Creating More Comprehensive, Community-Based Support Systems: The Critical Role of Finance

Programs serving children and families are funded through countless federal, state, and local governmental channels, as well as through private sources. Every one of these programs contains a unique set of standard rules and requirements about how funds may be used and who is eligible to receive them. Increasingly, policymakers, educators, professional service providers, and advocates have begun to recognize the limitations of such fragmented approaches to the delivery of children's services and have begun to outline new systems of children's support that integrate programs across service sectors into comprehensive, community-based support systems (CCBSS) characterized by a focus on prevention-oriented services and supports, flexibility in supporting the needs of children within the context of their families and communities, a strong community role in program design, implementation, and governance, and a focus on accountability for outcomes. This report is made up of three sections. The first section provides background on the current financing of children's services and supports, discussing the magnitude of public expenditures and public funding mechanisms. The second section, which discusses innovations in financing integrated services, includes private expenditures public financing strategies, decategorization methods, refinancing, fund redeployment, and investments in inter-professional development. The final section discusses the challenges ahead in the areas of management systems, external grant mechanism, and professional development activities. (Contains 25 references.) (ET)