First 5 LA will host a webinar on Wednesday, September 7 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon for organizations interested in applying for its Policy Advocacy Fund, which awards grants of up to $500,000 (for a period of up to 5 years) to organizations pursuing advocacy goals in support of children’s health.

Preference will be given to agencies or organizations that have a proven policy and advocacy capacity, but may not have not focused on issues of children 0-5 and their families specifically.

The Policy Advocacy Fund is part of First 5 LA’s “Strengthening Families and Communities” initiative.  Grant recipients must support one of the First 5 LA Policy Agenda goals, which include:

1) Expand voluntary home visiting: Individualized home visits to new mothers by nurses, promotores or other community health workers can be a powerful tool for providing parental guidance and supports needed for healthy pregnancies, breastfeeding and literacy. First 5 LA will advocate for increased federal and state funding as well as private insurance coverage for home visits.

2) Promote affordable health insurance: Priorities include improved coverage and reimbursement rates for key family health services including prenatal care, mental health, home visitation and substance abuse screenings and treatment.

3) Support integration and sharing of data: First 5 LA will advocate for improvement in the quality, usefulness and integration of data collected about children in L.A. County and sharing of data among the programs, projects and services that support them.

Applications are due by 5:00pm PST on October 7, 2011

Learn more or Register.
Date: September 7, 2011
Time: 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM PDT