We’re proud to present our 2023-24 Annual Report, in which we share our collective achievements from the past fiscal year.
At First 5 Orange County, we are continually imagining new ways to meet the evolving needs of young children and families. In FY 2023-2024, our programs served 44,679 children ages 0 to 5, and 52,913 parents and caregivers. I am incredibly proud of this impact, and there is so much more to be done.
Three things I am especially proud of this year are our work to increase quality child care, expand HealthySteps clinics, and ensure young families can access Medi-Cal benefits like Community Health Workers.
We saw incredible growth in our Child Care Business Incubator program which trains and assists future providers with how to run quality childcare in their homes.
The HealthySteps model supports families to ensure their children receive well-child visits, developmental screening, and behavioral health support for both parents and children. After facilitating the implementation of HealthySteps in five clinics last year, we are expanding to 10 additional clinic sites in Orange County.
Community Health Workers (CHWs) perform a variety of activities to help people access health and social services and improve their health and well-being. Because Orange County has a gap in services for about 10,0000 pregnant and post-birth families, we also spent a significant amount of time this year educating ourselves about the Medi-Cal CHW benefit and how to maximize its use for families.
Given the ongoing budget challenges because of the reduced funding from tobacco taxes, we continue to carefully consider how to best maximize the dollars we have, while also searching for other sources of funding. During this fiscal year, First 5 OC sought and secured funds from several non-tobacco-tax sources.
This year, we greatly increased our in-person outreach, as well as our social media presence, to reach families with young children where they are. We participated in 29 community events to share Kid Builders – a free resource for families to support children’s growth and development at every stage from birth to kindergarten, reaching more than 5,700 children and families.
And always, families remain at the center of all we do. We listen to and elevate their voice, which is woven throughout our Strategic Plan and our programs. We’ve doubled the number of Family Ambassadors participating in our work, brought on dedicated staff to deepen the relationships with communities, families, and system partners, and are exploring ways to further enrich our Early Development Index data with children and family experiences.
I will sum up this eventful year by saying we tried many new things, learned much and seized every opportunity to champion and meet the needs of our youngest residents. I am grateful to our Board for their leadership and support along the way, to all the providers and partners who helped to meet families’ needs, and to staff for their unwavering commitment to the work.
Sincerely,
Kim Goll
President/CEO
Learn more about these focus areas in First 5 OC’s 2023-24 Annual Report