Ballot measures aimed at boosting local funding for early childhood and youth programs are gaining strong support in three California regions.
In Sonoma County, 61% of voters approved a quarter-cent sales tax, expected to raise $30 million annually to address the county’s struggling child care system and fund mental health services for young children. In Santa Cruz, a soda tax designed to generate about $1.3 million annually for youth services has secured 51.6% of the vote, according to the latest results. Meanwhile, in Pomona, 62% of voters backed a measure to allocate 10% of the city’s budget for children’s programs, including child care and housing support for young families.
Margaret Brodkin, founder of the nonprofit Funding The Next Generation, believes these results reflect voters’ recognition of the critical role local governments play in funding children’s services, especially amid challenges like unaffordable child care. She highlighted the uncertainty at the state and federal levels, emphasizing the importance of local action.
Brodkin, who led a 1991 initiative in San Francisco to dedicate part of the city’s budget to children’s services, noted that similar campaigns have since gained traction in other regions. For instance, Oakland voters approved a parcel tax in 2018 to expand preschool access, while Alameda County followed suit in 2020 with a half-percent sales tax to fund child care and health services for vulnerable young children.
Despite opposition from anti-tax groups, who argued that such measures required a two-thirds supermajority to pass, courts ruled that initiatives placed on the ballot by private citizens only needed a simple majority.
In Sonoma County, advocates spent years building public support for a local funding stream for children’s services. Angie Dillon-Shore, executive director of First Five Sonoma County, explained that a simple majority requirement made it easier to push the sales tax measure through, after earlier efforts had failed to gain enough support for a two-thirds vote.
The measure received broad backing from local officials, businesses, and community groups, and had no formal opposition. Dillon-Shore noted that the results reflect the public’s frustration with the county’s child care shortage, which worsened after the 2017 North Bay wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brodkin acknowledged the difficulty of getting voters to support local taxes for children’s services. Past efforts in Napa, Marin, Solano, South San Francisco, and Monterey counties had failed. However, she said that local campaigns, where people see the direct impact on their communities, tend to be more successful.
In Pomona, advocates spent years gathering signatures to put the Pomona Kids First Initiative on the ballot. The measure mandates that the city spend at least 10% of its budget on youth services and creates a Department of Youth & Children to oversee the funds. Despite opposition from some groups, including a campaign warning that the initiative would cut funding for essential services like libraries and police, the measure passed with strong community support.
Jesus Sanchez, co-founder of Gente Organizada, one of the organizations behind the measure, praised the community’s involvement, saying the results showed the power of local empowerment.
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