CURRENT GRANTS

FAMILY RESOURCE CENTERS
Mendocino County Health and Human Services Agency
$300,000 over 3 years

Mendocino County has seven Family Resource Centers.  They’re friendly places where families go for help with all kinds of issues.  For example, they offer parenting classes, they help families get health insurance, and they help families find emergency housing and transportation.

This grant helps each Family Resource Center offer research-based services that are proven to make a difference for families.  The grant will also help the Centers save money by working together.  When it comes to functions like payroll, fundraising, and staff training, there is indeed strength in numbers.

Click here to find a Family Resource Center near you.

PRESCHOOL FOR ALL
Mendocino County Office of Education
$90,000 over 3 years

Research shows that children who attend preschool have much greater success, both in school and in life. 

Recently, several California counties opened preschools for all children.  Forty other California counties are planning for “universal preschool,” and state funding may soon be available.

In Mendocino County, FIRST 5 funded a study that shows exactly what it would take to open quality preschools for all children.  The Mendocino County Universal Preschool Plan maps where local children live, where facilities are available, and how much it would cost to build new facilities and educate new preschool teachers.

This study will be used to help advocate for state funding.  Even before that becomes available, the study may lead to a small, pilot project in some of Mendocino County’s neediest communities.

Click here to see the Mendocino County Universal Preschool Plan.

RAISE & SHINE AT THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE
Ukiah Valley Primary Care Medical Group
$45,000

Raise & Shine is a FIRST 5 partnership that helps families of young children with child behavior issues.  One of the easiest ways to get help with behavior is at the doctor’s office.  It’s great one-stop shopping when you can get a handle on teething and tantrums, all in the same visit.

FIRST 5 has trained three pediatricians and four medical staff at Ukiah Valley Primary Care (UVPC) to offer brief behavior consultations to families.  Also, we helped UVPC hire a counselor to work with families on more serious behavior issues.  Finally, this grant will help UVPC offer free classes and workshops on Positive Parenting.

UVPC offers behavior consultations in Spanish as well as English.  They also offer Positive Parenting classes in Spanish at Nuestra Casa.

Click here for more information about Raise & Shine, including a schedule of workshops and classes.

REDWOOD EMPIRE SURGERY CENTER
Pediatric Dental Initiative of the North Coast
$25,000

What would you do if your child needed dental surgery, but you couldn’t pay the bill? 

Every year nearly 200 Mendocino County children have tooth decay so severe that they need anesthesia in order to get treatment.  Until recently, the only way these children could get help at reduced cost was to wait months for an appointment at a special Bay Area hospital.  Even then, families could still end up with thousands of dollars in dental bills. 

Thanks to donations from FIRST 5 and other supporters, there’s now a new dental surgery center just north of Santa Rosa.  The center provides low-cost services for young children, and also bends over backwards to help them get the care they need. The center offers:

• OUTPATIENT SURGERY at a much lower cost than in a hospital;
• CASE MANAGEMENT that helps families with transportation, billing, and other issues; and
• DENTAL EDUCATION that helps prevent the need for surgery.

For more information about the Redwood Empire Surgery Center, call 707-837-8833, or click here for their website. 

SCHOOL READINESS
Mendocino County Office of Education
$1,450,000 over 8 years

In the first few years of a child’s life there’s a huge explosion of brain development.  The child will never again learn so much, so quickly.  Yet our society waits until kids are 4 or 5 before we offer them an education – as well as all the other services available through local schools.

The goal of our School Readiness grant is to help kids arrive at school happy, healthy, and already engaged in learning.  School Readiness efforts are focused at four elementary schools:  Hopland, Round Valley, Brookside in Willits, and Nokomis in Ukiah. 

Each school has a full-time Parent Advocate who visits parents, preschools and child
care providers to help families of young children transition smoothly to the elementary school years.  Parent advocates give families School Readiness Backpacks, which contain eight bilingual books, lots of art supplies, and lots of family-friendly information. Every year about 250 families receive a backpack, each valued at $40. 

Parent advocates also help families:

• Sign up for health insurance;
• Get a free developmental screening for their child; and
• Connect with professional help if the screening reveals any medical issues, behavior problems, or learning disabilities. 

For more information about School Readiness, call Ruben Guerrero, program manager, at 467-5142. 

If you’re looking for a parent advocate at a particular school, call:

• José Galvez at Hopland Elementary, 489-3625;
• Jane Covella at Nokomis Elementary, 489-0643; or
• Iris Hoaglen at Round Valley Elementary, 489-0221.

SPECIAL NEEDS PROJECT (WEAVE & WISH)
Mendocino County Office of Education
$2 million over 4 years

Many children need extra help to develop in a healthy way. Whether it’s a medical issue, a behavior problem, or a learning disability, getting help early can change the course of a child’s life.

That’s why FIRST 5 funds free developmental screening for every child ages 0 - 5 in Willits and Round Valley.

Screening checks the child’s physical, intellectual, and emotional development. It also helps parents learn what is typical, and checks the level of stress they may be feeling.

After screening, WEAVE and WISH staff make sure that families get whatever help they might need. They also suggest activities that families can do at home to encourage healthy child development.

In Willits and Round Valley, more than 90% of children ages 0 – 5 have been screened.
For more information, contact the WEAVE and WISH office at 459-7538.

• For the WEAVE and WISH brochure in English, click here.
• For Spanish, click here.

Mendocino County’s Special Needs Project is part of a statewide effort. To learn more about First 5 California’s statewide Special Needs Project, click here.

EARLIER GRANTS

• LARGE GRANTS (more than $10,000)
• SMALL GRANTS (less than $10,000)
• MISCELLANEOUS GRANTS & SPECIAL FUNDING REQUESTS