New funding announced for primary child maltreatment prevention and community-based partnerships

Community Collaborations to Strengthen and Preserve Families Funding Announcement

September 30, 2019

Today, the Children’s Bureau within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration on Children, Youth and Families, announced the first year of a five year award of nearly $25 million to nine community-based projects to help prevent child maltreatment and reduce entries into foster care.

Through the Community Collaborations to Strengthen and Preserve Families grant, projects will be designed to address site-specific barriers that will bolster family-integrated services, build strategic community-based partnerships with philanthropic, business and non-profit organizations, and streamline coordinated efforts with education, government, public health, law enforcement, public housing, legal, and judicial organizations to meet the needs of families before a crisis occurs.

Over the course of the five-year project period, organizations will be able to develop, implement, and evaluate primary prevention strategies based on the strengths and needs of the designated communities. Project activities and strategies for the community collaborations grant project will also reflect the Children’s Bureau’s priorities to strengthen families’ protective capacities through a partnership of primary prevention networks, community-based services, and supports with a focus on improving the overall health and well-being of children and families.

“These grants embody the Children’s Bureau’s commitment to developing new and improved child welfare strategies that are focused on preventing the maltreatment of children by their caregiver, and as a result, creating environments in which families can thrive and children are free from harm,” said Jerry Milner, Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau. “The child welfare field has wholeheartedly embraced this focus, as evidenced by an unusually large number of funding applications representing every state in the country. I am incredibly encouraged about the future direction of child welfare in our country.”

Recently, many child welfare systems have begun exploring new approaches to prevent child maltreatment by establishing stronger partnerships with a diverse array of community-based providers and public supports. This is a response to the continued troubling trends of increasing foster care placements and reports of maltreatment, as evidenced in the trends in the Foster Care and Adoption report.

Families and youth who have child welfare experience will be a required partner in the design and implementation of the community-based projects. Data will also be used to address site-specific barriers, align strategies across sectors and inform and improve coordinated decision-making and accountability processes. Additionally, evaluations will be conducted to provide information about the successful implementation of established outcomes, reducing foster care entry, and how communities developed and implemented integrated approaches to preventing child maltreatment. Abt Associates and Child Trends will manage the evaluation and technical assistance of the grant projects.

“When we listen to the youth and parents who have experience in our child welfare system, they speak about the importance of communities to their overall well-being,” said Milner. “Our goal here is to act on what they tell us and create cross-cutting systems in communities where children and families can get what they need when they need it before formal child welfare services are needed. We appreciate the openness of the families and all of our community partnerships. Together, we can help families become more resilient and build community-based programs that are effective, sustainable and prevention focused.”

The following organizations were awarded funding under the Community Collaborations grant:

  • County of Allegheny

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

FY 2019 Award: $550,000.00

  • Department of Children, Youth and Families

Location: Olympia, WA

FY 2019 Award: $540,639.00

  • Family Resource Center of North Mississippi

Location: Tupelo, MS

FY 2019 Award: $549,507.00

  • Larimer County Department of Human Services

Location: Fort Collins, CO

FY 2019 Award: $550,000.00

  • Ohio Children's Trust Fund

Location: Columbus, OH

FY 2019 Award: $543,250.00

  • Partnership for Strong Families, Inc.

Location: Gainesville, FL

FY 2019 Award: $548,841.00

  • Trustees of Indiana University

Location: Bloomington, IN

FY 2019 Award: $549,995.00

  • Vision for Children at Risk

Location: St. Louis, MO

FY 2019 Award: $550,000.00

  • YMCA of San Diego County

Location: San Diego, CA

FY 2019 Award: $546,549.00

For additional information about the Children’s Bureau, please visit: /cb.

Quick Facts

  • Through the Community Collaborations to Strengthen and Preserve Families grant, projects will be designed to address site-specific barriers that will bolster family-integrated services and build strategic community-based partnerships.
  • Over the course of the five-year project period, organizations will be able to develop, implement, and evaluate primary prevention strategies based on the strengths and needs of their community.
  • Families and youth who have child welfare experience will be a required partner in the design and implementation of the community-based projects.

Quotes

“These grants embody the Children’s Bureau’s commitment to developing new and improved child welfare strategies that are focused on preventing the maltreatment of children by their caregiver, and as a result, creating environments in which families can thrive and children are free from harm. The child welfare field has wholeheartedly embraced this focus, as evidenced by an unusually large number of funding applications representing every state in the country. I am incredibly encouraged about the future direction of child welfare in our country.”
— Jerry Milner, Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau
"When we listen to the youth and parents who have experience in our child welfare system, they speak about the importance of communities to their overall well-being. Our goal here is to act on what they tell us and create cross-cutting systems in communities where children and families can get what they need when they need it before formal child welfare services are needed. We appreciate the openness of the families and all of our community partnerships. Together, we can help families become more resilient and build community-based programs that are effective, sustainable and prevention focused.”
— Jerry Milner, Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau

Contact

Administration for Children & Families
Office of Communications
330 C Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201

Phone: (202) 401-9215
Fax: (202) 205-9688
Email: media@acf.hhs.gov

Program Office: