Nationwide Solutions

More than 600,000 children experience foster care involvement each year. However, with the right interventions and support, many of these youth could safely remain at home with their families, avoiding the negative life outcomes associated with unnecessary foster care involvement. At the same time, for those youth already in the foster care system, more than 20,000 will age out annually. Facing an abrupt loss of services and having little to no emotional support and guidance, these young adults are more likely to face homelessness, unemployment, and mental health issues.

Through its evidence-based Intercept and LifeSet programs, Youth Villages works to transform the life prospects of youth at risk of entering or aging out of foster care.

Approximately 50,000 youth in foster care have an especially difficult time finding a permanent home and face a host of negative outcomes if they remain in foster care or when they age out of the system. Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, a program of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, uses a unique recruitment model to match the hardest‐to‐place children – those ages nine or older, with special needs, or in sibling groups – with appropriate adoptive families. Its model is 1.7 to 3 times more effective than conventional placement models. At scale, it has the potential to transform foster care systems across the country, setting new standard practices for matching hard-to-place children with families.

Children living in poverty are more likely to fall behind in social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral development. While low-income children under age four can be difficult to reach in formal settings such as pre-kindergarten, 90% of them visit a pediatrician. HealthySteps, a program of ZERO TO THREE, is a national model of enhanced pediatric primary care that integrates a child development specialist into the primary care team to improve developmental outcomes with a particular emphasis on families living in low-income communities. Screening, advice and referrals give families the knowledge, support and resources they need to nurture their children’s healthy development.

Every day, thousands of legally innocent people are detained in jails across the country simply because they are unable to pay the bail that would allow them to stay in their communities.  This leads to an array of potential harms, including exposure to violence inside jail and jeopardizing housing, employment and access to public benefits. Increased pressure to plead guilty also burdens many with criminal records, which have damaging effects on their long-term economic prospects and personal lives.  The Bail Project uses a national revolving bail fund to pay bail for low-income individuals, alleviating stressors that exacerbate poverty. At scale, The Bail Project’s model represents an immediate and highly actionable approach for effective pretrial reform.  The Bail Project’s ultimate aim is to end unaffordable cash bail in the US.

Over 37 million people in the United States live in poverty, yet many are unable to access the social safety net – a web of more than 80 public benefit programs – intended to support them. Meanwhile, billions in government benefits like SNAP, WIC, and Medicaid remain unclaimed every year by people who are eligible. Working at the intersection of technology and government, Code for America is showing that it’s possible for government to work well for everyone and serve people with dignity and respect. Code for America works shoulder to shoulder with community organizations and government to build digital tools and services, change policies, and improve programs for all people. Through its Safety Net Innovation Lab, Code for America will remove key barriers that make it hard for families and individuals living in poverty to access the public benefits they deserve. 

Accumulating financial assets allows families to build intergenerational wealth, invest in opportunities like homeownership or education, and weather times of economic distress. Yet, many anti-poverty programs and policies discourage or penalize saving. To support families living in federally subsidized housing – some of the most asset-poor families in the country – Compass Working Capital works to expand the national scope and impact of a vastly underutilized federal housing initiative, the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program. Through the program, families can build savings in a federally protected escrow savings account, which grows as families increase their earned income, and rigorous evaluations show participant earnings are 23% higher and usage of public assistance was 39% lower three years of participation.

In the United States, economic mobility remains a distant dream for millions, particularly for women of color striving against entrenched financial barriers. An estimated 11 million low-income women, including approximately 2 million Latina and 2 million Black entrepreneurs, face daunting obstacles accessing traditional financial services and working capital. Grameen America envisions an inclusive society in which all entrepreneurs, regardless of gender, race, or income, have access to fair and affordable financial services to support upward economic mobility. Grameen’s commitment to provide $40 billion of capital to underserved women entrepreneurs with their latest initiative, “Women Are Limitless: Accelerating Inclusive Growth and Impact”, offers microloans, peer networking, asset- and credit-building services, and financial, business and health education to build social capital and broaden entrepreneurs’ support systems by 2033.