Our Impact: Policy - Common Outcomes
Policy in Alameda County:
Alameda County has ~100,000 children 0-5 years of age. Many early childhood programs are paid for with categorical funding, are fragmented, and without a common agenda.
Programs have difficulty connecting families as they transition between systems.
F5AC is expanding awareness among child serving agencies of the lifetime of rewards when all Alameda County children are:
Common Outcomes: The Significance
First 5 Alameda County (F5AC) must work in collaboration with other county and community partners if we are to create an early childhood system and achieve countywide outcomes: Reduced Abuse and Neglect and Kindergarten Readiness /3rd grade success. By committing to common outcomes we can demonstrate the impact of our collective work and advocate for enhanced funding for early childhood supports.
Our Results:
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In collaboration with the Alameda County Interagency Policy Council (ICPC) and the Alameda County 0-8 Convergence Committee, we have initiated the process to develop common outcomes with Health Care Services, Public Health, Social Services, Behavioral Health Care, school districts and community agencies.
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F5AC and ICPC is developing a countywide study on school readiness that will provide a baseline for monitoring kindergarten readiness.
Effects of Policy Change:
A set of common outcomes is the starting point leading towards the development of a county-wide outcomes based budget for children 0-8 years old. An outcomes based budget is a policy tool to assure appropriate levels of funding are allocated to realize common outcomes.
