SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The love and joy Amanda McGregor says she has and receives from her three kids is immeasurable, but with a 6-month-old, a 2-year-old and a 7-year-old, she said things can get a little stressful.
“It has humbled me in ways I did not expect,” McGregor said. “I feel very strongly about each child. They have all really taught me something meaningful about life. And also recognizing that I can’t do it all, I wasn’t made to do it all, and it’s OK to ask for help.”
McGregor said thankfully she’s been able to get help and support through the government entity First 5 and their funded programs for children up to age 5, which are free.
Both Yolo County First 5 programs, Welcome Baby and Road to Resilience, came at a crucial time when her latest child was born and her extended family was unable to help.
To add to the stress, the family has been living in a hotel for six months after their kitchen flooded.
“That third party non-judgmental person that you can really come to and then they give you that perspective that’s truly unique because they don’t know about the other facets of your life,” McGregor said. “And with my daughter it was helpful, but this time with my son, it was an absolute godsend.”
The programs that have helped McGregor and her family are now under threat of going away or being reduced as a significant portion of the First 5 funding comes from a tobacco tax that has been declining as more Californians quit smoking.
And, according to Yolo County First 5 Executive Director Gina Daleiden, that funding decline has recently ramped up.
“The Proposition 10 tobacco tax has been declining at a rate of 3% to 5% per year,” Daleiden said. “And that decline will accelerate potentially more than 10%, 20%, maybe more percent with the passage of the flavored tobacco ban.”
Daleiden said all county operated First 5 departments are trying to figure out where new funding can come from.
She said in Yolo County they’ve been able to partially offset some funds with money from a local cannabis tax, but said it’s an unstable source.
“Statewide, First 5’s are looking at ways to potentially access existing state and local government funding streams. And also thinking about an approach to the state for some funding from the budget directly to back fill the loss.”
For McGregor, she said she hopes the funding will be secured so programs can continue.
“Without the First 5 program, I really think that I would have been consumed with postpartum depression,” she said.
It’s that type of support McGregor said is not easily found and indispensable for the health of her and her family.