West Sacramento Home Run Annual Report 2023-2024

WEST SACRAMENTO HOME RUN

ANNUAL REPORT 2023-24

Our Vision Through the West Sacramento Home Run, the City of West Sacramento will be a thriving community that benefits children, families and local businesses by providing access to high-quality early learning for all children, opportunities to develop valuable work-readiness skills, and financial assistance for postsecondary education and training.

Our Objectives

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1

SUPPORT QUALITY EARLY LEARNING FOR ALL CHILDREN.

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IMPROVE FINANCIAL LITERACY AMONG FAMILIES.

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IMPROVE CAREER READINESS AMONG LOCAL YOUTH.

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ENCOURAGE SAVINGS AND PROVIDE FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR POSTSECONDARY ATTENDANCE AND COMPLETION.

Table of Contents 5 6-7

YEAR IN REVIEW QUALITY EARLY LEARNING The goal of the Quality Early Learning program of the Home Run is to ensure every child in West Sacramento has access to affordable, quality, early learning.

8-10 READY, SET, SAVE! AND 529 DAY The Ready, Set, Save! program grants every West Sacramento resident under the age of 19 the opportunity to receive up to $1,000 for College.

14-15 CALKIDS The Home Run has partnered with the ScholarShare Investment Board to promote CalKIDS.

16-17 COLLEGE PROMISE West Sacramento high school graduates can attend Sacramento City College feefree and tuition-free for two years.

18-19 DIGITAL MICROCREDENTIALS New opportunities for interns and early learning providers to earn digital micro-credentials.

20-21 23/24 OUTREACH 11

HELEN PUTNAM AWARD The Home Run was awarded the California Cities Helen Putnam Award for Excellence in City-Business Relations in 2023!

The Home Run has attended and hosted various events throughout the year to promote our programs.

22-23 OUR FUTURE

12-13 INTERNSHIPS Fifty-eight High school interns participated in our 8-week paid summer internships this year!

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Making West Sacramento the best place to grow up, raise a family, and find talent.

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Year in Review This year has been another of unprecedented growth in the Home Run participation numbers and recognition. Our Paid Internship program was recognized by California League of Cities through a Helen Putnam Award of Excellence for City/Business Relations and Community Impact, and we received a grant for $211,000 for collaboration between our Ready, Set, Save! program and the new California College Savings Account program known as CalKIDS. This grant has enabled us to broaden our outreach efforts and provided funding to our K-12 schools and early learning and care sites to hold family workshops as well.

We launched a new website in June and July of 2023 which decreased our website hosting costs by 60%, while increasing numbers of families and youth utilizing the website by 47%! The new website offers a simpler and more user-friendly interface for claiming money for activities through our Ready, Set, Save!

Scholarship program and enables our high school interns to learn about and apply for internships.

The website also features an eligibility tool to guide families to the programs their children can participate in. Designed by our Program Technician Dhamar, the new website is a huge improvement and asset to the Home Run!

Our Quality Early Learning program expanded to include infants and toddlers to reflect our alignment with the State of California’s Quality Counts, and to better serve our families looking for childcare for all ages. Because the majority of our sites already served infants, toddlers AND preschool aged children, this was an easy adjustment to make and more accurately reflects our deep commitment to ensuring all West Sacramento families have access to affordable and quality early learning and care.

We upped our game in the social media arena, with our two Program Technicians and our Home Run Intern all contributing their creative talents to post fun and engaging reels, informative posts, and inspiring statistics. One of our reels even went viral, with 1,535 views!

We are excited about the future as our numbers or children, youth and families served grow, and we focus on continuous program improvements. We are delighted to share the progress we have made over the past year in this annual report!

Justine Jimenez

Home Run Business Manager

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Quality Early Learning District 1

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Take a look at where our Pre-K Graduates from Quality Early Learning Sites are from!

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District 4

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Area # of Students District 1 110 District 2 Map Date: 123 District 3 October 24,2024 88 District 4 Disclaimer Text 84 25 Other City

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KEY ACHIEVEMENTS 10 certified sites participated in a minimum of 24 hours of Professional Development throughout the year 13 individual educators participated in a minimum of 12 hours of Professional Development

INNOVATIVE PRACTICES A total of 184 Inclusion Badges were awarded to providers who demonstrated that their programs fostered skills for working with children and families with diverse needs, as well as promoting anti-bias education.

CHALLENGES One of the biggest challenges we faced this past year was getting Home Run’s professional development hours, including coaching, recognized in Yolo County’s QRIS pathways. This inclusion is crucial for West Sacramento educators, allowing them to count these hours toward statewide incentives and ensuring their training is tailored to their specific needs.

SOLUTIONS After extensive meetings and collaboration we successfully completed the CA Coaching Companion coaching cycle with our dedicated Home Run coaches, marking a major milestone! This achievement means that, starting in the 2024-25 school year, these coaching hours will officially count towards QRIS pathways and statewide incentives. This victory not only validates the quality of our professional development but also opens the door for local educators to access greater support and rewards for their hard work.

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The Home Run S

Ready, ACCOUNTS OPENED

INCENTIVES EARNED

SCHOLARSHARE 529 DEPOSITS 8

cholarship Program

Set, Save!

In the past year, Ready, Set, Save! saw a decline in new accounts opened, with a total of 359 compared to 621 the previous year. However, we achieved a significant increase in incentives claimed, rising to $35,071 from $23,663. This 48% growth indicates that our existing participants are becoming more engaged and gaining a deeper understanding of the program.

Our outreach efforts, strengthened by our partnership with CalKIDS, have remained robust. We promoted the program through social media, workshops, and community events. During this process, we discovered that many participants who signed up already had existing accounts, whether from recent enrollments or earlier registrations they had forgotten about.

To address this, we focused on a new goal: to activate these existing accounts and encourage greater participation. However, we are still committed to reaching new audiences, especially those who may be harder to connect with and can benefit the most from our programs. Overall, we are encouraged by the increased engagement among our existing participants, which demonstrates the effectiveness of our outreach strategies.

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529 Day Winners This year’s 529 Day winner Olivia received $1,529 in college savings, and her teacher Megan was awarded $500 for her classroom!

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Helen Putnam Award for Excellence in CityBusiness Relations The West Sacramento Home Run Internship Program proudly received the League of California Cities Helen Putnam Award for Excellence in City-Business Relations in 2023! This honor underscores the program's dedication to building connections between the city and local businesses while nurturing the next generation of talent, ultimately contributing to a vibrant community. The team had the opportunity to showcase the internship program at the League of California Cities annual conference, engaging with other cities and addressing their questions.

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Internships TRIPLED IN STUDENT INTEREST!

Populations We Served This Year

This year, the Home Run Internship program continued its growth, with 156 high school applicants! Fifty-eight interns were placed throughout West Sacramento and surrounding communities. These interns gained hands-on experience in a variety of locations, including MILE Preschool, Nine8 Comics and Games, Three Sisters Gardens, Hart Management, and many more. The program’s diverse placements provided valuable exposure to different industries, equipping interns with the skills and insights needed to thrive in the professional world.

White

34%

Hispanic / Latino

31%

Asian

18%

Multiracial

13%

Black 4%

Female 52%

Number of Participants Each Year

2019; 27 Interns 2020; 17 Interns

Male 48%

2021; 33 Interns 2022; 36 Interns 2023; 56 Interns 2024; 58 Interns

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Meet Amarion! He worked at Nippon Shokken U.S.A Inc. this past summer and had a great time learning all about the behind-the-scenes operations of a production company.

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CalKIDS CalKIDS is a state program designed to help children save for their future education. Every eligible public school student in California receives a college savings account to support their academic goals.

In partnership with local CSA programs, the ScholarShare Investment Board launched a grant to promote CalKIDS and these savings accounts. We were thrilled to receive a generous grant of $211,825 on May 30th, which has directly benefited children in our community by providing early financial support for their educational aspirations.

Since receiving the grant, we have: Conducted workshops to educate families about savings options Purchased tablets to improve our program delivery Created co-branded promotional items to raise awareness We also worked closely with community partners to ensure our efforts reach as many families as possible. We are proud of what we have accomplished with this grant and look forward to continuing our work!

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Grant

2022-2023 235 4.3%

Number of students eligible for a CalKIDS account 22-23

Number of students registered in 22-23 (grant money not in place)

5189 95.7%

VS 2023-2024 307 5.6%

Number of students eligible for a CalKIDS account 23-24

Number of students registered in 23-24 (grant in place)

5188 94.4%

30% GROWTH Since the grant began, we've boosted numbers by 30%! We’re excited to grow this further next year!

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West Sac College RECIPIENT DEMOGRAPHICS

27

recipients of the West Sacramento Promise in the school year 23-24.

66.7%

of recipients were first generation college students.

Ethnicity

Gender

Multi-Race 15%

Hispanic/Latino 37%

Male 63%

White 41% Female 37%

Asian 4%

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African American 4%

ramento Promise Research indicates that College Promise programs significantly enhance year-toyear persistence rates, leading to increased completion of postsecondary credentials, such as certificates, associate degrees, and bachelor’s degrees.

Graduates of West Sacramento high schools are granted automatic admission to Sacramento City College.

By enrolling full-time within six months of graduation, they become eligible for the West Sacramento Promise, which covers their fees. Additionally, tuition expenses are supported by the California College Promise or the Los Rios College Promise. In the 2023-24 academic year, 27 students took advantage of these opportunities!

Ethnicity Gender

Male 50%

Decline to State 3%

Female 47%

Multi-Race 13%

Hispanic/Latino 42%

White 29%

Asian 13%

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Digital Micro10 New Di

F I CAT I ONS ALI UCATO OF R QU AN ED

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INC

L U S I ON

credentials gital Badges OUR PROGRAM This year the Home Run added a significant number of new microcredentials and badges with our expansion into badging for Quality Early Learning and new badges available for our Home Run Interns. Both categories of badges are aligned with the standards and practices for Early Learning professionals and Home Run Interns and are earned through a combination of rigorous training and experience. Due to this expansion, we saw a huge increase in numbers earned! A total of 166 digital micro-credentials were earned by Early Learning professionals, and 243 were earned by our Home Run Interns. We are excited to see how well these new micro-credential and badge opportunities have been received, and we expect even more growth in the coming year!

OPMENTA VEL L DELTH SCREENI N / A GS HE

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The Home Run team attended 30 events this year, collaborating closely with community partners such as WUSD schools, Community Schools, and Early Learning sites.

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COMMUNITY OUTREACH EVENTS Throughout the year, the Home Run team built meaningful connections with local organizations, immersing ourselves in the community to maximize our positive impact. Our participation in a variety of events— like the West Sacramento Trunk or Treat, Community Schools Kickoff, Yolo County Children’s Alliance Back-toSchool Backpack Giveaway, YOLO High School Career Fair and the Juneteenth Celebration—allowed us to engage with families, students, and community leaders, all while sharing the vision and benefits of our program. Each event offered unique opportunities to spread awareness about the different programs our initiative has to offer.

WORKSHOP SERIES During the 2023-2024 school year, we partnered with our local community schools to introduce a 4-part workshop series. Families and students were invited to explore all the programs the West Sacramento Home Run has to offer. At our River City workshop alone, we saw incredible enthusiasm, with over 60 students signing up for our program!

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FUTURE PLANS FOR TH E FARM TO ECE GRANT

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In September of 2024 we were notified that we received a $200,000 grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture to connect our local Family Child Care and Child Care Centers with high-quality local produce and education for staff and children about gardening, nutrition and health! The grant will kick off in January of 2025, and we will also have the ability to provide funding to sites to build gardens and other infrastructure to improve their farm to early learning programs.

HOME RUN PROMOTERS The Home Run Team has partnered with five local youth to champion our programs within the community. Our dynamic team includes two students from River City High School, two from Washington Middle College, and one WUSD alumnus now attending Carrington College. These committed promoters will enhance our outreach through peer-to-peer support, hosting workshops, on-campus activities, and other initiatives, helping us connect with communities that might otherwise be difficult to reach. The Home Run Promoter program will operate throughout the entire 2024-2025 school year.

NEW MICRO-CREDENTIALS

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Building on the success of our new digital early learning microcredentials, we’re excited to announce the upcoming launch of three additional badges: Home Run Ambassador, Child Observation, and FCC Business Practices. These microcredentials will showcase recipients' diverse skills, dedication to program growth, and in-depth knowledge of the Home Run initiative. By earning these badges, participants will demonstrate their commitment to excellence in early education and their ability to implement best practices in their work.

E WEST SAC. HOME RUN SAVINGS AND ENGAGEMENT

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Helping West Sacramento families save for postsecondary education or training has been a priority for the Home Run team since we started. We have done this by offering incentives to families who open and contribute to ScholarShare 529 accounts for their children. This strategy has been effective in encouraging families to open ScholarShare accounts, but less so in getting them to contribute to those accounts. In addition, families that enroll their children in Ready, Set, Save! often start out with a burst of enthusiasm, earning many incentives. But then, for a variety of reasons, their activity tapers off. Other families register their children but fail to submit evidence of their activities, so their accounts sit idle. Over the next year, the Home Run team will explore strategies to encourage more savings and more participation.

EVENTS

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In March 2025, the Home Run will host a Financial Wellness and Family Strengthening Workshop for West Sacramento residents. This workshop is designed to equip families with practical tools to strengthen their financial well-being and build stronger family dynamics. Designed to be accessible, engaging, and impactful, the workshop will offer insights into financial planning, budgeting, and family resource management, tailored to support our community's unique needs. By empowering residents with these skills, we’re helping to create a brighter and more resilient future for West Sacramento families.

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WEST SACRAMENTO HOME RUN Making West Sacramento the best place to grow up, raise a family, and find talent.