Federal Stimulus Bill Brings Opportunities and Questions

After a contentious few weeks on capital hill, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, 2009. The legislation provides for a combination of stimulus spending and tax cuts totaling $789 billion (according to some estimates, approximately 40% of the total is tax cuts). Speaking to reporters the day after the bill was signed, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick noted that the state will receive somewhere between $6 and $9 billion in federal money. Patrick also noted that the state has limited flexibility in how these funds are used because under the provisions of the bill funds will go to “specific programs with specific purposes.”

A variety of provisions in the bill will have either a direct or indirect impact on funding for afterschool and out-of-school time services for families in Massachusetts. While the details are still unclear, the key provisions for our field include:

1. $2 Billion for Child Care and Development Block Grants (CCDBG)—The CCDBG is one of the largest funding streams for childcare subsidies, such as vouchers. According to the Massachusetts Afterschool Partnership, MA will receive approximately $24 million in these funds. This represents a 23% increase in the FY2009 allocation, to be used within the next 2-3 years:
· Over $20 million in non-targeted CCDBG funds
· Nearly $2 million in non-targeted quality improvement funds
· Over $1 million in targeted quality improvement funds for infants and toddlers
2. $2.1 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start. The Department of Early Education and Care anticipate an additional $10.1 million for Massachusetts.
3. $13 Billion for Title 1 Funds—These funds are used to support programs that improve the academic opportunities for disadvantaged and underrepresented students, including both in-school and out-of-school programs.
· MA will likely receive over $208 million for Title 1 funding
4. The Workforce Investment Act grants that support job training services will receive $1.2 billion for youth job training programs and summer employment opportunities for youth. The WIA also includes $50 million for the YouthBuild program providing at-risk youth educational and occupational experience and credentials while building affordable housing.
· MA set to receive approximately $25 million for youth job services and summer job opportunities.
5. The AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA program will receive $160 million through the stimulus bill to support existing state and national grantees and to support AmeriCorps Volunteers, many of who provide staffing for afterschool programs.
6. $53.6 billion for State Fiscal Stabilization Funds—Included in these funds are $5 billion to be coordinated by the Department of Education through state grants and a $650 innovation fund. States will also receive approximately $40 billion in Education Blog Grants.
· MA will receive approximately $813 million for education spending. This funding is targeted to make up for cuts in k-12 funding since FY2008; to fund increases in education spending based on state funding formulas; and, to make up for funding cuts to higher education since FY2008.

We will continue to keep you updated as more details become clear about how these funds will be specifically allocated. It is crucial that we remain vocal and reach out to our state leaders to ensure that funding decisions provide the most critical supports for the children and youth of Massachusetts. For more information on the state's use of ARRA funds, visit www.mass.gov/recovery

Fragmentation: Is Youth Development a Field?

Working in the field of Youth Development the strongest characteristic of the profession is fragmentation.

Organizations and individual researchers write about the unique aspects of Youth Development and then create programs that continue NCLB-style academic formats or "follow the money" to further marry Youth Development to traditional models of school.

Various voices compete to create systems of credentialing, licensing, or "systematize" the work and expecting the field to "professionalize" according to collegiate models or other professions where compensation and the type of service differ greatly (a lawyer and a youth worker may both work hard, but they don't work the same).

Consultants, trainers, and certificate programs compete and sprout up and use models and frameworks that are often presented prematurely in the rush to take small pilots "to scale" and untested ideas "national."

Funders support work inconsistently and do not make long-term investments so that many Youth Development programs have to re-cast themselves every year or jump from one pilot to another never getting past the start-up stage.

Programs do not see themselves in the same work. Program providers don't identify with each other or collaborate for funding, focus, or message. The "field" of the youth worker has more vulnerabilities than it has assets.

This does not mean that the type of work need be unified into one system. What it may require, however, is for more youth workers to look beyond their population's needs, the mission of their organization, or agenda, and see that the work of Youth Development covers diverse programs, people, and approaches from inner city child care to suburban arts enrichment and outdoor exploration. It is an umbrella that should gather together various good quality people who work with youth to develop their social and emotional well being rather than it is today - fragmented and under threat as each individual organization and program vies with the next for scarce resources. We cannot blame the policy makers for crashing around from school to after-school, from private to public monies, they cannot know the work we do if we do not articulate it well.