First 5 San Francisco

November 3rd is one week away, so @EarlyEdgeCA has partnered with @first5association to share a very special #Election2020 Storytime episode with you! They are joined by California’s First Partner and Early Learning Champion @jensiebelnewsom, award-winning filmmaker, advocate, founder of The Representation Project, and mother of four. Join the First Partner as she reads "Everyone Gets a Say" by @JillTwiss. This children’s story about voting highlights the importance of speaking up and using your voice. As Election Day draws near, use this reading as a tool to teach young children about voting and open a discussion with them about this important event in our nation. Watch now: https://youtu.be/98UA7FzjVfE

Join us to celebrate our graduates!

Our friends from SF Botanical Gardens, San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, and San Francisco Quality Connection Coaches (Coach Yudy Laraburro pictured below) team up to harvest and prepare bamboo cane for play. These canes will become ramps, tents, containers, and more at five San Francisco Preschools: FACESSF, Frandelja, Wu Yee Children's Services Kirkwood, Wu Yee Southeast, and 1st Place 2 Start. Have fun building and creating! #repurposedforkids #SFconnectingchildrentonature #playoutside

First 5 San Francisco is releasing this Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to establish a pre-qualified list for Training, Technical Assistance, and Rating Services for San Francisco’s Early Childhood Quality Improvement System. The purpose of this Request for Qualifications (RFQ) is to identify a pool of qualified entities, organizations, and consultants from which First 5 San Francisco may choose prospective contractors to provide training, technical support, and resources fo...r the early childhood education quality improvement system. Specifically, it is First 5 San Francisco’s intent to pre-qualify Respondent(s) that demonstrate qualifications to: coordinate and implement coaching, training, technical assistance, assessment and rating services that are effective in assisting early childhood educators in family child care homes and/or center-based programs to meet common standards of quality. Click here to view the full RFQ: https://www.first5sf.org/funding-opportunities/

San Francisco, CA Mayor London N. Breed, in partnership with Expecting Justice, today announced the launch of the Abundant Birth Project, a pilot program that provides targeted basic income to women during pregnancy and after giving birth. The pilot will provide an unconditional monthly income supplement of $1,000 to approximately 150 Black and Pacific Islander women in San Francisco for the duration of their pregnancy and for the first six months of their baby’s life, with... a goal of eventually providing a supplement for up to two years post-pregnancy. Expecting Justice, a collective impact initiative led by Dr. Zea Malawa at the San Francisco Department of Public Health and supported by the Hellman Foundation and the UCSF California Preterm Birth Initiative, will study the resulting health impacts of the pilot program, which is the first of its kind in the United States. Learn more from this mini-documentary which introduces Expecting Justice's Abundant Birth Project, a pregnancy basic income program. Created by April Martin, it features Black and Pacific Islander mothers in San Francisco and tells a story of fortitude, love, and how Expecting Justice is working to make San Francisco a place where every mama can thrive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9h6bJlp1Pw Read the Mayors full press release: https://sfmayor.org//mayor-london-breed-announces-launch-p

When engaged in pretend play, children tend to function in a higher developmental level. Puppets and enactments such as these are playful ways to engage children in understanding new routines and procedures. Thank you to the The Community Preschool, Grace Cathedral for sharing Mr. Grumbles with us! We are so inspired by the creativity and resiliency of our educators! https://youtu.be/0d7APX0swpc

Request For Qualifications to secure a Programmatic Fiscal Services Agent First 5 San Francisco is releasing this Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to secure a Programmatic Fiscal Services Agent for San Francisco’s early childhood quality improvement system. San Francisco County has more than a decade of investing in local early childhood quality improvement efforts that include a variety of training and technical assistance supports for licensed ECE settings and community-bas...ed programs. As a collaborative effort with the San Francisco Office of Early Care and Education (OECE), First 5 San Francisco (First 5) is leading the quality improvement efforts through training and technical assistance for early learning programs participating in county-funded initiatives, which includes the County’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). The identified entity secured through this RFQ will provide programmatic financial support services to early childhood sites, providers, and professionals, participating in the First 5 initiatives. As such they will be an important partner in the continued implementation and enhancement of the early childhood system. This will be an entirely paperless, online submission process. Please read all instructions carefully in the RFQ document and application to ensure a successful and timely submission process. Click here to view the full RFQ: https://www.first5sf.org/request-for-qualifications-progra/

New @First5Center interactive tool shows how challenging it can be for families enrolled in Medi-Cal to navigate CA's early identification & intervention (EII) system. Try the tool, read the brief on what the state could improve, & learn about family experiences: bit.ly/32fZl4V

The daily challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic can be challenging and confusing for children. S.F.’s family resource centers help make sure families still have what they need for their children to be safe, secure, and happylike birthday boxes!

Families need help to ensure children are getting the food and nutrition they need while schools are closed and incomes disrupted. https://www.first5sf.org/eatsf-helps-families-in-need-duri/

Kids need healthy food to grow and learn! First 5 and family resource centers partnered with EatSF to help families buy the food they needed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

No child should go hungry for any reason. EatSF vouchers distributed by family resource centers keep families like P.K.’s food secure.

Support for breastfeeding parents is especially critical during this pandemic as breastfeeding provides important immune system support to infants as well as supporting the overall health and well-being of both the infant and the mother. Join First 5 and our community partners in celebrating breast feeding awareness week.

San Francisco’s family resource centers have been distributing food vouchers to families in need throughout the pandemic to ensure fewer children face food insecurity.