 | History of the Children's Network1982 The closure of a local children's shelter prompts a community outcry for improved oversight of and greater support for agencies serving children in Solano County. The nonprofit Children's Network is founded to act as an independent watchdog on county services for children; to advocate for improved funding for children's programs; and to promote collaboration and coordination between agencies to improve the county's level of service to children. The annual Vacaville celebration known as the Onion Festival dedicates its proceeds to The Children's Network. The Network is able to invest $5,000 in a program for homeless and runaway youth. 1983 Solano County applies for NACo's County Achievement Award for the creation of The Children’s Network partnership. Acting president of The Children's Network board Paul McGuire, his wife Deb McGuire, the organization's part-time coordinator Pat Nicodemus, and other founding parents of the agency continue to raise money for "The Children's Fund of Solano County," where private interests help fund programs for local children. California State Assemblyman Tom Hannigan of Fairfield issues a proclamation declaring that The Children's Network provides a forum for community, government, and business groups to work together for the benefit of local children. 1984 The Children's Network supports the implementation of First Step, a program to provide one-on-one counseling for runaways. Solano County for the first time provides a more integrated system of services to these children and their families, at a time when the Children's Network is raising community awareness about the needs of thousands of runaways in the county. 1985 The Children's Network hires its first full-time coordinator, Jane Callahan, who contributes to the expansion of the agency and growth of its advocacy efforts. 1986 The Children's Network helps propel the Just for Kids program at local elementary schools and offers the first yearly "Parenting Conference." The Children's Network initiates an annual Solano County Youth Congress, which directly involves teens in the fight against problems such as substance abuse, school failure, suicide, and pregnancy among youth. 1987 The Children's Network cosponsors local conferences on substance abuse and child abuse and is responsible for producing a register of private family counseling resources in Solano County. The Children's Network Council includes 25 youth services experts, who collaborate to begin the county's first 24-hour hotline for at-risk teenagers. 1988 The state legislature passes AB 558, the California "family preservation law" initiated by the Children's Network. The program, which gives support to keep appropriate families together rather than placing children in foster care, is piloted in Solano County before being replicated in communities across the state. 1989 The California Youth Authority gives the Children's Network a $30,000 grant to link abused, abandoned, and disadvantaged children with private sector resources. 1990 Government officials determine that two years of family preservation in Solano County, spearheaded by the Children's Network, has saved the county $90,000 in foster care expenses. The Network's legislative committee works with Assemblyman Hannigan for the program's expansion. The Children's Network begins Solano Youth Connection - a program that provides resources such as counseling, dentistry, eyeglasses, health services, clothing, holiday gifts, and birthday parties for hundreds of disadvantaged children and youth. 1991 Upon being appointed as the county authority on childcare, The Children's Network holds hearings in three local cities to determine the county's childcare priorities. The Children's Network helps to establish the Solano County Children's Trust Fund in state law. The Trust Fund raises more than $100,000 annually for local child abuse prevention services. 1992 The Children's Network turns 10 years old! A decade later, the agency continues to carry out its mission of providing advocacy for children and fostering collaborations to benefit Solano County's youngest residents. The Children's Network begins working with the newly formed Solano County Department of Health and Social Services. 1993 In the wake of a series of leadership transitions and an economic recession, The Children's Network is threatened with closure. Advocates, community leaders, and members of the Board of Supervisors rally to revitalize the organization and ensure its continued services in the community. 1994 Former Vallejo city council member Cynthia Kay acts as interim coordinator at The Children's Network for six months before the agency hires Kim Thomas as full-time executive director that September. 1995 The Children's Network successfully advocates for the creation of Family Resource Centers in every Solano County city. The centers are able to provide support services including referrals, parent education classes, and assistance with health, employment, and other needs for more than 4,000 families annually countywide. 1996 The federal government adopts Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, the Welfare Reform Law. This leads The Children's Network and other local child care advocates to lobby the state for additional funding for low income families' child care expenses, resulting in more than $8 million per year in subsidies for Solano County families and free child care for 2,500 needy children. 1997 Solano County families receive increased assistance with home energy costs thanks in part to advocacy by The Children's Network. 1998 The Solano County Child Abuse Prevention Council is established to ensure the safety and wellbeing of local children. The Children's Network begins providing staff support to this council, while continuing to support two other Board of Supervisors-appointed bodies - the Local Child Care Planning Council and the Children's Network Council. California voters approve Proposition 10, the California Children and Families First Act, which provides new funding for services for young children in Solano County including some programs of The Children's Network. 1999 The first "Safe from the Start" Child Abuse Prevention Conference is organized by The Children's Network. The conference provides high-caliber training to hundreds of government officials, parents, service providers, and community members...and goes on to become an annual tradition in the county. Solano County is first in the state to implement a Web-based system to streamline families' wait for child care subsidies through the Centralized Eligibility List, a project of the local resource and referral agency and The Children's Network. The Children's Network publishes "Economic Status and Basic Needs Assistance for Families and Children in Solano County," a report about the effect of poverty on local children and the apparent impact of welfare reform in Solano County. 2000 The Children's Network works with partners on the Children of Incarcerated Parents Sub-Committee to explore opportunities to address the needs of at least 10,000 local children whose parents are or have been in prison. The Children's Network and local family resource centers are selected to participate in the Governor's California Alliance for Prevention Initiative, a program that puts AmeriCorps volunteers in contact with at-risk families and provides services that help to decrease Solano County's instances of abuse by 24%. Due to growth in the number of staff and the organization's responsibilities, The Children's Network relocates to a new office at 2320 Courage Drive. 2001 The Children's Network persuades the Solano County Board of Supervisors and all seven local city councils to adopt a set of Policy Principles that provide a framework for successful delivery of services to children. The organization also helps convince the county to adopt a goal that "improving the lives of children" will be its top priority for 2001-2003. More than 400 early education professionals receive training and/or stipends to support high quality child care through The Children's Network's administration of the CARES (Compensation and Retention Encourage Stability) program. The Children's Network publishes the first editions of The Children's Budget and The Children's Report Card, annual research documents that draw attention to government funding shortfalls for children's services and provide data on the county's performance in meeting the needs of children. The Children's Network partners with Child Haven to develop and coordinate a home-visiting program called the Integrated Family Support Initiative through the family resource centers. The program results in nearly 1,000 visits to isolated, at-risk families in Solano County in its first year. 2002 Solano County celebrates 20 years of The Children's Network... Still an independent watchdog on county services for children. Still a voice for improved funding for children's programs. Still a convener of agencies that collaborate to improve our overall performance for children. An organization that has contributed to two decades of local innovation for families and children - helping to make Solano County among the most family-friendly communities in California. |