First 5 LA's Fiscal Year 16-17 Budget Aims to Make a Broader Impact for Children and Families Across L.A. County

LOS ANGELES, June 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- First 5 LA's Board of Commissioners today approved a fiscal year 2016-2017 budget that advances the organization's emphasis on sustainable public financing, public policy and systems-level change. First 5 LA's $161.5 million budget reflects the second year of the Commission's 2015-2020 Strategic Plan and includes funding for the agency's Best Start Communities effort, Welcome Baby, a voluntary home visiting program for new parents, and efforts to improve early care and education and health-related systems.

“Our mission at First 5 LA is to work in partnership with many others to strengthen families, communities, and services so that all of our children in L.A. County can get a healthy, caring, safe, and intelligent start,” said First 5 LA Board Chair and LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. “This budget will help us to achieve this mission by thoughtfully maximizing great outcomes for kids prenatal to age 5 in L.A. County.”

This is the second budget since First 5 LA adopted its 2015-2020 Strategic Plan that focuses on four outcome areas – families, communities, early care and education systems, and health-related systems – and seeks to ensure all children enter kindergarten ready to succeed in school and life.

"This new budget puts parents at the center of the Commission's work. With support for home visiting services, community capacity building, and early learning and health systems improvements, the Commission's budget will strengthen families, communities, and the systems that support them," said First 5 LA Executive Director, Kim Belshé.

The FY16-17 budget reflects a continued decline in both tobacco revenues that support the work of First 5 LA and expenditures.  The FY16-17 budget also reflects First 5 LA's strategic shift from largely funding direct programs and services to a greater emphasis on policy and systems change efforts to benefit children prenatal to age 5 on a greater scale and for the long term.

"A budget should be seen as an expression of an organization's mission and vision in action," said First 5 LA Commissioner Joseph Ybarra, the Budget and Finance Committee Chair. "I want to thank my fellow Commissioners and First 5 LA's staff for continuing to keep our focus on maximizing our impact for the greater number of children in L.A. County."

To reach their full potential, parents and caregivers need access to high quality services, information and individualized support. In order to address this need, First 5 LA will continue to fund its Welcome Baby and Select Home Visiting program, a unique initiative that supports mothers and fathers during pregnancy, birth, and beyond. Program funding represents over 25 percent of the overall budget with expenditures aimed at increasing family enrollment, as well as on-going data gathering and evaluation, all designed to build a program that could potentially serve as a model in California and nationally.

More details on the FY 2016-2017 budget can be found here.

ABOUT FIRST 5 LA
First 5 LA is a leading early childhood advocate organization created by California voters to invest Proposition 10 tobacco tax revenues in Los Angeles County. In partnership with others, First 5 LA strengthens families, communities, and systems of services and supports so that all children in L.A. County enter kindergarten ready to succeed in school and life. Please visit www.first5la.org for more information.

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SOURCE First 5 LA

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http://www.first5la.org