Press Releases

From the Children Now Newsroom

Reports & Research

California Report Card, 2010

The Impact of Industry Self-Regulation on the Nutritional Quality of Foods Advertised on Television to Children, 2009

California County Scorecard of Children’s Well-Being, 2008

California County Data Book, 2007

Educationally/Insufficient? An Analysis of the Availability & Educational Quality of Children’s E/I Programming, 2008

Big Media, Little Kids 2, 2007

The Promise of Preschool, 2006

An estimated 137,000 positions are available within the afterschool workforce in California. While mostly part-time and seasonal employees, the number of afterschool workers comprise nearly 75% of the elementary teacher workforce or more than all police and firefighters in California combined.

Between 2001 and 2007, California’s rates of childhood asthma have increased from 14% to 16%.

In 2007, approximately 11% of California’s adolescents reported having tried drugs. This represents a 3% decline since 2003.

Obesity rates among California adolescents, ages 12-17, have remained relatively flat since 2001.

California’s Nurse-Family Partnership program improves pregnancy outcomes, boosts children’s health and developmental outcomes, and increases parents’ economic self-sufficiency.

53% of the state’s public school children participate in the Free and Reduced Price Meals Program.

A new study of children found that watching TV was more harmful to children’s health than other sedentary activities like using a computer. In the study, the more TV children watched, the higher their blood pressure rose, regardless of their weight.

Maternal depression has adverse affects on children’s development. Children whose mothers are depressed when they are young are likely to experience persistent depression themselves. Consequently, screening for maternal depression at well-child clinics and other locations visited by at-risk women is needed.

For infants, maintaining good oral health is important, because primary teeth enable them to eat solid food, aid in speech development and serve as placeholders for permanent teeth.

Innovative Local Efforts Exemplify the Benefits of Providing Quality Preschool Programs to All Children

May 17, 2006

Oakland, CA—Several communities throughout California are successfully addressing the statewide need for increased access to quality preschool programs, according to a new report from Children Now, a leading nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to assuring all children thrive.

The Promise of Preschool profiles 10 local preschool programs throughout the state that have expanded families’ access to preschool or improved the overall quality of their program. These pioneering programs have field tested preschool strategies that California could implement at the state level. These strategies to expand the number of children in quality preschool include, among others:

providing full-day options for working families;
integrating preschool into the K-12 system;
developing the social and emotional growth of children;
addressing the needs of English language learners;
including family child care homes in the preschool delivery system.

“Thanks to these leading local preschool efforts, the state has a reference guide of tactics we can use to increase the number of children in quality preschool programs based on real-world examples,” said Ted Lempert, president of Children Now. “These local efforts underscore the many economic and societal benefits that would result from improving preschool access and quality throughout the state.”

Tens of thousands of 4-year-olds in California currently are not enrolled in preschool, ranking the state 37th in the nation in terms of preschool enrollment. Additionally, the quality of preschool programs throughout the state varies widely. As such, there is a significant opportunity to improve the lives of our state’s children and families by investing in preschool. Children enrolled in quality preschool programs are much more likely to succeed in school and in life, thus benefiting society as a whole in many ways, including generating significant savings from reduced crime, welfare and remedial education.

Research shows that 90 percent of brain growth occurs in the first four years of life, but kindergarten usually doesn’t start until age five. So children who do not attend preschool miss out on a learning opportunity that can’t be recovered and struggle to catch up for the rest of their school years.

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