgence of California's economy - the fifth largest in the world - could rest on one sector shattered by the pandemic: child care. 'I CAN'T BE HANDS ON RIGHT NOW.' WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A CHILD CARE PROVIDER DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Part of what I love about my job as a daycare provider during normal times is the fact that I can hug them, that I can give them that emotional support - because in essence, we're like their second parents when they're with us. WHEN GRANDMA BECOMES AN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR
For families relying on informal child care - grandparents, aunties, friends, neighbors - the pandemic has forced some terrifying tradeoffs. KIDS KNOW HOW TO OCCUPY THEMSELVES. WE NEED TO LET THEM DO IT
Even getting an hour or two to focus on your work can seem like a dream when your kid is stuck inside and clamoring for attention. WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM CHILD CARE CENTERS THAT STAYED OPEN
As summer begins, Anya Kamenetz, education correspondent at NPR, and Joseph G. Allen, assistant professor of exposure assessment science, director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health and co-author of Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity. NO SOLUTION IN SIGHT FOR CHILD CARE
Almost 40% of our workforce is made up of working parents. It's been a huge struggle to juggle homeschooling and work in the middle of a pandemic - and it's likely going to get worse. Though many workplaces could reopen this fall, many K-12 schools aren't. COVID-19
IS LOCKDOWN HURTING KIDS' IMMUNE SYSTEMS?
"In my own practice, the quarantine from daycare has resulted in much healthier kids and families, due to many fewer febrile illnesses spreading through families," says pediatric rheumatologist J. Patrick Whelan, Ph.D. BLACK FAMILIES WERE HIT HARD BY THE PANDEMIC. THE EFFECTS ON CHILDREN MAY BE LASTING.
Setbacks in household wealth and the toxic stress of racism can have long term impacts, experts said. PROJECT COMMUNITY: COVID-19 HIGHLIGHTS GENERATIONS OF RACIAL HEALTH INEQUITIES
Kevin Carter is making health a priority so he can stay strong for his community. STUDY OF 17 MILLION IDENTIFIES CRUCIAL RISK FACTORS FOR CORONAVIRUS DEATHS
An analysis of more than 17 million people in England - the largest study of its kind, according to its authors - has pinpointed a bevy of factors that can raise a person's chances of dying from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. DIVERSITY
THESE NUMBERS SHOW THAT BLACK AND WHITE PEOPLE LIVE IN TWO DIFFERENT AMERICAS
For African Americans, hardship begins before birth. The infant mortality rate for Black people, for example, is more than twice that of white Americans. COLOR-BLINDNESS ISN'T A VIRTUE. LET'S STOP TEACHING OUR KIDS THAT IT IS.
Children's books should celebrate diversity - not sameness. HOW TO RAISE ANTI-RACIST BABIES, ACCORDING TO PSYCHOLOGY
Your child sees race, which means you need to discuss it. The good news is that discussions about race can reduce both children's and parents' levels of bias. A CHILD CARE DISASTER LOOMS FOR FAMILIES OF COLOR
The Center for American Progress (CAP) asserts, to the surprise of few, that the erosion of child care options nationally is likely to disproportionately affect families of color for many reasons, including decades of occupational and residential segregation that have resulted in fewer options to work at home. EDUCATION
RACIAL INEQUITIES IN EDUCATION CAN START AS EARLY AS PRESCHOOL
Universal preschool would help close the math and reading gaps between white and Black children who are approaching kindergarten, an analysis from the National Institute for Early Education Research shows. LONG ROAD AHEAD TO CLOSE CALIFORNIA'S DIGITAL DIVIDE IN EDUCATION BEFORE NEW SCHOOL YEAR BEGINS
California needs at least 708,400 laptops and 322,100 Wi-Fi hotspots to connect all students to the internet from home, a significant jump from previous estimates, according to data from the California Department of Education shared with EdSource on June 17. IMMIGRATION
STUDY: PUBLIC CHARGE RULE HAVING A CHILLING EFFECT ON IMMIGRANT FAMILIES' USE OF PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Nearly one-third of low-income immigrant families with children avoided using public benefits because of green card concerns, according to a new study. MENTAL HEALTH
SUPPORTING BLACK CHILDREN'S EMOTIONAL HEALTH AMID RACIAL INJUSTICE
Experts weigh in on some of the ways parents can support Black children as they navigate a social climate plagued by systemic racism and violence. THE TOLL THAT ISOLATION TAKES ON KIDS DURING THE CORONAVIRUS ERA
Playing with peers has important developmental benefits, and doctors worry that children are missing out on them now. POLICE VIOLENCE AND COVID-19 HAVE BEEN TRAUMATIZING. HERE ARE TOOLS THAT CAN HELP SCHOOLS
Many more students than usual will return to school this fall having experienced trauma. CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS TURN TO MINDFULNESS TO HELP STUDENTS COPE WITH STRESS
Breathing exercises can help students cope with stress and improve their ability to learn, studies say. THESE ARE THE CURRENT STATISTICS ON MENTAL HEALTH IN CHILDREN FROM THE CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released their data on the mental health statistics facing our children today. MATERNAL HEALTH IN AMERICA
The health of mothers and infants is top of mind for advocates as COVID-19 poses a new, unexpected threat to maternal care in the United States. During this unprecedented time, the mental health of new mothers is of particular concern as the number of postpartum depression cases are on the rise. SUMMER EDUCATION
HOW TO HELP KIDS EXERCISE THEIR BRAINS AND BECOME MORE INDEPENDENT THIS SUMMER - EVEN DURING COVID-19
Summer has just started and parents are already panicking about how to keep their children engaged during the COVID-19 crisis that has severely limited their activity options.
Reminder
COVID-19 AND ANTI-RACISM RESOURCES
F5MC is here to support the health and safety of our community. We have recently updated our website with information to meet community needs for both COVID-19 and anti-racism materials. Our COVID-19 page contains information for families across our county struggling with income loss related to stay-at-home policies, access to food, confusion on immigration supports, anxiety or loneliness, or simply needing resources during this challenging time. Monterey County has also shared flyers in English and Spanish on how to protect your family during this time. Our Learning Resources for Children and Families page has activities for children to do at home along with anti-racism resources that include how to talk to children about racial bias, how to talk about race, and books that explain race and diversity.
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