First 5 Santa Barbara County has launched a newly redesigned website, first5santabarbaracounty.org, featuring pictures and personal stories told by local parents. The site also provides new child-care tools and resources for parents, educators, caregivers, and health-care professionals.
“First 5 Santa Barbara County has spent months working hard to create a powerful new resource for parents, caregivers, and just about anybody who cares about the lives of young children,” Pat Wheatley, executive director of First 5 Santa Barbara County, said in a recent press release. “We consider the new website a work in progress. We will be updating it regularly to make sure we keep it current and useful.”
First 5 professionals also researched and screened dozens more websites and put them together into a useful web guide. The sites offer information about dozens of child-care issues, including children’s nutrition, early literacy, developmental milestones, playtime, breastfeeding, children with special needs, and more.
Through new partnerships with other Santa Barbara County organizations, such as the United Way of Santa Barbara and NorthSBCountyParent.com, the site also features links to such local resources as libraries, health clinics, family events, and parent classes. And another link to the Early Care and Education Division (ECED) website includes information for early child-care professionals, including the latest on child development, professional development, advocacy and business, and public policy.
Funded by Proposition 10, the First 5 Santa Barbara County Children and Families Commission works with individuals and organizations throughout the county to support the health, early learning, and well being of children from infancy through age 5 and their families.
Visit first5santabarbaracounty.org or call 884-8085 for more information.
This article appears in Dec 17-24, 2009.