By Justin Slaughter on August 27, 2010
[From John Burton Foundation, September 1, 2010]
Yesterday afternoon, AB 12 passed in the California State Senate on a vote of 26 to 8, with 5 abstentions. Then last night, AB 12 went back to the Assembly, which approved the final version of AB 12 on a vote of 73 to 2! Thank you to everyone who called your member of the Assembly and Senate to urge their support of AB 12.
Posted in Featured Content, State Foster Care Policy Updates | Tagged budget, california, child welfare, foster care, foster youth, policy, transitional age youth, youth
By Justin Slaughter on August 13, 2010
[From The John Burton Foundation, August 13, 2010]
When: Wednesday, September 8, 2010, 10-11a.m.
The recently completed fiscal year was one of the most challenging yet for THP-Plus, with the program receiving a $5 million budget cut, reducing annual funding from $40.8 million to $35.8 million.
Please join The John Burton Foundation for an informational web seminar on to learn about the impact of this reduction on counties, THP-Plus providers and youth participants. This information will be drawn from the recently completed 2009-10 THP-Plus Annual Report.
Web seminar participants will include representatives of the California Department of Social Services, who will discuss the impact of the budget reduction and provide the latest information about THP-Plus in the FY 10-11 state budget. Also presenting will be Sara Kimberlin, doctoral candidate at University of California at Berkeley and author of a soon-to-be released policy brief that provides our first-ever statewide outcome data for THP-Plus.
To register, click HERE
If you have any questions or difficulty registering, please contact Olivia at olivia@johnburtonfoundation.org or at 415-348-0099.
Posted in Upcoming Events | Tagged budget, budget cuts, california, foster youth, homelessness, housing, support, transitional age youth, webinar, youth
By Justin Slaughter on July 23, 2010
[by Paul Hogarth‚ San Francisco Guardian, Jul. 21‚ 2010]
So what was the end product Monday night, after the Full Board passed the final budget?
First, here is the good news. All the $40 million in “add-backs” the Budget Committee had passed on July 1st were intact, along with a few more restorations that included: (a) $50,000 of the $100,000 HSA-funded program for Hoarders & Clutterers, (b) $500,000 of the Ethics Commission Public Finance fund, (c) $800,000 for psych beds at SF General Hospital, and (d) another $1 million in violence prevention programs.
In exchange, the Supervisors agreed to restore two of the Mayor’s Pet Projects they had previously cut out of the budget – $250,000 for the Kids2College Savings Program (or Baby Bonds II), and $260,000 to get a permanent home for Project Homeless Connect. In addition, the Mayor insisted on restoring the one Fire captain position the Budget Committee had cut.
Posted in News | Tagged bay area, budget, budget cuts, california, child welfare, homelessness, policy
By Justin Slaughter on July 20, 2010
[From Los Angeles Times, July 6, 2010]
This is Schwarzenegger’s last budget, and his last chance to push for a spending cap and a rainy-day fund. It’s the right time and the right goal. The Legislature should agree, and send budget reform to voters one more time.
So what was the state to do with all that extra money? Democratic Assemblywoman Karen Bass of Los Angeles had a smart plan to spend $82 million of it on a long-needed overhaul of the foster care system that would keep more children with their relatives instead of sending them to group homes or into foster care.
Schwarzenegger and Republicans in the Legislature wanted a larger “rainy day” fund as a hedge against bad times, and a spending cap so the state would not embark on programs it couldn’t afford in future years. Democrats argued that money properly spent now would save the state millions in the future and was a necessary investment. Then-Speaker Fabian Nuñez, also a Los Angeles Democrat, also from a district affected by the broken foster care system, went to bat for Bass’ plan and included it in the budget that Schwarzenegger signed.
Posted in News | Tagged bay area, budget, california, foster care, foster youth, policy
By Justin Slaughter on July 14, 2010
[From The Bakersfield Californian, Friday, Jun 25 2010]
Some deserving programs are hanging on, albeit barely. One, which was being debated in the state Senate’s appropriations committee last week, provides funding for programs to help aged-out foster youth transition into the real world as independent, self-sustaining, tax-paying adults.
Yes, a social program. That’ll be a tough sell when the head-knocking of in-earnest budget negotiations really begins. It’ll be a tough sell even though it’s hard to find anyone who believes programs like the Transitional Housing Program for emancipated foster youth, or THP-Plus, is a waste of money.
It’s not. Weigh the cost against the value of putting an at-risk population on the tax rolls, and it’s a no-brainer.
“If we don’t do anything with these foster kids, we might as well just build more prisons,” said Randy Martin of Covenant Community Services, a Bakersfield-based foster care placement and management agency — one of 12 in Kern County that rely, in part, on government funding sources. “There’s this huge population of young people out there, and we’re their only safety net.”
Yet, THP-Plus was actually on the chopping block for a while, the first time since an early version of the program was created in 1998 that it has been so threatened. The January version of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget had eliminated funding altogether, a cut that would have hit 1,400 former foster youth living in the state’s transitional housing programs. Schwarzenegger pulled back that threat, but the program, now in 17 California counties including Kern, continues to hang in the balance.
Posted in Foster Care Library | Tagged budget, foster youth, housing
By Justin Slaughter on July 12, 2010
[From Foster Youth Alliance, July 9, 2010]
Date: Monday, August 2, 2010
Time: 11a.m.-3p.m. (registration from 10-10:45a.m.)
Location: San Jose State University
California Youth Connection’s invites you to their (CYC) Annual Summer Policy and Leadership Conference’s Policy Presentation…..
The event, which is facilitated and hosted by the CYC members, will address the following topics: transitional services, higher education, permanency and budget. In addition, the youth will be discussing Budget Priorities, Implementation Strategies and Policy Recommendations. Attendees will have the opportunity to listen to recommendations by the youth, spend time strategizing and developing action steps, and collaborate and speak individually with these amazing young adults.
RSVP Here.
Posted in Upcoming Events | Tagged advocacy, budget, california, foster care, foster youth, non-profits, policy, transitional age youth
By Justin Slaughter on July 6, 2010
[From Alameda County Foster Youth Alliance, August 13, 2010]
With a vote of 11-0, the California State Senate Appropriations Committee passed AB12 off of suspense. 4 Republicans and 7 Democrats supported the bill in the unanimous vote in favor. The bill now heads to the full senate, where it must be voted on by the end of this month. After that, it’s on to the Governor’s desk.
Posted in State Foster Care Policy Updates | Tagged budget, california, child welfare, policy, youth
By Justin Slaughter on June 25, 2010
[From Trey Bundy, the Bay Citizen, June 16, 2010]
Last August, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger cut $80 million from the state’s general fund that was meant for child welfare services, such as foster care, services for youth aging out of the system, and efforts to decrease social worker caseloads. That number grows to $133 million if you count the federal matching funds that could vanish as a result of the veto, thus representing a 10 percent cut of the overall budget.
Posted in News | Tagged advocacy, budget, budget cuts, california, child welfare, foster care, foster youth, policy, transitional age youth
