Expanding Our Focus on Children’s Health
n 2007, the Foundation’s Information Program broadened its efforts
on behalf of children to encompass four new counties
(Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, and San Francisco)
in addition to its original two-county area (Santa Clara and
San Mateo).
Wide-ranging data on the 1.4 million children who reside in this six-county region now are easily accessible on a revised and expanded kidsdata.org, the program’s flagship website. The Foundation also launched a pilot version of kidsdata.org in Santa Barbara County in 2007.
A survey of 1,800 Bay Area parents released in 2007 helped shed light on how parents think their kids are faring across a wide spectrum of issues, from asthma and obesity to sleep and the effects of media. The survey found that while most parents generally viewed their child’s overall health as excellent, they were less optimistic about emotional health issues.
The foundation continued to promote the well being of children in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties by leading collaboratives that produced reports tracking indicators of children's health and well being in each of these counties. The Information Program also shed light on the status of children's oral health in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties through an online issue brief.
As part of its work of drawing attention to the status of preteens, the Information Program inaugurated a series of lunchtime discussions for the 1,000-plus members of the Preteen Alliance and funded a study that assessed various methods researchers can use for interviewing preteens.
Several conferences, radio shows, surveys, and studies also received Information Program support in 2007, all with the goal of raising the profile of children's health in the Bay Area and increasing knowledge about the region's children.
For information on other Information Program projects, see www.lpfch.org/informed/.