Issues Facing Children in Santa Clara County

Research demonstrates that investing in the first 5 years of early childhood development and enrichment programs directly contributes to:

• Greater language abilities;
• Improved nutrition and health;
• Early identification of development delays;
• Higher scores on math and reading achievement test; and
• Higher graduation rates.

*Excerpts from: Lynch, Robert (2005 Early Childhood Investment Yields Big Payoff, San Francisco, California: WestEd.)

In addition to supporting new and existing programs to improve the lives of children and their families, FIRST 5 Santa Clara County has funded five major planning and research efforts to identify new opportunities to impact the lives of children positively.

Here are the current FIRST 5 research reports and projects:

• Risk Prevention & Resolution
• Child Abuse Reporting
• Power of Preschool
• Collaborative for Inclusion
• Early Screening and Assessment