Diversifying funding streams and institutionalizing innovating practices to promote program sustainability

We provide training and technical assistance to Tribes, states, counties, and community agencies as they navigate the complexities of funding and sustaining family-centered services. We have over 25 years of experience providing expert consultation, effective tools, and strategies to help sites fund and sustain innovation benefiting families affected by substance use disorders (SUDs).

Sustaining innovative and effective practices over time does not simply rely upon having steady funding streams; it also requires institutionalizing new ways of practice into the very fabric of the process. Cross-system partners, early in the life of a collaborative, should plan for how their innovative practice strategies will permanently influence the way of doing business, thereby reducing systemic barriers for all families and creating lasting systems change.

Communities must ­find ways to serve all families in need by accessing the full range of existing funding resources from multiple agencies serving children and family members affected by parental SUDs and child maltreatment. Agencies include child welfare, substance use and mental health disorder treatment, early childhood education, prenatal and primary health care, home visiting, and other social service programs.

Our decades of experience and expertise has been effective in helping communities develop both inventories of funding streams and the diverse cross-systems partnerships necessary to ensure successful sustainability efforts.

CFF ACTIVITIES

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CFF has responded to over 600 technical assistance requests about funding and sustainability since 2016
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CFF has worked with over 1,077 grantees and sites to implement strategies to sustain effective programs and collaborative initiatives

SOME DATA POINTS

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$609 billion total federal spending in 2022 was for programs that benefit children, representing 10% of the federal budget1
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Almost 40 million (38,050,476) children were enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program in 20242

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCES 

Through federally- and foundation-funded projects, Children and Family Futures and its small business subsidiary, Center for Children and Family Futures, produces publications, reports, Technical Assistance tools and web-based learning for the field. The following are featured resources from our work. For more resources or information related to a specific topic, please visit our resources page or click the “Request Assistance” button below or at the top of the page.

  1. Lou, C., Hahn, H., Maag, E., Daly, H.S., Casas, M., & Steuerle, C.E. The Urban Institute. (2023). Kids’ Share 2023 Report on Federal Expenditures on Children through 2022 and Future Projections. https://www.urban.org/research/publication/kids-share-2023
  2. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2024). May 2024 Medicaid & CHIP Enrollment Data Highlights. https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/program-information/medicaid-and-chip-enrollment-data/report-highlights/index.html