Cigarette Tax Funds Released for Child Care

Programs to boost early childhood development in Los Angeles County and provide in-home counseling for parents of newborn babies are among the first recipients of $34 million in local Proposition 10 cigarette tax revenues, officials announced Monday.

Forty-seven programs were awarded grants of as much as $500,000 each to improve child care, provide health screenings, address family violence and increase literacy and language skills in what officials described as an ambitious and much-needed child care plan.

“This is going to help meet the vast need for child care in Los Angeles County,� said Evelyn V. Martinez, executive director of the Los Angeles County Children and Families First Prop. 10 Commission, one of a statewide network of panels established to allocate and distribute the funds.

“Most parents today are working, and one of the first things they worry about is child care. We’re going to do our best to make a dent in the problem, so that they’re not just leaving their children with a baby-sitter but leaving them in a quality center.�

Proposition 10 was a 1998 initiative that placed a 50-cent-per-pack tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products to fund child care and anti-tobacco programs for children up to age 5. The campaign was spearheaded by film director Rob Reiner, who heads the California Children and Families Commission.

Reiner and Supervisor Gloria Molina, chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Prop. 10 Commission, were among several public officials and child care experts who attended a news conference Monday at the Hathaway Family Resource Center in Highland Park.

“This will make a tremendous difference,� said Molina. “It’s really the first child care money we’ve gotten in Los Angeles County that is unencumbered, that is free of any political strings so that we can focus money in a way that is going to be in the best interests of children.�

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That freedom is allowing for much creative thinking, Molina said. For example, the Los Angeles County commission is examining how it might use future Proposition 10 funding to increase the salaries of providers, a thorny issue that vexes many institutions trying to improve child care.

Child care experts said those plans and others funded by Proposition 10 have long been dreams. Patricia Bowie, director of the Hathaway Family Resource Center, which received a $297,013 grant, said her group has wanted to find a way to educate at-home day care providers about the books, arts and crafts that are most effective for children of various ages.

Their grant has allowed them to buy and renovate a van staffed by child care specialists who will introduce early childhood education tools to 100 providers in northeast Los Angeles. The group is also setting up workshops where child care providers can earn college credits in early childhood education.

The grants announced Monday will be funded for the next three years. The initial round includes $4 million for 18 organizations to provide assistance for child care centers to improve the quality of care and to boost children’s physical and mental health. Another $10 million will go to 29 in-home programs that will teach mothers and fathers how to be better parents. The remaining $20 million in the Los Angeles County Proposition 10 fund is expected to be allocated in December.

Project Impact, a Lynwood group, received a $319,476 grant Monday to reduce the risk of child abuse. Project director Kim Pore said her group hopes to intervene with families before it is necessary to call in child welfare authorities.

The group will work with the county Department of Children and Family Services to identify potential cases and provide families with in-home counselors who will visit on a regular basis. The counselors could provide help ranging from budgeting family income perinatal care and getting children into preschool.

The grant will allow the group to provide free services to families no matter what their income level, said Pore.

“We’re really excited to provide these kinds of services at no cost and to expand family preservation so that these families don’t fall into the system and children can remain safely in their homes,� she said.

Child care experts say there are more than 800,000 children in the county under 5, and most of their parents are working. That is why Proposition 10 funds, which carry no income criteria, are so important, experts said.

“Parents don’t come back from the hospital with a book on Parenting 101,� said Martinez. “And just because they live on the Westside or the Valley doesn’t mean that they don’t have the same serious issues.�