The Arizona Department of Child Safety, Office of Prevention administers CBCAP funding.  Arizona currently has one of the largest housing awards from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for Family Unification Program (FUP) vouchers. The FUP vouchers provide housing to families to prevent children from entering care, removing housing barriers for the reunification of children and parents, and for foster youth aging out of care that are at risk for homelessness.  Arizona has a total of 441 FUP vouchers across the state among six housing authorities: Maricopa County and cities of Mesa, Tempe, Phoenix, Tucson, and Yuma.  The Office of Prevention has been offering training sessions to staff within the state’s child welfare agency and community supports that offer help to the specific populations who are eligible for the Family Unification and Foster Youth to Independence housing choice voucher programs. This strategic training has been created to help support those serving this population to not only understand the programmatic requirements, but also to offer support to the unique needs of individuals who may be experiencing homelessness and have been involved in child welfare. In addition to the training, the Office of Prevention has collaborated with Family Resource Centers and Faith Based Organizations to provide families with assistance for concrete needs such as auto repairs, pediatric dentistry, mental health services and trade or vocational school.  This pilot program is available in areas where child protection reports and removals are high.

Prevent Child Abuse Delaware provided CBCAP funds to the Dual Generation Center to positively impact housing availability for families by strengthening landlord relationships. The Dual Generation Center uses a grassroots approach to build landlord relationships, leaning on its ever-growing network to identify new housing opportunities. A dedicated staff member makes daily calls and keeps a list of available rentals. In addition, the Executive Director, Case Managers, Parent Liaisons and Administrative Support staff members make calls, search online rental sites, and reach out to or field calls from those in their housing network. Center staff also meet with landlords and community members supporting housing policy at Landlord Association Meetings and community housing advocacy meetings. As part of their work to strengthen landlord relationships, the Dual Generation Center established a Risk Mitigation Fund. This fund served as a safety net for families and landlords by providing assurance to landlords that they will be compensated for any damage done to properties by tenants participating in the program. It reimbursed up to $2,000 for physical and operational losses for the first year after move-in. The fund provided a “guarantee” of compensation and property repair (if needed) that encouraged landlords to rent to families who may not have qualified (for various reasons) otherwise.  

In FFY22, the Children’s Trust Fund Missouri released approximately $342,000 to help address COVID-related immediate needs experienced by community-based prevention agencies and the families they serve. To establish funding criteria based on identified needs, CTF held listening sessions with stakeholders. CTF considered the following costs to be eligible under this funding opportunity:

• Concrete supports provided to families living in poverty and/or who have been adversely affected by COVID-19, which may include assisting families in accessing additional services to further address their basic health, and safety needs;
• General operating expenses for agencies experiencing a loss in fundraising revenue due to COVID-19;
• Costs associated with addressing workforce issues, which may include activities designed to prevent and address burnout in staff and administrators;
• Costs associated with addressing increased programmatic needs resulting from COVID-19; and
• Costs associated with addressing other immediate needs of community-based child abuse prevention agencies, and/or families receiving their services, that are outside of the eligible costs listed above.

The Ohio Children’s Trust Fund (OCTF) has long recognized the need to provide funding for entities to propose and implement innovative child abuse and child neglect prevention programming. OhioGuidestone, a care management entity for OhioRISE! applied for and received funding through the OCTF’s Early Childhood Safety Initiative (ECSI) from 2022-2023. From the Father’s Feelings Project through the Institute of Family Community Impact, OhioGuidestone heard from fathers in many regions of Ohio that there was a need to access infant household items, such as cribs, pack and plays, highchairs, baby feeding supplies, etc. OhioGuidestone utilized its ECSI grant funds to provide Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) eligible fathers access to infant items to support safe sleep, play and mealtimes. Fathers participating in this program receive up to $400 in concrete support fatherhood items (e.g., pack-n-play, car seat, mealtime items, stroller, plug covers, baby gate, etc.) to aid them in the care of their babies. The Father’s Feelings Project is designed to screen fathers for depression and offers father-specific brief interventions to improve father-child caretaking strengths and addresses the unique needs of fathers in child rearing during the child’s first year, to prevent father-child maltreatment. The goals of this project included increased nurturing skills and attachment aligned to strengths of fathers, improved stress responses, identification and responses to mental health barriers to paternal engagement, and increased awareness and access to father specific resources.

The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), Self-Sufficiency Program (SSP) administers the Family Support and Connections (FS&C) program providing primary and secondary child abuse prevention services, which is funded in part by CBCAP (other funding includes state general funds and TANF Federal funds), and promotes community and family health, safety, and economic stability to prevent child abuse and neglect. The administration of FS&C joins together anti-poverty programs with child abuse prevention programming to best bridge access, resources, and support for those most impacted by the risks associated with child abuse and neglect. Among other supports, Family Support and Connections help families in accessing resources for housing. In Multnomah County, FS&C works with local culturally specific agencies, shelters, churches, landlords, and property management companies. Staff use all methods available to assist families in finding housing:

• writing advocacy letters,
• connecting families with Rent Well classes,
• meeting face to face with potential housing prospects,
• making phone calls,
• assisting with applications,
• removing barriers,
• navigating the follow through of advice from Renter’s Rights, and
• getting creative with how to support families while they are looking for housing.

In addition to the work of FS&C, the ODHS Youth Experiencing Homelessness Program awarded approximately $2.1 million to organizations across Oregon to expand and improve services and support for youth experiencing homelessness and $1.5 million in grant funding to support host home programs that provide temporary housing for youth experiencing homelessness.