Overview
The Annie E. Casey Foundation is devoted to making sure that all children and youth in the United States have a bright future. The Foundation is committed to using its resources to advance the most powerful set of policies – those that will help children, youth and young adults live safe, healthy, and financially secure lives. In 2023, the Foundation’s Policy Reform and Advocacy (PRA) team launched a new strategy to fund state policy opportunities in support of young people, ages birth through 24, in the United States and three of its territories (the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands). This 2024 award application solicitation will provide support for a new cohort of grantees.
Based on data from KIDS COUNT® reports and publications as well as other data sources, the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s PRA team is concerned about current inadequate state funding and policies for basic needs, income supports and postsecondary education and credentials for young people.
The Fund for State Children and Youth Policy
In 2023, the Annie E. Casey Foundation launched a fund to support policy changes in states to improve outcomes for young people ages birth through age 24. While there are a broad range of policy challenges and issues that impact the lives of young people, in 2024 the fund is seeking to support policies in three specific domains:
- Basic needs – This area focuses on state policies that promote access to health and mental health care, nutrition and food security, housing stability, and ensuring that children, youth, and emerging adults have and maintain permanency within a family system and are free of harmful government intervention, such as involvement in the child welfare system and in the juvenile justice system.
- Income and work supports – This area focuses on state policies that support access to paid and family medical leave and paid sick leave, access to quality, affordable child care, and the creation, expansion, and modernization of state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs) and Child Tax Credits (CTCs).
- Post-secondary education – This area focuses on state policies that address barriers to accessing and completing college and/or trade schools.
The inaugural cohort of this Fund resulted in 21 awardees with work concluding at the end of 2024. You can read about the first cohort of awards here.
If you have questions, please reach out via email to Ami Nagle ([email protected]).
