A Bit Better
News From First 5 Santa Cruz County
January is Positive Parenting Awareness Month
Positive Parenting is Vital to Well-being
by Nicole Young, Triple P Coordinator

Dear parents, foster parents, grandparents, relative caregivers, and other adults raising children and teens: we’re celebrating YOU in January 2021! The County Board of Supervisors has partnered with First 5 Santa Cruz County to declare January as Positive Parenting Awareness Month for the ninth year in a row. Other California counties are doing the same, and the California Assembly will pass a resolution any day now, declaring January 2021 as Positive Parenting Awareness Month across the state.
 
What does this mean? It means that local and state elected officials recognize that positive parenting is vital to the current and future well-being of children, families, and the entire community. It means that across the state, we’re calling attention to the fact that raising children and youth to be confident, capable, caring, and independent is the most demanding, exhausting, important, rewarding (and underpaid) job many of us will ever have. It means that as a community, we recognize that being a parent or caregiver can be difficult, confusing, stressful, and isolating during “normal” times, and this past year has been nowhere near normal.
Triple P has Family Quality Time Calendars
with Parenting Tips and Ideas for the month of January
Here are the links to the
Family Quality Time Calendars:

Online in English and Spanish
& Printable in English and Spanish
Santa Cruz County ACEs Aware
Network of Care Sessions Continue
Join us for the second session of the Santa Cruz County (SCC) ACEs Network of Care Learning Series on January 14, 2021, Connecting Across Sectors, presented by Wendy Ellis and Jeff Hild of the Center for Community Resilience (CCR) at George Washington University.

This bilingual, virtual event will build on the concepts and tools covered in the November 12 session on The Pair of ACEs in Practice. Join us as we continue to learn ways to address Adverse Childhood Experiences by addressing root causes and barriers in Adverse Community Environments through policy and practice changes.
Last Day to Register is January 12th, 2021

"We look forward to working with all partners to advance our collective awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and our ability as a community to collectively prevent them, and support the children, families and individuals who have experienced them.
~ David Brody, Executive Director of First 5 Santa Cruz County.
California Surgeon General 's Report
On December 10th, 2020 California Surgeon General, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, released the Roadmap to Resilience outlining a sector-specific and cross-sector approach to addressing ACEs and toxic stress.

“ACEs and toxic stress are a public health crisis in California and throughout our nation. But ACEs are not destiny,” said California Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris. “I am thrilled to share this report as a roadmap for prevention, early detection and cross-sector, coordinated interventions to address ACEs and toxic stress in a systematic way. None of these strategies are sufficient alone and each extends the reach of others.”

To read more visit the report website: Roadmap for Resilience
To watch the December 10th webinar unveiling of the Roadmap for Resilience you can visit the ACEs Aware Educational Events page
December Supply Giveaway
On December 5th, 2020 First 5 Santa Cruz County participated in its third emergency supply giveaway in partnership with the County Office of Education's Child Development Resource Center. Thanks to supplies received from First 5 California and the California Department of Social Services 161 family child care providers and 37 centers received adult disposable masks, cloth child masks, hand sanitizer, hand soap, disinfectant spray, paper towels, gloves and a CD of children’s songs (created and gifted by Toby Salciccia from Happy Days Children’s Learning Center).
Thank you to all who participated in putting this together!
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Community Announcements
Local Pediatric Dental Appointments Available
There are openings at local clinics for pediatric dental appointments for children 0 to 3. Please check out the flyer below for more information about the importance of bringing young children in to have regular dental checkups.
Local Assistance Available to Help with Health Insurance and CalFresh Applications
Having access to health insurance and food for our families is of vital importance. If you, a family member, friend or neighbor need help completing or renewing an application to county or state health insurance programs Certified Application Assistors can answer your questions and offer free application assistance. Call an Application Assistor directly at any of the agencies listed on this flyer for more information.
Community Resources
Parenting and Caregiver Resources








  • From the National Institute of Mental Health - Flyers on Stress and Anxiety in English and Spanish
If you are in need of child care,
please call the Child Development Resource Center
COVID-19 Related Community Resources

  • Abriendo Puertas Shares Multi-Lingual COVID-19 Resources for Families: Website

  • Mental Health Tips & Local Resources for COVID-19 – ENGLISH & SPANISH  


Preparing for Winter Storms
This newsletter is a collaborative effort of First 5 Santa Cruz County staff.

PO Box 1457 Capitola, CA 95010

Tel: 831-465-2217 Fax: 831-479-5477
If you missed our last few newsletters you can find them here: