Creating Dedicated Local and State Revenue Sources for Youth Programs

This publication is part of a series of tools and resources on financing and sustaining youth programming. These tools and resources are intended to assist policy makers, program developers and community leaders in developing innovative strategies for implementing, financing and sustaining effective programs and policies. This brief highlights six strategies to create dedicated revenue sources for youth programs and services that policymakers, intermediary organizations, and youth advocates can work together to implement at the state, city, and/or county levels. It describes the critical features of each strategy and highlights examples of each strategy in practice. The brief also discusses considerations for the use of each strategy, including the appropriateness of various approaches; the likely stability and adequacy of revenues generated; the extent to which the strategy can be used to improve the coordination of resources; and considerations regarding political feasibility. Theoretically, each strategy can be implemented at the state, municipal, and county levels. However, some strategies, such as income tax checkoffs where no local income taxes exist, will be more applicable at the state level than at the local level. A list of resources concludes the report. (Contains 9 footnotes.)