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Our Children This Month, March 2024

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 20:14:00 GMT

Creating Tomorrow’s Workforce: The Role of Social and Emotional Learning

Note: This past month the Fresno Cradle to Career Partnership (C2C) released a new White Paper, Social Emotional Learning: A Key to Success in School, Work and Life, that explores the fundamental importance of social and emotional development and the implications for the Central Valley’s future economic and social well-being of the rising tide of children who, beginning during infancy, are failing to meet social and emotional developmental milestones. This month’s issue of OCTM summarizes the findings and recommendations of the White Paper.

Our Children This Month, January 2024

Mon, 29 Jan 2024 20:47:58 GMT

#Housing4ALL: Fresno Residents Council Call for Affordable Housing Workshop

Lead by the Fresno Residents Council over 150 Fresno County Residents and youth held a “#Housing4ALL” kick off in front of City Hall last month to express their concerns about the growing lack of affordable housing. Participants called on the Mayor and City Council to initiate a workshop early this year to on the Mayor’s One Fresno Housing Strategy to better understand and support current implementation efforts and provide an opportunity for meaningful resident input.

Our Children This Month, November 2023

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 21:14:13 GMT

Feeding Fresno’s Hungry Children: Are We Doing Enough?

“A Catastrophic hunger crisis? California food banks are being flooded by families seeking help,” read a recent CalMatters headline. As we enter this holiday season with its focus on families, friends, and shared meals, a window opens each year that shines a light on the painful differences between the Fresno “family-haves” and “family-have-nots”.

Our Children This Month, September 2023

Fri, 01 Sep 2023 19:41:55 GMT

Youth Development: Calling Forth Fresno's New Leaders

In recent years there has been growing attention to the importance of developing and supporting youth involvement in community decision-making and participation. An e merging body of research is demonstrating that youth who become involved in their communities develop leadership skills, social skills, and life skills while, at the same time, the community benefits enormously from their contribution. Research also shows that in order to maximize their potential, young people need access to resources and proactive efforts to enforce positive youth development principles to build skills. They also need opportunities to learn from experience by serving as active contributors through community-based initiatives where they can see that their efforts have made a difference. This topic of meaningful youth engagement has gained a new urgency in the wake of the pandemic.

Our Children This Month, August 2023

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 19:38:34 GMT

How Are Our Children?: Mental Health - An Emergency

In late April, the 80 member Children’s Movement of Fresno Residents Council completed its first ever Fresno County Community Congress with a gathering of over 320 attendees. The information, presented in five languages, was the product of 18 months of the Council’s study and work to build the Resident’s Council Team and develop a policy agenda intended to make a better future for Fresno County’s children and their families. The day’s work culminated in a vote by those present to adopt a policy “Issue Action Agenda” with three priority issues for their work going forward: Safe and Inclusive Schools; Affordable Housing; and Mental Health. The prior two issues discuss Safe and Inclusive Schools and Affordable Housing . This issue explores the third topic of Mental Health.

Our Children This Month, July 2023

Sat, 01 Jul 2023 16:42:06 GMT

Creating Affordable Homes for all Fresno Families

In late April, the 80 member Children’s Movement of Fresno Residents Council completed its first ever Community Congress with a gathering of over 320 attendees. The information, presented in five languages, was the product of 18 months of the Council’s study and work to build the Resident’s Council Team and develop a policy agenda intended to make a better future for Fresno County’s children and their families. The day, filled with presentations, proposals and remarks from leaders, culminated in a vote to adopt a policy “Issue Action Agenda” with three priority issues for their work going forward: Safe and Inclusive Schools; Affordable Housing; and Mental Health. Following last month’s discussion of Safe and Inclusive Schools, this current issue of OCTM explores the topic of Affordable Housing with Mental Health to follow next month.

Our Children This Month, June 2023

Thu, 01 Jun 2023 16:39:29 GMT

Creating Safe & Inclusive Schools in Fresno County

In late April, the 80 member Children’s Movement of Fresno Residents Council completed its first ever Fresno County Community Congress with a gathering of over 320 attendees. The information, presented in five languages, was the product of 18 months of the Council’s study and work to build the Resident’s Council Team and develop a policy agenda intended to make a better future for Fresno County’s children and their families. The day, filled with presentations, proposals, and remarks from leaders, culminated in a vote by those present to adopt a policy “Issue Action Agenda.” The three priority issues for their work going forward are: Safe and Inclusive Schools, Affordable Housing, and Mental Health. Beginning with this issue’s discussion of Safe and Inclusive Schools, OCTM will explore these three topics throughout the summer.

Our Children This Month, May 2023

Mon, 01 May 2023 16:36:58 GMT

Fresno County Residents Council First Community Congress is a Success!

In late April the 80 member Children’s Movement of Fresno Residents Council completed its first ever Fresno County Community Congress with a gathering of over 320 attendees at the Fresno Fairgrounds. The Congress which was held in 5 languages–English-with simultaneous translations in Spanish, Hmong, Arabic, and Khmer—marked the culmination of 18 months of study and work to build the Resident’s Council Team and to develop a policy agenda intended to make a better future for Fresno County’s children and their families. The day was filled with presentations, proposals, remarks from leaders and culminated in a vote by those present to adopt the policy “Issue Action Agenda.”

Our Children This Month, April 2023

Sat, 01 Apr 2023 16:34:55 GMT

Creating Beautiful Outdoor Spaces: Measure P Status Report

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Valley Grant granting the Yosemite Valley and the nearby Mariposa Big Tree Grove “permanent protection that the land be held for public use, resort, and recreation.” Since its establishment in 1862, Yosemite Park has had the distinction of being the first scenic natural area to be set aside by the United States for public benefit. It was the precursor and the first of our system of national parks. It was the genesis of the national park concept which has spread over time not only throughout our country but throughout the world. It quickly became a “must see” vacation destination. Yosemite has proven, for over 160 years, to be a huge resource, both for the enjoyment of Central Valley residents and as a draw to bring visitors and their dollars to our local communities from across the country and around the world.

Our Children This Month, March 2023

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 17:31:31 GMT

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month

We are entering the month of April which was declared to be National Child Abuse Prevention Month in 1983 by then President Ronald Reagan to be observed annually to rally communities into collective action. This annual focus is important for giving visibility to the virtually incalculable costs of child abuse and neglect in every part of our communities. Early maltreatment of children is a key factor in ALL of our most intransigent social problems—school failure and high school dropouts, welfare dependency, homelessness, crime, and chronic illnesses.

Our Children This Month, February 2023

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 01:42:25 GMT

Creating A Fresno That Works For Everyone: DRIVE Part 2

As we explored in last month’s issue, Fresno has long struggled with intransigent poverty with the most recent 2020 census data reporting that nearly one out of five Fresno residents lived in poverty from 2016 to 2020. Even worse, one third of all children and more than half of all Black and Latinx children in our community are living in poverty. Our concentrated poverty rate is the highest in California. Fresno is one of the most segregated cities of its size in the United States. We have been left with the devastating consequences of a legacy of redlining which has led to significant under-investments in south city neighborhoods and rural areas of the county since the city’s founding. We are now coming to understand that we will never effectively address the complex issues underlying poverty until we take an honest look and address issues of racial inclusion. The reality is that we cannot achieve racial inclusion without community-wide economic growth that includes ALL of Fresno, especially those historically neglected neighborhoods south of the city and rural areas. The DRIVE Initiative (Developing the Region’s Inclusive and Vibrant Economy) is a multi-faceted, community wide effort bringing a broad cross-section of the community together to address these historical disparities. The goal is to transform our current reality and create economically healthy and racially inclusive employment opportunities and living environments for ALL citizens in the Fresno metro area.

Our Children This Month Issue 2, January 2023

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 01:34:36 GMT

Creating A Fresno That Works For Everyone: DRIVE Part 1

Fresno has long struggled to deal effectively with intransigent poverty. According to the most recent census data, released in March of last year, nearly one out of every five Fresno County residents lived in poverty from 2016 through 2020. But in some areas, the percentage of people whose incomes fell below the poverty level was much higher .

Our Children This Month, January 2023

Mon, 02 Jan 2023 01:31:31 GMT

Fresno’s Silent But Devastating Epidemic: Domestic Violence Part II

"Fresno County Sees an Alarming Spike in Domestic Violence Cases," ABC30 announced on December 14, 2022 in a story highlighting Fresno’s negative distinction for holding one of the highest rates of domestic violence calls for service per capita in the state, second only to Kern County. This story was followed three days later with a flurry of stories on a domestic violence murder-suicide by gun on Highway 41. While a domestic violence murder will briefly dominate the headlines for at least a few news cycles, it is only the tip of a very large iceberg that remains unseen by most of as we go about our daily lives. But, as we explored in last month’s issue, there are serious and wide-ranging consequences stemming from domestic violence—not only for the abused partner, but their children, and the community as a whole.

Our Children This Month, November 2022

Wed, 02 Nov 2022 00:27:36 GMT

Fresno’s Silent But Devastating Epidemic: Domestic Violence

"This group has a shocking concussion rate. It's not football players," read a recent Washington Post headline . The article highlighted the national attention and concern for injured NFL athletes after Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered two blows to the head just a few days apart. After the second blow, he was seen by millions being carried off the field on a stretcher to the hospital with visible signs of a concussion. After sustained public outrage, the NFL and NFL Players Association quickly investigated and modified the league's concussion protocols. Missing from the story about the devastating impact of blows to NFL players’ heads was an exponentially larger but totally ignored group of Americans who are regularly experiencing very high rates of concussions and other serious injuries–both child and adult victims of domestic violence. They are repeatedly subjected to types of abuse—punched and hit in the head with hard objects, thrown against a wall or slammed against the floor—that may cause brain damage. But, unlike amateur and professional athletes, the victims of domestic violence are not wearing protective helmets.

Our Children This Month, October 2022

Sun, 02 Oct 2022 00:23:53 GMT

Supporting Reading Success: Community-based Contributions

"It's Alarming: Children Are Severely Behind in Reading" read a recent New York Times headline reporting on a cluster of new studies showing that about a third of America’s youngest learners are missing reading benchmarks. These numbers are up significantly from pre-pandemic measures with black, brown, low-income, foster care, English Language Learners and children with disabilities faring the worst. This data is disturbing in its long-term implications. Every year, over 1.2 million children drop out of school in the United States. Even prior to the pandemic, Fresno was struggling with dropouts. According to the California Department of Education, in the 2018-19 school year Fresno High had a 12.7% dropout rate compared to the previous year’s 6.3%. The consequences are dire for children who fail to graduate from high school setting them on a lifelong path of limited employment prospects, low wages, poverty, and–far to often–crime. One key driver of these grim dropout statistics is failure in learning to read.

Our Children This Month, September 2022

Fri, 02 Sep 2022 00:20:08 GMT

Rethinking Juvenile Justice for Troubled Youth: Restorative Justice

In 2019, according to the Board of State & Community Corrections, 31,540 Fresno County youth were arrested and funneled into the criminal justice system to wind up with criminal records that will follow them to their extreme detriment for the rest of their lives. Given the severe impact from even relatively minor offenses, we have to ask ourselves if there is a better way to handle youthful offenders that views their mistake as a learning opportunity and holds them directly accountable to the victim and repairing the harm done to the greatest extent possible. Fortunately, the answer to this question is a resounding YES! We do know how to achieve this with an evidence-based solution already existing in Fresno County. This approach, which successfully redirects troubled youth known as Restorative Justice (RJ), has been languishing in the shadows here on a small scale for many years—starved by a lack of political support and funding.

Our Children This Month, August 2022

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 16:56:24 GMT

Digital Access Has Become Essential to Daily Life

Accessing digital services and understanding how to use them has become essential for the basic functioning of people in their daily lives. This month’s OCTM issue is the second of a two-part look at addressing the existing digital divide in Fresno. Like electricity, the internet is now solidly embedded in all aspects of our daily lives—giving rise to a special concern for the significant number of underserved households in high-poverty neighborhoods, multi-tenant complexes, and low-density rural areas.

Our Children This Month, July 2022

Sat, 02 Jul 2022 00:28:14 GMT

Digital Inclusion is a Basic Human Right: Broadband

The “digital divide” between those who have access to reliable and affordable broadband and those who don’t was with us before the pandemic. Like the universal electrification of our country in the 1930s, access to broadband has become a basic right. During the 50-year explosion of the internet, however, there has been a growing disparity to reliable and affordable access. This hidden reality became impossible to ignore once the pandemic tore off the blinders. For example, overnight, schools across the Central Valley scrambled, with almost nothing in place for virtual learning—devices, trained staff, digital lessons and, in far too many homes, decent access to broadband service. As families struggled to cope, the already existing disparities and impacts for Black, Latino, and low-income children were quickly exacerbated. The American Community Survey in 2020 reported that while broadband access has been steadily expanding, significant racial/ethnic and demographic gaps persist: 80% of Latino households and 83% of Black households reported having broadband compared to 87% of white households. Demographic disparities also persist. Statewide in 2020, three demographic groups reported low access: 83% of households headed by adults 65 and over; households with annual income below $50,000; and 80% of households headed by non-college graduates.

Due to the complexity of considerations presented by the digital divide, OCTM will explore this topic in two issues: This issue explores the challenges of the “middle-mile,” often described as the internet highway—the segment of a telecommunications network linking the central core network to regional and local networks. The August issue will explore the challenges of the “last mile” in providing reliable and affordable connection from the middle-mile to end users, especially in rural and poor urban neighborhoods, and in ensuring the know-how (digital literacy) that allows for competent daily broadband use.

Fresno Has Taken Significant Steps to Collaboratively Implement Solutions

The pandemic showed us just how much everyone is affected by internet access, and while everyone sees the problem every day, no one owns it. Fortunately, there is a strong commitment to collaborating to solve for this problem. The Fresno Coalition for Digital Inclusion (FCDI) emerged from community conversations and builds on 15+ years of work by multiple local actors who have deep knowledge around the challenges and solutions needed for countywide internet access. The FCDI is a cross-sector collaboration of 30+ organizations with a shared commitment to digital inclusion. FCDI builds upon the strong cross-sector partnerships built by leading networks like Fresno’s C2C (Cradle to Career) and Fresno DRIVE (Developing the Region’s Inclusive and Vibrant Economy) including The Children’s Movement. TCM helped to create and is leading the Digital Literacy Coalition (DLC) as part of the larger group. Earlier this month, FCDI organized a Virtual Town Hall - Solutions for All at the Speed of Broadband , hosted by Senator Caballero and Assembly member Arambula with a video appearance by Senator Padilla. More detail regarding the last-mile, including digital literacy, will be in the next issue.

Accurate Data and Local Knowledge Are Essential for Any Meaningful Solution and Are Currently MIA

Based on its knowledge of existing and planned routes, FCDI has developed a series of recommendations to provide middle-mile and last-mile services . A priority is given to unserved/underserved households in high poverty urban areas, multi-tenant complexes, and low-density rural areas. Reliable data—identifying the actual speeds and quality of connectivity—is essential to this effort but is currently lacking. Broadband policies and investments are guided by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) maps that identify the existing infrastructure, the geography of broadband services already provided, and anticipated expansion. Unfortunately, the current CPUC map of middle-mile routes based on this information do not reflect on the ground broadband reality, especially in SE and SW Fresno. ( see current CPUC middle-mile routes )

The data used in the development of these maps is provided by self-reporting from incumbent carriers who vastly overstate both service availability and quality in high poverty urban areas, multi-housing units, and low-density rural areas. If a single household in a census tract has service, the entire tract is deemed to be served. Fresno County has about 1,000,000 residents [2020 census] across 6,000 square miles. The CPUC data shows 3% of households are unserved as of 2022. These are households without internet access at 25Mbps downstream. Meanwhile, the 2020 Census shows 17% of households in Fresno County did not have an internet connection – this is about 174,000 residents. Microsoft , using a modern data gathering method, found in October 2020 that 1 of every 2 people in Fresno County were unserved without access to internet at 25Mbps downstream [489,000 residents].

The CPUC maps are used to develop “preferred scenarios” that guide the determination of investments in open access middle-mile routes that make new or improved last-mile services possible. Based on data gathered by FCDI, the number of under/unserved could well exceed 75,000 including 49,715 students, 2 out of every 3 Fresno Unified students, who are underserved without access to internet at 100 Mbps downstream. Recent research shows that mapping of the areas on the wrong side of the digital divide echoes the 1930s redlining maps that graded neighborhoods for real estate investment risk from “Best” to “Hazardous.” So, without a serious course correction, like redlining, the present broadband maps which drive investment decisions--$61 million in State funding for last mile in Fresno County—will exacerbate existing racial inequities with serious consequences extending far into the future.

Recent research shows that mapping of the areas on the wrong side of the digital divide echoes the 1930s redlining maps that graded neighborhoods for real estate investment rick from "Best" to "Hazardous." So, without a serious course correction, like redlining, the present broadband maps which drive investment decisions--$61 million in Federal and State funding for Fresno County— will exacerbate existing racial inequities with serious consequences extending far into the future.

In the Face of the Unreliable Data Maps, Fresno is Innovating

Given the implications of the official undercounting, this past year, FSUD took matters into its own hands and installed technology to gather real time internet experience data on thousands of devices provided to students in the pandemic. And Fresno County Superintendent of Schools (FCSS) will be expanding this data gathering effort across the county. FCSS and FSUD have put themselves in the middle-mile business by bringing fiber into former fiber deserts. FCSS is bringing fiber to 11 rural school districts with funding from the BIG grant. FUSD several years ago started the move to leased fiber. By early 2023, 114 locations will have new fiber delivering reliable internet to schools at 40 times the speeds available in 2020. The City of Fresno is moving the middle-mile needle through a public/private partnership with CVIN that has brought fiber to many locations throughout the city.

Resources

Federal Communications Affordable Connectivity Program

United Way Sign up for new federal low-cost internet program ($30 per month) and tips for selecting service. Eligibility is determined at the household level. If anyone in your home is currently enrolled in SNAP, WIC, Medi-Cal, CalFRESH, or any government assistance program - your household is eligible. Those not presently enrolled in any such programs can qualify if your income is less than 138% the federal poverty line.
https://broadband.unitedwaysca.org/ resources or text INTERNET to 211-211 to start the process on your phone .

Connect Initiative

Fresno State University- The Connect Initiative provides low-cost internet services (as low as $10/month) to households eligible for W.I.C, SNAP/CalFRESH, free/reduced lunch, live in public housing, and seniors age 62 and older or those on SSI. Some households are also eligible for a free Chromebook laptop.

Call 855-456-9995 for more information.

California Lifeline

State of California: The California LifeLine Program (California LifeLine) is a state program that provides discounted home phone and cell phone services to eligible households. The California LifeLine discounts help consumers lower the cost of their phone bills.

https://www.californialifeline.com/en

Help Me Grow

Fresno County Superintendent of Schools- Help Me Grow can answer questions about a child's development from birth to age five. Services are free and confidential. Trained call line Care Coordinators will listen and follow the family's questions. The goal is to identify more children with developmental concerns and link families to helpful services as early as possible in a child's life.

Call 1-866-KIDS-HMG (1-866-543-7464) or visit
www.helpmegrow.fcoe.org

All 4 Youth
All4Youth@fcoe.org, 559-443-4800 M-F 8am-5pm
All4Youth is a collaboration between Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health and the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools for children ages 0-22 who are experiencing difficulties that affect them at school and at home. It is an integrated system of care that, with one call, will give all youth and their families access to behavioral health services at school, in the community, or in the home.

United Way 211

211 is a 24/7 call center provided by United Way for help on a wide range of issues, e.g. mental health, housing, rent payments, employment and education, income, food and meal assistance, legal assistance, health and dental care, substance abuse programs, transportation, and more.

F.I.N.D.CARE

Central Valley Children's Services Networ k , 559-466-1100
CVCSN has trained Resource & Referral Navigators on duty Monday-Friday from 9am-4pm to help parents locate childcare that meets the family's individual needs. They connect families with childcare resources and provide information on what quality childcare may look like. Services available in English and Spanish.
https://www.cvcsn.org/find-care/

Fresno County Community Calls

Join TCM Fresno each third Thursday of month for our Community Calls - presented by CalViva Health. Meetings will contain updates from Fresno County Department of Public Health, diverse guest speakers for a variety of topics important to the community, and question and answer session.

Our Children This Month, May 2022

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 00:20:21 GMT

Disrupting the Negative Child Developmental Trajectory: Home Visiting

There is growing national alarm, echoed here in Fresno, about the deteriorating status of children’s mental health and the rise in youth gang and gun violence. Mental health, which lies at the heart of much of these growing concerns, starts early in the well-documented processes of attachment. Babies learn to form healthy relationships and to manage, and express their emotions, build self-confidence and to cognitively learn–or not–in their earliest interactions with caregivers. There is growing evidence that, beginning prenatally, early adverse child experiences (ACEs) affect neural functions and structures that in turn shape future cognitive, social, emotional, behavioral, and health outcomes. Poverty has a huge impact. By 18 months of age, children from poorer households are much slower at identifying pictures of simple words, such as “dog” or “ball.” By kindergarten, there is a significant gap between poor and middle-class children in both reading skills and behavioral regulation. Emerging research shows that early trauma may negatively alter DNA and be transmitted across generations as traumatized children grow up and become parents themselves. Given the long-term impact of early trauma, it is important to effectively support challenged new parents from the beginning.

Fresno’s High Poverty Rate is Giving Rise to Many Child Development Challenges

With Fresno County’s high rate of child poverty ( 45% for children under age-6 ), far too many children face serious developmental challenges, especially children of color who, in addition to the cumulative impacts of structural racism, face higher poverty rates than white children. Children living in poverty are at higher risk of being born prematurely or at low birthweight, being abused and neglected, and lagging behind in educational achievements. Research shows that stable and supportive relationships with loving adults can mitigate and even reverse these effects of poverty and other adverse life events. Home Visitation (HV) reduces child abuse, helps in the early identification of developmental delays, and supports family self-sufficiency.

With Fresno's high rate of child poverty (45% for children under 6), many of our children face serious developmental challenges, especially children of color who, in addition to the cumulative impacts of structural racism, face higher poverty rates than white children. Children living in poverty are at higher risk of being born prematurely or at a low birthweight, being abused and neglected, and lagging behind in educational achievements.

Home Visiting Is a Proven Intervention That Disrupts This Negative Trajectory

HV is a proven prevention strategy with decades of research documenting its effectiveness in breaking this negative trajectory. Participation in an HV program is voluntary and can be discontinued by parents at any time. Home visitors are trained nurses or paraprofessionals who support parents in their role as their child’s first and most important teacher. The goal is preventive—to help new parents overcome serious challenges they may be facing. Visits focus on linking pregnant women with prenatal care, promoting strong parent-child attachment after birth, and coaching parents on learning activities that support their child’s development. Home visitors also conduct regular screenings to identify possible health and developmental issues and link a family to appropriate resources.

The Key Elements for Home Visiting are Already in Place in Fresno

Fresno has a long history of HV, but until recently it has been fragmented with 25 often overlapping and duplicative programs provided by 18 different agencies and community organizations. Beginning in 2015, an effort began to develop a more comprehensive, integrated and evidence-based HV approach. The need here is high. Fresno has approximately 14,000 to 15,000 live births annually of which 50% are characterized as “at risk” by MediCal data. While all Black births—regardless of income—are at high risk of preterm and low birth weight. Currently approximately 3,200 Fresno families are being served.

A collaborative effort, known as the Fresno County Home Visitation Network, is underway led by Lowell Ens, CEO of Exceptional Parents Unlimited, Inc. and Ge Vue, Senior Division Manager Fresno County Department of Maternal and Adolescent Health. The HV Network was launched in 2019 after HV was called out as a cross-cutting strategy across several domains in the Fresno Cradle to Career (C2C) Preconception to Age 5 Blueprint for Funding and Advocacy. The purposes of the HV Network are to:

Integrate data on HV outcomes;
Reduce duplications in services provided;
Identify and serve families not being offered services;
Match a family with the program that will best meet their needs.

This initial organizing effort culminated in including HV in the Central Valley Community Foundation’s DRIVE Initiative, a 10-year investment plan “to develop an inclusive, vibrant, and sustainable economy for residents in the greater Fresno region”. This in turn led to additional funding by First 5 CA for the development of a coordinated countywide HV system.

The initial focus of the HV Network has been to gather countywide data and target HV to the 25 highest-needs zip codes. Data silos exist between programs created by funding streams, types of services provided, and privacy considerations. Gathering comprehensive data and sharing it between programs is both extraordinarily complex and extraordinarily important. Integrated data will greatly benefit service providers and the families served and will enhance HV’s positive outcomes. One task of the HV Network has been to agree on what outcomes will be measured, for example, improved levels of maternal depression and preterm birth outcomes, especially for Black mothers. The HV Network has set a goal to increase the number of families served to 10,000 by 2030.

Home Visiting Is an Investment That Will Generate Significant Long Term Returns

While HV is not an inexpensive undertaking, it deserves to be viewed as a community “investment” rather than an “expense”. The average annual cost of HV in Fresno ranges from about $3,000 to $7,000 per family depending on the timeframe and type of services provided. According to rigorous longitudinal evaluation, the benefits of high quality HV far exceed its cost. Research shows high quality HV helps prevent child abuse, improves school readiness, increases the physical and mental wellbeing of moms and kids, boost parents' confidence in their parenting skills, and results in greater family economic self-sufficiency. By reducing contact with the child welfare, criminal justice, and mental health systems, improving educational outcomes, and increasing parental employment and earnings, HV is a smart investment .

Given HV’s proven benefits, Fresno County HV Network is developing a long term strategy to make home visits reimbursable by MediCal and Medicaid and is hoping to enlist First 5 CA, statewide HV networks, and other partners in making this happen. While by no means a silver bullet in dealing with the growing crisis in children’s mental health and youth violence, expanding HV is one of the wisest investments we can make locally, statewide, and federally to begin at the beginning of life to disrupt the negative developmental trajectory currently engulfing far too many children, their families, and our communities.

Resources

Help Me Grow

All4Youth

All4Youth@fcoe.org, 559-443-4800 M-F 8am-5pm
All4Youth is a collaboration between Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health and the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools for children ages 0-22 who are experiencing difficulties that affect them at school and at home. It is an integrated system of care that, with one call, will give all youth and their families access to behavioral health services at school, in the community, or in the home.

United Way 211

F.I.N.D.CARE

Central Valley Children's Services Network , 559-466-1100
CVCSN has trained Resource & Referral Navigators on duty Monday-Friday from 9am-4pm to help parents locate childcare that meets the family's individual needs. They connect families with childcare resources and provide information on what quality childcare may look like. Services available in English and Spanish.
https://www.cvcsn.org/find-care

Fresno County Community Calls

Join TCM Fresno each third Thursday of month for our community calls - presented by CalViva Health. Meetings will contain updates from Fresno County Department of Public Health, diverse guest speakers for a variety of topics important to the community, and question and answer session.

Mark Your Calendars!

The Children’s Movement (TCM) State of Our Children Breakfast brings together more than 600 community stakeholders to celebrate the impacts of our collective work, and to embrace the challenges that remain. Since 2011 this annual event has drawn representatives from education, health, housing, justice, non-profit, civic, business, and philanthropy.
Sponsorships are now available! Email kelsey@tcmfresno.org

Meredith Wiley

TCM Author, Our Children This Month

Our Children This Month, April 2022

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 18:25:59 GMT

Reimagining Education in Fresno County: Community Schools

When Fresno’s schools were abruptly closed in early March 2020, the negative fallout went far beyond academic consequences, landing especially hard on children of color and low-income families. Overnight, there was a loss of free and reduced-price meals and a safe place for children to be during the day. With the sudden disruption to all the aspects of school that support a child’s overall social learning, mental health and well-being, parents and educators were left scrambling. As painful and chaotic as the past two years have been, COVID has created an unparalleled opportunity to seek innovative strategies to fundamentally alter the design of schools, especially those with low-income and predominantly minority student populations.

Several years prior to the COVID triggered school crisis, an effort was underway to bring forth a comprehensive approach to redesigning schools known as “Community Schools” (CS). CS is a newly rediscovered century-old approach to making schools a place where children can learn and thrive, especially in under-resourced and under-served neighborhoods. With CS a school or school district leads a collaborative effort bringing families, educators, community organizations and local governments to create a one-stop hub that braids multiple resources and supports together. Community engagement is deemed essential, with parents embedded in both the planning and implementation of the model. The services and supports provided vary by school to fit each neighborhood’s needs. They are created and run by the people who know their children best.

The elements of a Community School make it uniquely able to respond to existing widespread conditions of poverty and racism and to provide educational opportunities for children who have been systematically marginalized through discriminatory policies, practices, and societal neglect.

While there will be some differences in how the schools look from community-to-community, there are Four Pillars of Practice that are common to all Community Schools. These Pillars are central to the planning and bring a wide range of community partners together, including parents, to implement the Pillars in their local schools.

No two CS are identical. Each CS builds on local assets and holistically responds to the identified needs of its children and families. Services, for example, might include on-site medical services to reduce the impact of asthma or poor vision, better meeting mental health concerns, or supporting children with other special needs. Programs to address such issues as absenteeism and after-school programs to provide a supervised safe space while parents are working, could expand and enrich learning opportunities. A CS can also provide an opportunity for meaningful parent/community supports, for example, digital literacy training and employment resources.

Strong Research Findings Document the Effectiveness of Community Schools

The evidence of the effectiveness of redesigning a school and building it around the Four Pillars is strong. The RAND Corporation conducted a detailed study (precovid) of CS implementation in New York City from 2017 – 2018. The documented successes were promising. Student attendance increased along with on-time grade progression and high school graduation rates. The RAND analyses also showed a significant reduction in disciplinary incidents for elementary and middle school students and a documented increase in student-reported connectedness to adults and peers. In another study, the Learning Policy Institute in Palo Alto did a survey of a total of 143 studies across the nation. They concluded that “Well-implemented community schools lead to improvement in student and school outcomes and contribute to meeting the educational needs of low-achieving students in high- poverty schools.”

Community School Efforts Are Currently Underway In Fresno

Fresno County has several CS projects underway. For example:

Fresno Unified School District (FSUD) has already undergone extensive preliminary work in collaboration with the Fresno Teachers Association to identify and establish initial planning teams comprised of administrators, educators, leaders, teachers, students, parents, and community stakeholders to establish a shared vision for CS. Dr. Linda Hoff has recently been hired to manage the project for FUSD. A grant application is pending before the State Department of Education for planning. Dr. Hoff is a strong believer that engaging families in the process and building trust across the range of collaborating participants is both the most important and biggest challenge going forward.
Parlier Unified School District (PUSD) has been working for over a year to implement the CS model with much appreciated “thought partner” support from Fresno Cradle to Career (C2C). They have also just submitted a planning grant application to the State Department of Education. The Parlier project has been guided since its inception by Dr. Altagracia Guerrero, Superintendent of PUSD, and is being overseen by Ms. Marlene Peña who has recently joined the Parlier CS team as the Family and Community Empowerment Coordinator. The goal of their project is to build on what already exists. Many key elements were already in place, but Dr. Guerrero found the systems to be fragmented and wanted to weave together a comprehensive approach. CS appears to be a path towards achieving this goal. PUSD plans to start with one junior high and the high school as the focus of the first two years. These two schools will form the experiential basis for then going forward to include the district’’s five additional schools.

Best of All, Funding Is Currently Available for the Creation of Community Schools

Given the research documenting the effectiveness of CS for children and families living in poverty, significant federal, state, and local funding has been earmarked for expanding it. The Legislature recently established the California Community Schools Partnership with a budget of $3 billion and charged it with creating CS schools in high-poverty neighborhoods. They are now accepting applications . These funds are for planning grants of $200,000 for up to 1,437 districts, charter schools and county offices of education. There is also funding for implementation grants of up to $500,000 annually for five years for new and existing CS efforts. In addition, the state budget was structured to allow for incorporation and braiding of multiple California Initiatives into CS efforts, for example, Transitional Kindergarten and state kindergartens, Expanded Learning Opportunities Programs to provide funding for afterschool and summer school enrichment, and numerous other programs to prepare, recruit, retain, and train teachers, administrators, and classified staff in K–12 education. At the Federal level , the Biden Administration is proposing over $443 million (15 times the current level) to expand CS as a strategy in developing comprehensive plans to address poverty. In addition, there are several other sources of federal dollars that can potentially be drawn on to support a local CS effort.

The opportunity to develop CS is fully supported by both C2C and The Children’s Movement of Fresno(TCM). Both school design and school accountability have long been a contentious space with teachers unions, community groups and administrators often at odds. CS is one approach where there is broad consensus between these factions, opening the door to meaningful collaboration between stakeholder groups who wouldn’t normally work together. Of particular interest to TCM is the opportunity presented for Resident Council members, particularly those who are passionate about schools, to engage in meaningful efforts already underway across the County to redesign our schools. The vision is schools that become rich vibrant hubs that holistically support ALL children and their families. Schools with safe and inclusive classrooms featuring high-quality teaching, attention to children with special needs, and a positive school environment for all.

Resources

Communit y Schools Fact Sheet

Download the PDF

Community Schools as an Effective School Improvement Strategy: A Review of the Evidence

Download the PDF

NEA Community School Model

Help Me Grow

All4Youth

United Way 211

F.I.N.D.CARE

Central Valley Children's Services Network , 559-466-1100
CVCSN has trained Resource & Referral Navigators on duty Monday-Friday from 9am-4pm to help parents locate childcare that meets the family's individual needs. They connect families with childcare resources and provide information on what quality childcare may look like. Services available in English and Spanish.
https://www.cvcsn.org/find-care

Fresno County Community Calls

Mark Your Calendars!

Meredith Wiley

TCM Author, Our Children This Month

Our Children This Month, March 2022

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 09:41:01 GMT

Getting People Back to Work: Childcare

“When Child Care Costs Twice as Much as the Mortgage” read a recent New York Times headline, succinctly summing up the sorry state of childcare in our nation. Parents often spend more on childcare per month than their rent or mortgage while the staff are paid the same basement wages as fast-food workers. The pandemic quickly illuminated the reality that childcare is fundamental to the health of our economy. Essential workers needed access to care they could afford in a safe place. We scrambled to provide it with stopgap funding and piecemeal solutions. Now, as we enter the recovery phase, a lack of childcare is center stage in our business recovery efforts contributing to a shortage of workers. For many families, if the kids aren’t in care, parents can’t go back to work.

In Fresno, the Need for Childcare Far Outweighs the Supply

Currently Fresno County has only enough slots for 23% of children ages 0-12 of working families leaving 77% unserved. For infants and toddlers, it is even worse with only enough slots for 15% leaving 85% of our youngest children unserved. At the same time during Covid, costs increased 70% for in-home providers and 47% for centers.

The Iowa Caucus process then proceeded to a second round of discussion, debate and voting with instructions from Mike to “refine your issue and talk about the issues popping up.” At the end of the second round, the issues had been narrowed down to four final categories.

Currently Fresno County only has enough slots for 23% of children ages 0-12 of working families leaving 77% of Fresno’s Children unserved. For infants and toddlers, it is even worse with only enough slots for 15% leaving 85% of our youngest children unserved.

The lack of services for babies is particularly troublesome. It is well-documented that the quality of experiences during the earliest months of life are key to brain development. It is a time of both great opportunity and great risk. Childcare workers ARE NOT just babysitters. The early years are the period of the most complex and formative learning. This is when the foundations for social, mental, and cognitive health are laid—or not—in the minute-to-minute interactions between infants and their caregivers. Yet, despite the significant value of what they provide, the average hourly wage of a childcare provider in Fresno is $15.53. A recent study done at UCLA Berkeley found that one-third of the families of childcare workers—most of whom are women of color or immigrants—are on one or more public assistance programs like Medi-Cal.

While most providers in Fresno County have at least partially reopened, the system remains challenged due to periodic closings on short notice. These ongoing challenges are leaving parents in the lurch and many providers not able to serve at capacity. In addition, there is high staff absenteeism and a shortage of substitutes. The cost to families is steep. Presently the average cost for preschool childcare is $774 per child (ages 3 to 5) per month and $1,101 per month for infant care (age 2 or younger). While the average rent in Fresno for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,419 per month.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has set a benchmark for co-payments of no more than 7% of their income for families receiving childcare subsidies. The amount Fresno families are currently spending for child care far exceeds this benchmark goal. Rural and agricultural workers especially struggle both with high costs relative to low wages and the distances to and from work and any available care.

The Fresno Residents Council has Targeted Affordable Childcare as a Priority Issue

The bottom line is that in Fresno County there is a significant shortage of childcare centers and licensed homes that meet the budgets, schedules, and geographic needs of working families. In December 2021, the Fresno Residents Council, launched by TCM in mid-2021, identified “Childcare and Workers’ Rights for Economic Opportunities for Families” as one of four priority issues to initially address. They have formed an Issue Caucus around this topic and have gone to work. The Caucus has set a goal to “create equitable access to high quality and affordable childcare.” Top issues identified, in addition to cost, were:

Lack of access to quality care: Especially for farm workers and other rural residents, and for families with non-traditional work hours.
Lack of information on providers and resources: The Caucus strongly agreed that the various organizations and providers need to collaborate, share information and make it more readily available to parents.

A Proposal is Pending for the use of Additional CARES Dollars for Highest Needs Families

The Preconception to Age 5 Network, a collaborative effort of Fresno Cradle to Career (C2C) has submitted a proposal to the City of Fresno for the use of $3,000,000 Rescue Plan dollars to address some of Fresno’s most hard-pressed families. The proposal would serve 1,941 Fresno City’s highest needs families as they return to work. The proposal calls for:

Family Child Care Vouchers: $2,800,000 for parents/guardians to help pay for 161 children in settings that meet the families’ unique needs: licensed center, licensed home providers, or family, friend or neighbor caregivers if the caregiver meets a Trustline background check.
Development of Parent Portals for Subsidized Child Care: $200,000 (one time cost) for electronic software to help simplify a family’s enrollment in the voucher program and shorten the time between processing the paperwork and a family’s enrollment.

If funded, this proposal would be a good start but still falls far short of actual needs, especially in rural areas which are not included in the proposal. The sad fact is that for far too long parents have struggled with the costs and logistics of childcare while providers have been undervalued and underpaid. The system simply doesn’t work well for anyone. But we may in these tumultuous times have a once-in-a generation opportunity to do what is right by our children and help remove the burden of cost from parents and build a system of high-quality care for all. Given the value of what quality child care provides, we must acknowledge that it is a public good that directly contributes to the wellbeing of families and the economic development and prosperity of our county.

F.I.N.D.CARE

Central Valley Children's Services Network , 559-466-1100
CVCSN has trained Resource & Referral Navigators on duty Monday-Friday from 9am-4pm to help parents locate childcare that meets the family's individual needs. They connect families with childcare resources and provide information on what quality childcare may look like. Services available in English and Spanish.
https://www.cvcsn.org/find-care/

United Way 211

All 4 Youth

Fresno County Community Calls

Mark Your Calendars!

Sponsorships are now available! Email kelsey@tcmfresno.org

Meredith Wiley

TCM Author, Our Children This Month

Our Children This Month, February 2022

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 06:23:17 GMT

Closing The COVID Learning Loss?

As we enter our third year of COVID, schools continue to struggle with the disruptions affecting children. There is growing concern about potential “learning losses”. There is some debate about how to characterize the negative impact Covid disruptions are having on academic achievement. Some say “learning loss,” while others believe “opportunity loss” or “unfinished learning” are more appropriate descriptors of the academic lag, maintaining that students haven’t lost prior learning, rather they are failing to make optimal progress as the pandemic lingers.

A study done in the Fall of 2021 by Curriculum Associates showed that learning has been sliding and students were academically behind historic levels for each grade in reading and mathematics, especially those in lower grades. The i-Ready assessment, which is given three times a year in reading and math to over 9 million students allowed researchers to compare current performance with what would be expected absent COVID. This study found significant declines, especially among the youngest students in math. The impact was the greatest in fall 2020. It appears now to have stabilized, but is still below academic norms, especially in math. Third grade is recognized as the pivotal year for predicting future academic success. In the fall of 2021, 38 percent of third graders were below grade level in reading, compared with 31 percent historically. In math, 39 percent third grade students were below grade level vs. 29 percent historically.

The impact was significantly worse for Black and Latino students, and those in high-poverty schools

The size of the disparity varies, ranging from a few months to a half a year of lost learning. A McKinsey & Co. study found schools with majority-Black populations were five months behind pre-pandemic levels, compared with two months behind in majority-white schools. Students of color and students in low-income schools were losing ground three times as fast as high-income students. Those students who were already behind pre-pandemic showed lower growth when compared to their higher achieving peers. Learning inequities have existed for many years. Covid merely brought them out of hiding, making an already dire reality even worse.

Low-income students, especially those of color, are losing ground three times faster than high-income students. By spring 2021, Hispanic students, who already lagged behind white students by two years before the pandemic, dropped twice as much in academic achievements as white students.

While we don’t have data to evaluate the extent of the decreased learning and disparate impact of COVID here in Fresno, there is little doubt these disparities do exist. In response, education leaders have been working to significantly recast Fresno’s education landscape. Curriculum development is focusing on what the staff at Fresno County Office of Education (FCOE) calls “Learning Acceleration.” They believe that COVID has created an unparalleled opportunity to change fundamental factors that have persistently led to learning inequities. Their priority has been shifting from annual standardized tests to supporting localized assessments, school district by school district. Tools are being developed and funding available for assessments given periodically throughout the year by a teacher in the classroom. This individualized information tells a teacher in real time how a student is doing, allowing for an informed approach to seeing what might be needed for students who are struggling.

The impact of the pandemic on learning goes far beyond academics

Social and emotional well-being and learning are an essential component of academic success. Children have been adversely affected in their social and emotional development by online learning. Studies show that behavioral health is worse in on-line learning as compared to in-person and hybrid instruction. In a recent Harvard survey of roughly 400 families parents reported that children’s behavior worsened during Zoom school. Their children were more prone to misbehave or become aggressive or withdrawn. And children’s mental health has also been deteriorating with a significantly more kids with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and suicidal thinking. Just this past December, an alarmed U.S. Surgeon General issued a “ rare public advisory ” declaring a state of crisis in children’s mental health.

There is new money to support fundamental change

New State and Federal dollars are coming into Fresno which, if used wisely, will support the Accelerated Learning efforts underway. Decisions being made now in advance of the finalized County budget in July could reshape education in Fresno. Last month, the U.S. Education Secretary urged schools to spend COVID relief funds on mental health supports and 90 minutes of high-quality tutoring per week for struggling students. In addition, he called for expanded summer school, after-school programs and additional supports for students with disabilities.

FCOE is working to develop a system of “ Community Schools ”. Funding is now available with $3 billion appropriated in this year’s state budget for the creation of the California Community Schools Partnership charged with creating schools in high-poverty neighborhoods that comprehensively meet student needs, engage families as partners, empower teachers and create a web of relationships and contracts with outside health and social service agencies. These funds are for planning grants of $200,000 for up to 1,437 districts, charter schools and county offices of education. There is also funding for implementation grants of up to $500,000 annually for five years for new and existing community schools. In addition to money for community schools, the Legislature used a large budget surplus combined with federal COVID aid to pass billions of dollars for new programs to deal with the challenges of COVID. And the Governor has proposed an additional $100 billion over the current budget for education in the 2022-23 budget.

There are no easy fixes to overcome generations of learning inequities. But COVID has given us an opportunity to achieve fundamental structural change. Community input, the voices of parents and other resident leaders, has never been more important than now in the current budgeting decisions. Public input is essential if we are to take maximum advantage of the new resources now available to meet the long-term developmental needs of ALL our children.

Reflection Tool

District Student Wellbeing Services Reflection Tool , produced by Chiefs For Change, provides a menu of exercises to help assess and strengthen services and partnerships that support students' wellbeing and mental health.

Community School Model

Community Schools mobilize students, families, educators, and community members to develop a grassroots vision for their schools and communities providing services and support which fit each neighborhood’s needs. The California Department of Education is now accepting applications. For additional information or to apply click here.

Positivity Project

The Positivity Project is designed to build resilient and empathetic students in a once daily 15 minute unit. Efforts are currently underway in the Central Valley being shepherded by the Welty Center at Fresno State School of Education.

All 4 Youth

All4Youth@fcoe.org, 559-443-4800 M-F 8am-5pm

All4Youth is a collaboration between Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health and the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools for children ages 0-22 who are experiencing difficulties that affect them at school and at home. It is an integrated system of care that, with one call, will give all youth and their families access to behavioral health services at school, in the community, or in the home.

United Way 211

Meredith Wiley

TCM Author, Our Children This Month

Our Children This Month, January 2022

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 10:30:55 GMT

The Resident Council's Development of a Policy Agenda is Officially Underway!

In early-December Resident Leaders from the Fresno Residents Council met together for the first ever Issues Assembly. The event marked the beginning of their work to develop a policy agenda intended to make changes for a better future for Fresno County’s children and families. This diverse 100 member Residents Council, drawn from all parts of Fresno County, was launched by The Children’s Movement (TCM) in partnership with Fresno Cradle to Career (C2C) and the help of 12 community-based organizations. The purpose of Fresno Residents Council is to powerfully bring the voices of community members to the policy table. These resident leaders will share their lived experience and ideas to develop and implement a policy agenda. The power and content of Fresno’s policy decision-making will be significantly strengthened and deepened by this direct input from the community.

The Issues Assembly represented an important milestone for this unique and diverse Council. It was preceded by a Residents Summit in July followed by 5 virtual trainings held over a 4-month period from August through November. Training topics included the fundamentals of community organizing, how policy is formed, how to address the problems in policies and ways to effectively communicate with each other and policymakers. The generation of a common belief that it is the people who have the power to make change—to build unity and community in Fresno—was woven throughout the entire learning process.

Ultimately Four Issue Areas were Identified as Top Priorities

The issue development process began with the identification of 32 issues drawn from 3 primary sources:

Responses to an intake form filled out by residents when joining the Council
One-on-one conversations between residents and the TCM team
The 5 trainings where residents have shared together.

A review of these 32 issues led to identification of identical or similar issues as responses were categorized. Eleven initial issue areas emerged from this process.

At the Issues Assembly the eleven issues were posted around the room and participants began a voting process, after a reminder from TCM Director, Mike Espinoza, that "We have the same values. We love Fresno." The participants engaged in a lively Iowa Caucus style discussion and debate and then voted with their feet by standing in front of their top issue to be counted. At the end of the voting in Round 1, five new issue areas emerged.

The entire process highlighted the complexity and often interrelated nature of each of the issues.

Mental Health

Participants identified some of the causes such as homelessness, missing school, violence in a home, bullying on social media and suicidal ideation. They also did a bit of brainstorming on what we can do: Add services, train school staff, create support groups, increase and ease access to healthcare and reduce the stigma of mental health.

Safe & Inclusive Schools

Participants shared a belief that kids need to feel safety in school both to attend and to learn. There were several overarching themes including access for children with disabilities and safety regarding race, gender and language.

Childcare and Workers Rights for Economic Opportunities for Families

Originally these were set up as two different categories but were quickly merged by the two groups of supporters into a single-issue category. Participants were concerned about the high costs and in agreement that all parents need access to good childcare and that they need to be paid fairly so that they can afford to pay for child care. Farmworker families and single moms were of special concern.

Affordable Housing in Healthy Communities with Access to Public Services and Infrastructure

This issue area combined several of the initial 11 including Housing quality and affordability, Digital Literacy, Access to Technology and Academic Success.

The Issues Assembly ended on a very positive note. When Mike asked the group. “Are you committed to keeping with the process?” The answer was a resounding “Yes!” Several members shared their personal experiences that underlined the importance of the Resident Council’s work being done “to protect our children.” One member summed it up for all by expressing her delight in a morning she spent “watching people power in motion.”

Meredith Wiley

TCM Author, Our Children This Month

Our Children This Month, December 2021

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 10:30:54 GMT

Deteriorating Child Mental Health in our Country is Now a National Emergency

The number of children in our nation who urgently need mental health services has steadily been rising for the past decade and is spiking during the pandemic. In October of this year, a coalition of the nation’s leading pediatric health experts, representing more than 70,000 doctors, issued a joint statement declaring that the child mental health crisis has become a national emergency. The statement highlights the serious toll that isolation, ongoing uncertainty, fear, and grief during the pandemic are taking on U.S. children and teens. Pediatricians and child and adolescent psychologists and psychiatrists are reporting significantly more kids with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and suicidal thinking over the past year. This joint statement was echoed in early December when the U.S. Surgeon General issued a rare public advisory in a 53-page report noting that the pandemic significantly intensified mental health issues that were already widespread by the spring of 2020.

Unfortunately, Fresno is NOT an Exception to this Worrisome Trend

Data shows that we have some of the highest rates of mental illness in California. This grim reality is compounded by having the fewest mental health care professionals per capita in the state. During the pandemic, professionals here have been seeing a significant increase in children presenting for services coupled with increasingly serious symptoms. The Office of Student Services at Fresno County Superintendent of Schools reports a doubling of referrals in the last 2 months alone to 600 children per month.

The Mental Health Crisis is Hitting Children of Color Especially Hard

Not only is there a surge in teenagers showing up in emergency rooms, alarmingly, the number of children in mental health crisis under the age of 13 is also significantly on the rise. This mental health crisis is hitting children of color especially hard. As of June 2021, over 140,000 children had lost a caregiver to COVID-19. Given the disparate mortality rates suffered by minorities, these losses hit children of color particularly hard. A recent study in the Journal of Pediatrics reported that, when compared to white children, Native American children were 4.5 times more likely to have lost a primary caregiver, Black children were 2.4 times more likely, and Hispanic children nearly twice as likely.

As of June 2021, more than 140,000 children in our nation had lost a caregiver to COVID-19.
Given the disparate mortality rates suffered from minorities from COVID, theses losses are hitting children of color particularly hard.

Trauma, Especially Occurring Early in Life, Lies at the Heart of Much Mental Illness

Teachers across the Central Valley are reporting a growing number of children from Pre-K to early grades arriving at school with dysregulated behaviors that cause chaos in the classrooms. The symptoms exhibited—high activity levels, aggression, tantrums, limited eye contact, restricted play choices, or being stuck obsessively on a tablet, for example—may be mistaken for autism but may actually be rooted in developmental reactions to early trauma. Mental health starts early. Babies learn to form relationships; and to manage, and express emotions and to build confidence and learn. The complex issues underlying the historical rise in the deterioration of children’s mental health have been accelerated by the alteration of family dynamics during the pandemic. Parents are too often overwhelmed by isolation, ongoing financial uncertainty, lack of affordable housing, work demands, fear, and grief and are unable to calm and regulate themselves let alone respond consistently to the needs of their children. Each of us, in our traumatized nation, especially the low income and people of color, is holding high levels of stress which has resulted in a decrease of social and emotional health. This is especially true for our children.

Some Promising Efforts are Already Underway in the Central Valley

In searching for ways to deal with this crisis there are two distinct strands to consider, both of which are essential—Prevention and Treatment. Especially effective in the realm of prevention are early services beginning pre-conception to age 5. The Fresno Cradle to Career (C2C) Blueprint for Funding and Advocacy points out that “a child’s healthy development is dependent on many factors including their interactions with adults, living conditions, learning opportunities, access to health care, and, beginning in the womb, experiences of stress and trauma,” and makes a series of recommendations as to how to achieve this. Robust support for the implementation of the 0 to 5 Blueprint would do much to disrupt the causes of early trauma.

Currently treatment for mental illness is greatly hampered by a variety of factors with two of the biggest being lack of funding to support existing and new programs coupled with a significant shortage of professionals. As we seek to develop and strengthen our treatment services we should pay attention to the growing body of research related to Adverse Child Experiences (ACE) that is leading us to understand that the best therapies include body movement and the expressive arts—music, dancing, drumming, art, etc. The Fresno County Trauma and Resilience Network is leading a collaborative effort with partners from multiple sectors– health, social services, community-based organizations, government, early care and education, child welfare, and the legal/justice system—to comprehensively build ACE awareness community wide.

New Dollars Are In The Pipeline

Fortunately there are some new resources coming in. The Biden administration announced in August plans to invest nearly $85 million in funding for mental health awareness, training and treatment for children. In addition to the federal dollars Governor Newsom signed several bills last year to help improve access to mental health services and substance use disorder services.

Current Resources To Get Help

Navigating the bewildering world of multiple agencies, programs and services can be challenging. Valuable sources of help are:

All 4 Youth

All4Youth@fcoe.org, 559-443-4800 M-F 8am-5pm

211 by United Way

Suicide Prevention Lifeline

1-800-273-8255

California Department of Education

Provides help for students in Crisis as well as the Teen and Youth Help Hotline.

More information available at TeenLine.org

In Community,

Meredith Wiley

TCM Author, Our Children This Month

Our Children This Month, November 2021

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 10:30:52 GMT

Our Children This Week (OCTW) Has Evolved

TCM’s Mission Has Expanded to Include Grass Roots Leaders In Policy Development

For the past four years, TCM has published Our Children This Week (OCTW) a policy E-Digest that provided access to current news and policy information relevant to issues of concern to our community. OCTW has now evolved into a new format that will be published monthly called Our Children This Month (OCTM). Our new publication will draw on a variety of reliable resources to provide information in support of the expanded mission of TCM which now includes the 104 member Fresno Residents Council. The power of any policy decision-making is significantly strengthened by direct input from the community. Working collaboratively with the C2C Partnership, this new group of grass roots leaders will provide lived experience and ideas to develop and implement a policy agenda. Importantly, OCTM will strive to promote racial equity, a core TCM value, and support community engagement that gives authentic co-empowerment to community members to shape and drive the decision-making process.

The Response to the Pandemic Has Altered U.S. Anti-Poverty Policies

A significant influx of new money to support families and how some of those resources are being distributed has been a silver lining of the pandemic. Prior to now, anti-poverty policies in the United States have been driven by a fundamental principle that we don’t give cash to low income people. This in turn has given rise over time to a staggering array of programs each with their own rules and regulations from multiple agencies that must be separately applied for creating a tremendous burden to the recipients—food stamps, housing, childcare, mental health, medical, transportation to name but a few. The recently enacted American Rescue Plan has temporarily turned this anti-poverty “no cash” frame upside down and created a different approach to an expansion of the social safety net. It gives money to people directly and lets them decide for themselves how best to use it.

"The recently enacted American Rescue Plan has temporarily turned the entrenched anti-poverty policy of not giving cash to low income people upside down. It gives money to people directly and lets them decide for themselves how best to use it."

The Child Tax Credit Lets Families Decide How To Spend Their Benefit

A good example of this is an overhaul of a Child Tax Credit (CTC), an annual payment that previously maxed out at $2,000 per child for middle-income parents with low-income families receiving nothing.

Under the current plan all families qualify who meet the following income criteria:

$75,000 or less for single taxpayers,
$112,500 or less for head of household,
$150,000 or less for married couples filing a joint return and qualifying widow(er)s

Credit Payments are paid in advance:

$3,000/year (or $250 per month) for each child age 6-17
$3,600 (or $300 per month) for each child age 0-5

Starting in July this year, payments are being distributed monthly by direct deposit into bank accounts on file with the IRS or by check. A key feature of the reconfigured Child Tax Credit is that a family will receive the full amount over the year so long as they have a Social Security number or Individual Tax Identification Number and have filed a 2020 income tax return. The money received can be used at a family’s sole discretion for their self-determined needs and priorities.

Too Many Qualifying Fresno Families Are Failing To Receive Their CTC Benefits

Although the revised Child Tax Credit is an important step forward in expanding the safety net for American families, there are some important issues at play going forward if all eligible families are to benefit. The payments to families began in July but, unfortunately, many qualifying Fresno County families have not received the benefits. One big catch is that many of the children who most need the help live in families that didn’t file 2020 tax returns. Analysis by the California Policy Lab reports that 23% of Fresno County children are likely falling through the cracks, including families with zero earnings who became eligible for the first time. More than half of these children are identified as Hispanic and one-third live in households where English is not the primary language. Children identified as American Indian or Alaskan Native are among the highest risk of not receiving this benefit. About 84% of at-risk households are headed by single adults and over two-thirds have no observed wage earnings. An additional issue is that if a 2020 tax return is filed with no bank account information for a direct deposit, the monthly payment is disbursed by check. This requires a current address on file with the IRS in order for the payment to be received. This can cause significant difficulties for families who have moved since they filed for 2020, a factor that is especially troublesome with the current housing crisis. The best way to resolve this problem is for a qualified family to create a bank account if they don’t have one or to link an existing bank account with their IRS filing so that receipt of the payment isn’t dependent on a correct physical address. Another huge challenge is reaching undocumented residents who can access the CTC if they have an Individual Tax Identification Number but may be reluctant to apply.

It's Not Too Late To Sign Up For CTC Benefits

The good news is that it isn’t too late to sign up for the Child Tax Credit. To qualify, a family must file a 2020 tax return—ideally with bank account information included. If they are eligible and fall below the non-filer threshold or have difficulties with the paperwork, there are several resources that can be used to get help in preparing and filing the necessary forms.

Multilingual Services

The California Department of Social Services (DSS) has started reaching out to at-risk families and is using multilingual resources such as GetCTC.org, plus live assistance and mobile-friendly tax-filing solutions to help families file a tax return.

THIS JUST IN! Support Current & Former Fresno Foster Youth

Become a VITA Volunteer!

If your or someone you know is interested in helping current and former foster youth and transition age youth in Fresno County prepare for and file their taxes to help them get unclaimed tax refunds or credits, Fresno Barrios Unidos, Focus Forward, and Advocates for Youth is looking for volunteers to work online or in-person.
No experience necessary! All training will be provided.

There is very good news just in! After months of debate, the Infrastructure Act just signed by President Biden yesterday has extended the $130 billion expanded Child Tax Credit that was in the Rescue Act passed earlier this year. The new act has the same eligibility levels and there are no work requirements. In addition, benefits will be made permanently refundable, which means the poorest Americans won’t have to meet an income threshold to get the full tax credit.

In Community,

Meredith Wiley

TCM Author, Our Children This Month

New funding opportunity: People, Parks, and Power—A National Initiative for Green Space, Health Equity, and Racial Justice

websitebuilder@1and1.de — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 22:16:32 GMT

Original article written by Jenna Quin for PACEs Connection

Image via PACEs Connection

"We’re excited to announce the launch of People, Parks, and Power (P3) , a national initiative to invest in green space, health equity, and racial justice. People, Parks, and Power seeks to accelerate a national movement for park equity led by communities that have shouldered generations of park inequities and associated health inequities. This initiative is a joint effort of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, led and managed by Prevention Institute. We encourage you to share this Call for Proposals with your networks.

'Change comes from organizing and power-building; in that regard P3 breaks new ground. It’s the first national funding initiative that supports community-based organizations to build power for local policy change to eliminate the deplorable park and green space inequities found in urban African American and Latino communities across the U.S. This new investment recognizes just how crucial low-income communities of color are to moving the needle toward equity on issues central to environmental, health, and racial justice. P3 holds the promise of expanding the bench of local leaders and innovators working for park and green space equity and jumpstarting a new movement.' —Manuel Pastor, PhD, director of the University of Southern California’s Equity Research Institute and a grantee of RWJF’s Lead Local Initiative ."

Message from the Director, September 2021

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 18:30:52 GMT

Writer James Baldwin once said: "I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually." As someone who has worked as a community organizer for over 20 years, I can't tell you how often these words come to mind. To love your home doesn't mean that you think it's perfect; it might mean that you want to lift up the best of it, and improve upon its challenges.

That's how I've come to feel about Fresno.

If there is one thing that I have learned to be true about people who live here, it is that they care deeply about Fresno- they care enough to love it, criticize it, and fight for a better future for it. It's easy for some to fall into a pattern of cynicism and dissatisfaction, but for those of us who work in the non-profit, education, health, and public sectors, we are taking the harder road of fighting like hell for this place that we love.

This year, The Children's Movement of Fresno has leaned into that fight by staking a claim and building the future that we all want for our children.

The Fresno Residents Council

One key example is a very special project that TCM Fresno has launched this year called the Fresno Residents Council. We are creating a deliberate space where residents from all walks of life and from all parts of Fresno County can directly debate, negotiate, propose, and advocate for policy solutions to some of our community's greatest problems.

Fresno Residents Council, a project of TCM Fresno

With the help of over 12 community-based organizations, we were able to identify and recruit over 100 resident leaders from across the county, who now form the Fresno Residents Council of 2021. This council has agreed to work together towards forming a policy agenda for Fresno County by the end of this year. These are the first steps in- what we hope will be- a long and permanent shift in how public policy is made in Fresno County. Stay tuned!

TCM Action Forums

Back by popular demand, TCM will begin reconvening our Action Forums, scheduled for November 12th! We, like most of you, miss these amazing gatherings, and with all the incredible work happening in Fresno County, it is important that we begin convening these meetings once again. Join us as we discuss the numerous initiatives focused on community engagement, cross-sector collaboration, and greater funding opportunities. Mark your calendars and be sure to register in advance by selecting the button below!

Thank you for being part of this movement. Every member, every voice, every effort is what helps in our pursuit of equity and justice for children in our community.

In Community,

Mike Espinoza

Director, The Children's Movement of Fresno

Child Care Benefits May Be As Important As Healthcare If You Want To Keep Top Employees

websitebuilder@1and1.de — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 18:30:51 GMT

Original article written by Geri Stengel for Forbes

Image via Forbes

"The pandemic has disrupted child care and schooling, with some facilities closed, some open, and many just gone. For parents, it's an ever-changing conundrum: What do I do with the kids today?

While it is true that working parents have always been concerned about their children's care, the coronavirus pandemic has put that need into the spotlight like never before. Juggling work and caregiving is a source of stress that, at best, distracts from parents' productivity and, at its worst, may cause employees to quit. Finding a sustainable work-life balance during the Covid-19 crisis is essential to employees' personal and professional well-being.

But, of the 61% of child-care centers that closed during coronavirus, as of October 12, 2020, only 71% of these centers have reopened, with attendance levels reaching only about half what they were before the pandemic, according to Tracking the Impact of COVID-19 on the Child Care Industry by Procare Solutions, a child-care management software company."

PIQE Family Engagement Survey

websitebuilder@1and1.de — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 18:30:50 GMT

Download the PIQE Family Engagement Survey PDF

Children's Mental Health Gets Millions In Funding From The Biden Administration

websitebuilder@1and1.de — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 18:30:49 GMT

Original article written by Selena Simmons-Duffin and Rhitu Chatterjee for NPR

Image via NPR

"As students head back into another pandemic school year, the Biden administration has announced nearly $85 million in funding for mental health awareness, training, and treatment.

The funding includes $10.7 million in American Rescue Plan funds from the Health Resources and Services Administration for the Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Program, which trains primary care providers to treat and refer kids for mental health issues. Another $74.2 million in grants is being distributed from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to raise awareness about youth mental health issues and train school personnel and programs that coordinate treatment for young people with emotional disorders.

'We know what's coming,' Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said while announcing the funding at Children's Hospital New Orleans on Friday. 'The wave of stress, the mental strain, the disorientation and disassociation that so many of our children are feeling today — they're going to need help, and not just from their parents and their loved ones, they're going to need help from us all.'"

Children’s mental health badly harmed by the pandemic. Therapy is hard to find.

websitebuilder@1and1.de — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 18:30:48 GMT

Original article written by Katherine Ellison for The Washington Post

Image via Mark Wang for The Washington Post

'From June of last year to late this past spring, an average of five children a week were being admitted to the medical school’s teaching hospital at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., after overdosing on medications such as acetaminophen, opiates, antidepressants and even Ritalin.

John Diamond and his colleagues had never seen anything like it. 'Normally,' he says, 'we see five kids a month.'

Diamond, director of the school’s division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, is on the front lines of a coronavirus-aggravated crisis. There simply aren’t enough psychiatrists , psychologists, developmental pediatricians or school psychologists to care for the mental health needs of the country’s children, say parents, doctors, and professional associations."