Alameda Strategic Plan (2005-2009)

Every Child Counts, funded by First 5 California through revenue from 1998 Proposition 10 tobacco tax revenue, works to ensure that every child reaches his or her developmental potential. Every Child Counts focuses exclusively on children and families from prenatal to age five years and their families.

To promote lasting changes in Alameda County, we focus our work on enhancing existing systems to incorporate best practices and to support sustainability of effective approaches.

• Training to disseminate best practices and increase capacity at the provider, agency and systems level
• Systems integration by linking family support services, early child care and education services, community grants and other community resources to avoid duplication and maximize resources
• Capacity building of agencies serving children 0 to 5 and their families
• Sustainability to ensure that our vision will continue as the tobacco tax revenue declines

The community assessment for Strategic Plan 2005-09 began in 2003, initiated by anticipated changes to the Child Development Corps and the need to determine priorities for the 2005-07 Community Grants Initiative cycle. County agencies, community partners, grantees and contractors and Every Child Counts evaluation efforts served as rich sources of information on community needs and assets. In addition, web-based surveys targeting parents in the community, a telephone survey of families who received services and numerous focus groups held with the child care community and monolingual parents and providers who serve them helped to shape the direction of this strategic plan.