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The California Children and Families Act of 1998 (Proposition 10) created the California Children and Families Commission. The Commission is responsible for the implementation of comprehensive and integrated solutions to provide information and services promoting, supporting and improving the early childhood development of children prenatal to the age of five. Additionally, The Commission is charged with educating Californians about the dangers of smoking around young children and pregnant women. These activities are instated either directly by the Commission or via cooperative efforts with County Children and Families Commissions.
The Act draws annual funds of nearly $650 million from a tax on tobacco products. Twenty percent of this revenue supports statewide education and outreach programs through First 5 California. The remaining 80% goes to county Commissions across the state, including First 5 San Francisco, for local programs. These Commissions are funded in proportion to their regional birth rate. We receive approximately $6.5 million annually in Proposition 10 funds.
The San Francisco Children and Families Commission (SFCFC), convened in May 1999 and developed its first plan out of its conviction that what we do to support families and young children in their early years matters to all of us. We knew from research what parents and caregivers had always known – that the ways we begin our lives lay the foundation for our future. It was the Commission’s intent that strategies funded through Proposition 10 would integrate and coordinate services, supports and activities so that families, providers, agencies and communities could come together to provide great beginnings for San Francisco’s children. The Commission believed that through weaving together existing services, funding new and innovative strategies, developing policy and promoting system change, San Francisco could approach the real collaboration that would make a difference for families and their young children.
In 2004, San Francisco voters passed Proposition H, the Public Education Enrichment Fund. This Charter Amendment enhances K-12 schooling and, with one-third of its funds, entitles every local four-year-old to a preschool education through our Preschool for All program. This pioneering effort begins in four neighborhoods in 2005 and will spread citywide over the next five years.
The Commission is determined that its work be built upon the informal and formal platforms that reflects the lives of children 0-5 and their families and caregivers.
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