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Ballot Measures

Additional Resources to Create Opportunity

The past five years have been a high-water mark for legislation and funding to address the divide in access to early care and education, healthcare, and social services in California. Both California and Alameda County are making significant investments in children and families. At the state level, California is implementing an unprecedented set of initiatives to redesign its social safety net, including Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK), California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM), and the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI).  

In Alameda County there are two active ballot measures related to early care and education, the Oakland Children’s Initiative (Measure AA) and The Children’s Health & Child Care Initiative for Alameda County (Measure C). For a detail breakdown of the Measures, see First 5 Strategic Plan 2022-27, Appendix C.

The Oakland Children’s Initiative  

• About: The Oakland Children’s Initiative (Measure AA) was passed in November 2018 and upheld by the courts in 2021. The Oakland Children’s Initiative is funded by a parcel tax projected to provide approximately $30 million annually in funding for early care and education and college preparedness programs for Oakland residents.  

• Status: In December 2022, First 5 Alameda County was awarded the contract to serve as the Early Care and Education Implementation Partner for the Oakland Children’s Initiative.  

• Funding (January 2023 to June 2023): First 5 Alameda County has allocated over $10 million dollars to strengthen the early care and education (ECE) system in Oakland. Initial investments will improve facilities serving 3 and 4-year-old students and provide staffing supports to foster greater stability and access to quality education. Other funded activities include professional development opportunities, coaching, and trainings for educators, technology, and classroom materials. The Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and Oakland Head Start (OHS) sites receiving funding from the Oakland Children's Initiative during this time period are located in District 2, District 4, District 6, and District 7. 

• Geography: City of Oakland. 

The Children’s Health and Child Care Initiative for Alameda County  

• About: The Children’s Health and Child Care Initiative for Alameda County (Measure C), a countywide measure, was passed by voters in March 2020 and names First 5 Alameda County as the administrator of the Child Care, Preschool, and Early Education portion of the revenue.  

• Status: The Children’s Health and Child Care Initiative for Alameda County is facing litigation and if successful is expected to raise approximately $150M annually for early care and education. 

• Geography: Alameda County.  

First 5 Alameda County commits to the responsible stewardship of these precious public resources, in partnership with the City of Oakland, Alameda County Board of Supervisors, community governance and advisory bodies, and other early care and education partners, particularly parents/caregivers and early care and education professionals.

First 5 & Alameda County’s Early Childhood System

The local measures will benefit Oakland and Alameda County’s early childhood system of care broadly and will impact First 5 Alameda County as the county’s only governmental agency solely dedicated to families/caregivers with children 0-5 by:  

• Aligning new investment with our current investments and providing resources for backbone support to the early childhood system.  
• Allowing us to leverage our subject matter expertise, community partnerships, and infrastructure. Facilitating integration with our programming and fiscal leveraging of Proposition 10, Measure AA and Measure C, in addition to federal, state, local, and philanthropic funds.  
• Liberating the flexible Proposition 10 dollars to fund other components of the early childhood system (e.g., birth equity, neighborhood investments).  
• Shifting our role, budget, operations, scale (i.e., staff and contracts), and community and public partnerships. 

For additional questions on these local ballot measures, please email media@first5alameda.org.