Evaluation: First 5 Sacramento-funded programs reached nearly 6,000 children; Birth and Beyond home visiting linked to lower CPS recurrence

Applied Survey Research (ASR) presented the First 5 Sacramento fiscal year 2023–24 evaluation at the commission's April 7 meeting, reporting program reach, participant characteristics and outcome highlights across the commission’s priority areas.

ASR’s overview showed First 5–funded strategies that could be measured reached nearly 6,000 children, more than 11,000 caregivers and over 300 providers in FY2023–24 — a roughly 5 percent increase from the prior year as services rebound from the COVID period. ASR reported that 60 percent of children served were Hispanic/Latino or Black/African American, a higher share of children of color than countywide demographics.

Selected outcome highlights presented by Alyssa Mullins of ASR: • Birth and Beyond home visiting: families who received at least eight hours of home visiting were about 2.5 times less likely to experience Child Protective Services (CPS) recurrence compared with a matched comparison group; families receiving 12 or more hours were about three times less likely to experience CPS recurrence. ASR noted these findings were consistent with prior years’ results. • WIC breastfeeding supports: among families reached by WIC lactation services, more than half of a follow-up sample reported exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months in a small follow-up sample; broader WIC food-package data suggested a 29 percent exclusive-breastfeeding rate in a larger, more representative dataset. ASR shared a participant comment that a lactation consultant was "someone I could trust to advocate for me and encourage me." • Early care and learning: coaching and consultation strategies (PBM) engaged hundreds of early educators and resulted in provider improvements on assessment scores; kindergarten transition summer camp participants showed increases in observed readiness (from 19 percent to 25 percent among those with both pre- and post-observations). • Help Me Grow and developmental supports: Help Me Grow completed 371 ASQ (Ages & Stages Questionnaire) screenings and made more than 700 community referrals; more than half of referrals were successfully contacted. • Crisis Nursery: two Crisis Nursery locations provided emergency daytime or 24-hour care to 344 children in 234 families; caregivers reported significant reductions in self-reported stress and high confidence that their children were safe while in care. In a cohort of 300 children with consented data for a 12‑month outcomes look-up, 6 percent had substantiated CPS involvement in the 12 months after intake; one-third had prior CPS involvement in the previous five years.

The evaluation also reported family-level improvements between intake and follow-up on measures such as knowing where to call for parenting support and attending community events, though reading together five or more times per week remained lower than other caregiving activities. Commissioners asked about program capacity and whether evaluation could capture wait lists or provider caseload constraints; ASR said capacity is not uniformly captured across programs but could be incorporated into future narrative or special-study work.

ASR and staff said the commission will use evaluation findings to inform the next funding cycle and listed continued evaluation priorities, including focused special studies and improvements to data collection systems.