The California Governor’s May Revise State Budget for 2023 – 2024 will be released in early May. In advance of the May Revise, The Children’s Partnership and partners are asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to invest $100 million in infant and early childhood mental health. This is the second year we are making this request.
Dear Governor Newsom:
[Click to Read the Full Letter]
The organizations listed below are writing to express our appreciation of the Administration’s General
Fund appropriation to improve the health and well-being of California’s children and youth through the
Children & Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI). We have been especially pleased to see the
mental health needs of California’s infants and toddlers prioritized within two of the Evidence-Based
and Community Defined Practices (EBP/CDP) grant rounds for Parent and Caregiver Supports and
Early Childhood Wraparound services.
Addressing ACEs Requires Prioritization of Resources
While we applaud the movement toward greater mental health equity for young children in this
workstream, we also want to continue to emphasize the ongoing and remaining unmet need to
allocate additional dedicated funding to true upstream prevention and early intervention across the
mental health system of care. We believe that in order to meet the State’s goal of reducing ACEs
and toxic stress by half within one generation and to advance the Governor’s commitment to
improving the mental health of our state’s children and youth, an additional one-time $100
million General Fund appropriation to support infant and early childhood mental health
services and provider training would significantly move our state to greater mental health equity for
California’s infants and toddlers, especially those from communities of color that have been historically
marginalized and hit hardest by the last three years.
We’re proud to be in solidarity on this ask with:
- The Child Care Resource Center
- First 5 Association of California
- The Center for District Innovation and Leadership in Early Education
- Kidango
- A Black Education Network
- California Child Care Resource & Referral Network
- Families in Schools
- Innercity Struggle
Additional 2023 Policy Resources:
