BAKERSFIELD, CA- Fewer people in California are smoking which means better health for a lot of adults. But fewer cigarette purchases means less money for First Five, a state program funded by tobacco tax which provides money for programs serving children under age five.
Caring Corner is one of 89 programs in Kern county funded by First Five Kern, yet they are the only pre-school that serves children who have a medical need and receive one-on-one nursing care. Their newest grant award from First Five Kern is $8,000 less per year than it was last time.
"We provide a service that many of our families would not receive without us being here so it's a challenge for us to decide to take a closer look at our program and decide how we're going to cut those funds while still providing a quality program for our families," said Tami England, Program Administrator at Caring Corner.
Caring Corner is just one of many programs feeling the blow from First Five's funding cuts, caused by a reduction in the number of smokers statewide.
From 1988 to 2011, the annual number of cigarette packs sold in California dropped by more than 1.5 billion per year, from 2.5 billion to 972 million packs according to the California Department of Public Health. CVS removed all tobacco products from their shelves back in September.
"When people smoke less, we get less revenue and therefore our programs get less revenue," said Jan St Pierre, Communications Officer for First Five Kern.
First Five says they made the decision to reduce funds at all programs instead of cutting all funding for any program.
"We began 15 years ago at about 16 million dollars per year and this year we were funded at about a 10 million dollar level. And next year we anticipate 8 million dollars. So its going down about two million a year," said St Pierre.
CARING CORNER and other programs will have to figure out a way to do more with less without cutting corners.
"We will look for additional funding, we will take a close look at our efficiency and make sure that we are doing everything we can with the staff that we have," said England.
December 3 is when First Five Kern will meet and decide the final budget for next year's programs.
Caring Corner is one of 89 programs in Kern county funded by First Five Kern, yet they are the only pre-school that serves children who have a medical need and receive one-on-one nursing care. Their newest grant award from First Five Kern is $8,000 less per year than it was last time.
"We provide a service that many of our families would not receive without us being here so it's a challenge for us to decide to take a closer look at our program and decide how we're going to cut those funds while still providing a quality program for our families," said Tami England, Program Administrator at Caring Corner.
Caring Corner is just one of many programs feeling the blow from First Five's funding cuts, caused by a reduction in the number of smokers statewide.
From 1988 to 2011, the annual number of cigarette packs sold in California dropped by more than 1.5 billion per year, from 2.5 billion to 972 million packs according to the California Department of Public Health. CVS removed all tobacco products from their shelves back in September.
"When people smoke less, we get less revenue and therefore our programs get less revenue," said Jan St Pierre, Communications Officer for First Five Kern.
First Five says they made the decision to reduce funds at all programs instead of cutting all funding for any program.
"We began 15 years ago at about 16 million dollars per year and this year we were funded at about a 10 million dollar level. And next year we anticipate 8 million dollars. So its going down about two million a year," said St Pierre.
CARING CORNER and other programs will have to figure out a way to do more with less without cutting corners.
"We will look for additional funding, we will take a close look at our efficiency and make sure that we are doing everything we can with the staff that we have," said England.
December 3 is when First Five Kern will meet and decide the final budget for next year's programs.