We are partnering with the Community Innovation and Action Center (CIAC) at the University of Missouri–St. Louis to expand our fiscal mapping work. During the next year, CIAC will help us conduct state-level fiscal maps that document public funding for services and programs for kids and strengthen the country’s standardized fiscal mapping process. This collaboration will be the first of a series of partnerships to build nationwide expertise in financing children and youth services. Through these partnerships, we will train community and state leaders on best practices in strategic finance planning and develop a diverse, inclusive, and skilled pipeline of professionals prepared to secure dedicated funding for children and youth programs. Contact us for more information or visit childrensfundingproject.org/ourteam to learn more about our growing team! If you are interested in working with us on this project, check out CIAC’s opening for a data strategist.

Learn More About Our Work

This Month's Kids Funding Win

More than 25 communities and 100 participants attended our 2022 Children’s Funding Institute. Attendees learned from experts how to run a children’s fund ballot campaign and administer a voter-approved children’s fund. Previous attendees of the institute have gone on to create some of the country’s largest and most successful voter-approved children’s funds. We’ve already heard that this year’s event provided a first step for the attending communities. Read the top five takeaways from this year’s institute. If your community is interested in pursuing a children’s fund ballot measure in the coming years, contact us for more information.

In Case You Missed It

Voters Support Taxing Big Tech to Raise Money for Kids—and States Are Listening Earlier this year, Maryland made history by instituting the nation’s first digital ad tax for kids. The new law could raise an estimated $250 million in its first full year, making significant investments in K-12 and early childhood education including providing free preschool to low-income families. Voters approve: Nearly 70% of voters support a tax on the sales of digital advertising to raise revenue for children and youth services. States would be wise to listen to them and use these new revenue sources to fund early education, after-school programs, youth mental health, and youth workforce development efforts that have been chronically underfunded for years. Read more in our new blog post.

New Poll Results Show Voters of All Groups Will Support Kids The newest results from our national poll, commissioned in partnership with Children’s Funding Accelerator, show how voters of different races, political parties, ages, genders, and more support different types of taxes that pay for public services for children and youth. Overall, most voters would pay higher taxes to provide programs and services for kids, with particularly high rates of support among Black voters, young Democrats, and big city residents. Together, these results paint an optimistic picture of how voters view their responsibility to ensure that all children and youth have equal opportunities for life.  View the new results here. For more results from the poll, including a slide deck summarizing all the results that you can use to make the case for funding kids in your community, click here.

A Real-Life Look at How One City Is Using Strategic Financing New Orleans, LA, has been one of the cities at the forefront of making children and youth a central part of the city’s future. In the last few years local leaders created a comprehensive 10-year Youth Master Plan and annual fiscal map. Most recently, they released their Youth Master Plan Phase 3 Implementation Report, which looks at how the city will finance its plan with city revenue and American Rescue Plan dollars. This is a great real-life example of how a city can prioritize kids financially.  See the financing strategy starting on page 15 here.

How Intermediaries Have Supported Pandemic Relief Our new series of blog posts looks at how cities and counties are using funds from the American Rescue Plan and other federal COVID-relief programs for an equitable and efficient recovery. The most recent blog about Palm Beach County, FL, focuses on how intermediaries like the United Way, early learning coalitions, and school districts helped the community navigate the transition from reaction to recovery. Read the newest blog post here.  Read the original blog posts here.

‌ ‌

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up for our mailing list here.