Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths

The Steering Committee is a community-driven body of dedicated individuals working to reduce deaths among African American children in Sacramento County.

The Committee was established by a resolution of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors in June 2013. Its ultimate charge is to provide coordination and oversight of efforts, create a strategic plan, monitor implementation, evaluate, and report on progress toward reducing the disproportional number of African American child deaths. The Steering Committee’s efforts focus on four issue areas:

  1. Homicide Related to Child Abuse and Neglect
  2. Third-Party Homicide
  3. Deaths Related to Perinatal Conditions
  4. Infant Sleep-Related Deaths

Background

In 2011, Supervisor Phil Serna convened the Blue Ribbon Commission on Disproportionate African American Child Deaths. Alarmed that in Sacramento County African American children die at very disproportional rates compared to other children, the Commission was an effort to activate the Sacramento community and engage resources to do something about it.

The Steering Committee is funded by the County of Sacramento, City of Sacramento and First 5 Sacramento, and is managed by The Center.

Black Child Legacy Campaign

The Black Child Legacy Campaign is the community-driven movement established by the Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths.

Visit the Black Child Legacy Campaign web site.

Meeting Information

RAACD Prayer Breakfast

Thank you to everyone who joined The Center at Sierra Health Foundation, the Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths and Black Child Legacy Campaign partners for this annual event on March 17.

Important Notice: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Steering Committee meetings are being held via videoconference.

The Steering Committee meets bimonthly on the third Wednesday of the month from 2:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. at Sierra Health Foundation, 1321 Garden Highway in Sacramento, unless otherwise posted. Steering Committee meetings are open to the public.

Meeting Materials

Join the Community Leadership Roundtable

Publications

Download Five-Year Report 2020 (.pdf)

Transformative Justice Community

This report is the result of a two-year evaluation conducted by researchers at UC Davis and Sacramento State University. It provides evidence of the effectiveness of the strategies in building a sustainable system of support to protect children from preventable deaths.

Download Five-Year Report 2020 (.pdf)

Five-Year Report 2020

The Black Child Legacy Campaign’s progress through its first five years has been inspiring on many fronts. Most importantly, the work of community partners shows that powerful change can happen when many different organizations align their talents and focus on a common goal.
Download Community Indicator Report – Presenting 2017 Data (.pdf)

Community Indicator Report – Presenting 2017 Data

The annual Community Indicator Report presents a set of core community indicators, including the leading causes of child death, to inform the work of the Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths and its community partners. This report updates the progress of the initiative county-wide with 2017 data.
Download the 2018 Annual Report (.pdf)

2018 Annual Report

This report tells the story of the coordinated efforts within seven Sacramento County neighborhoods to meet or exceed the goal of reducing African American child death rates from 10-20% by 2020 and to bring the vision for health and well-being for all children to fruition.
Download the 2016-2017 Annual Report (.pdf)

2016-2017 Annual Report

This report includes numbers that indicate encouraging movement in the effort to reduce African American child deaths by 10% to 20% in Sacramento County by 2020.
Download the 2015-2016 Annual Report (.pdf)

2015-2016 Annual Report

Sacramento County’s Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths began execution of its strategic implementation plan in fall 2015. This report details the plan’s benchmarks and how they were met.
Download the Implementation Plan for Sacramento County 2015-2020 (.pdf)

Implementation Plan for Sacramento County 2015-2020

This implementation plan, a follow up to the Steering Committee’s strategic plan, provides detailed programmatic steps to be undertaken to reduce the number of African American child deaths by 10% to 20% over a five-year period.
Download African American Children Matter: What We Must Do Now (.pdf)

African American Children Matter: What We Must Do Now

The Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths submitted this Strategic Plan in response to the recommendations from Sacramento County’s Blue Ribbon Commission.