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First 5 - Children and Families Commission
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The Children and Families Commission of San Luis Obispo County will identify and allocate funds for programs and services that enhance early childhood development, recognizing the critical nature of early brain development.
We serve children, prenatal to age five, and their families to ensure that every child is healthy and ready to learn in school.
We believe all children in San Luis Obispo County deserve to reach their potential in a nurturing and healthy environment.
Vision Statement
Children in every community of San Luis Obispo County will thrive in supportive, nurturing, and loving environments, enter school healthy and ready to learn, develop resilience, and become productive, well adjusted members of society.
Guiding Principles
The
San Luis Obispo County Children and Families Commission will bring programs
together to provide high quality, outcome-based, integrated services to
families in San Luis Obispo County. The Commission is dedicated to: 1)
mobilizing the community around critical issues affecting young children
and their families and identifying approaches that begin to meet their
highest or broadest needs; 2) considering opportunities for leveraging
or matching revenue with other private, local, state or federal programs;
3) considering long-range financial planning based on the expectations
that county allocations will become a dwindling revenue source; and 4)
considering research findings in selecting the most effective programs
and strategies.
The San Luis Obispo County Children and Families Commission's decision-making is guided by mutually agreed upon standards. The Commission will:
- Develop a comprehensive, integrated service delivery system of early
childhood development services.
- Engage in an ongoing, dynamic and evolving strategic planning process to meet the changing needs of all communities.
- Ensure community participation in the planning process, including ethnic/cultural, income and geographic diversity.
- Support programs to reduce the effects of adverse health risks such as secondhand smoke, other substance abuse and family violence on infants and young children.
- Build upon existing resources and research to avoid duplication of effort during strategic plan development.
- Respect the cultural diversity among us by providing outreach to all communities in San Luis Obispo County, including families with special needs or those socially isolated.
- Encourage systems of care where services and projects are integrated into easily accessible child and family centered systems.
- Ensure positive outcomes for children and their families by evaluating program impacts on children and families.
- Support efforts to maintain program services and research by leveraging and/or obtaining additional matching grant funds for program enhancement and sustainability.
- Support access to services for all families in an environment of support and respect.
- Encourage and support the development of each community's capacity to provide integrated services.