The California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative, a collaborative project between the California Department of Public Health, Safe and Active Communities Branch (CDPH/SACB) and the California Department of Social Services, Office of Child Abuse Prevention (CDSS/OCAP)  has received funding to continue efforts through August of 2023 to decrease child maltreatment risk factors and increase protective factors to provide safe, stable, nurturing relationships, and environments (SSNR&E) for all children and families.

In the Fall of 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded the California EfC Initiative a second, five-year cycle of funding to focus on two complementary child maltreatment prevention approaches: strengthening economic supports and changing social norms. The EfC Initiative will continue to use a collective impact approach to leverage and align multi-sector partnerships and resources to improve coordination and implementation of comprehensive efforts across the state. The EfC Initiative maintains a balance between solutions that promote direct services for families and children and those that directly address the broader structural conditions and constraints that shape individual behavior through policy and environmental strategies.

The EfC Initiative’s membership is re-convening on July 12^th in Sacramento to assess the current state of collective action around adverse childhood experiences (ACEs); align EfC Initiative goals and project interventions with existing efforts; identify mutually reinforcing activities; and establish a collective agreement on how to strategically promote (SSNR&E, to prevent and reduce child maltreatment and other childhood adversity among California’s children.

For a summary of the activities that took place during the first five-year cycle funding for the California EfC Initiative, please see the EfC Initiative’s published case study entitled “California Essentials for Childhood Case Study: Collective Impact Through Strategic Opportunities."