Establishes the child and family well-being program and fund for the distribution of grants to eligible nonprofit community-based providers to respond to children's and families' needs in communities.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2801
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 27, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HEVESI -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Children and Families
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to establishing the
child and family well-being program; to amend the state finance law,
in relation to the child and family well-being fund; and providing for
the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The social services law is amended by adding a new section
2 394 to read as follows:
3 § 394. The child and family well-being program. 1. The child and fami-
4 ly well-being program is hereby established as a flexible innovative
5 statewide funding program to support local efforts led by smaller
6 nonprofit community-based providers to respond to children's and fami-
7 lies' needs in communities, with avenues for community input and
8 accountability. The program shall focus on funding primary prevention
9 and resources for families in communities with the highest levels of
10 child protective involvement in each region.
11 2. The program shall be overseen by an advisory board made up of eight
12 members to be appointed by the commissioner, consisting of a diverse
13 group of people with policy expertise in children and families and
14 people with personal experience in child welfare and other public
15 systems. One board member shall serve as a full-time director, to be
16 determined by the commissioner.
17 3. The board shall disburse grants to eligible nonprofit community-
18 based providers from the child and family well-being fund established
19 pursuant to section ninety-seven-aaaa of the state finance law.
20 4. The board shall determine criteria to provide technical assistance
21 to small nonprofit community-based providers in order to diversify and
22 strengthen the array of organizations that can support families in
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05116-01-3
A. 2801 2
1 communities with the highest levels of child protective involvement,
2 including:
3 (a) Developing a concept paper through a process designed to (i)
4 ensure that smaller nonprofit community-based providers groups in commu-
5 nities with the highest levels of child protective involvement are aware
6 of this program, (ii) elicit guidance from both community groups and
7 state and local agencies to direct resources to communities with weak
8 grassroots infrastructure around family life and to address community
9 and family issues that are implicated in local child protective involve-
10 ment, and (iii) ensure that the child and family well-being fund's
11 capacity-building and learning design will address needs.
12 (b) Disbursing grants of twenty thousand to two hundred thousand
13 dollars to small nonprofit community-based providers that increase
14 access to existing resources;
15 (c) Establish four regional backbone nonprofit partners to work
16 increase community capacity through investment in technical assistance,
17 capacity-building, evaluation and facilitation of a community of prac-
18 tice among grantees and build a format for local input on grants
19 distributed by the child and family well-being fund; and
20 (d) Produce annual public reports to the legislature that identify
21 recommendations for broad structural realignments and investments at the
22 state and county level to increase capacities of grassroots, community-
23 led organizations around its public health strategy for family well-be-
24 ing.
25 5. For purposes of this section:
26 (a) "Communities with the highest levels of child protective involve-
27 ment" shall mean communities with zip codes with the highest investi-
28 gation and child removal rates.
29 (b) "Smaller nonprofit community-based providers" shall mean local
30 organizations with budgets under two million dollars annually who offer
31 voluntary networks of care through services or resources to families or
32 parents that are not duplicative of existing funding streams around
33 prevention services, mental health, and/or that enhance the capacity of
34 a community to access existing resources, such as through transporta-
35 tion, cash resources, peer navigators, home-based supports, or opening
36 of a satellite site; that affirmatively address local racial dispari-
37 ties; community-based organizations with a record of providing quality
38 services to children and families in such communities, including by
39 families impacted by child protective services; have a demonstrated
40 capacity to voluntarily engage families; and have developed a proposal
41 to meet specific local needs associated with child protective involve-
42 ment.
43 (c) "Regional backbone organization" shall mean one of up to four
44 nonprofit organizations to act as regional coordinators of the child and
45 family well-being fund working to increase community capacity through
46 investment in technical assistance, capacity-building, evaluation and
47 facilitation of a community of practice among grantees and build a
48 format for local input on grants distributed by the child and family
49 well-being fund. The regional backbone organization shall not have
50 concurrent service contracts with local departments of social services
51 within their region.
52 6. The board shall annually report to the legislature on the progress
53 of the child and family well-being program and disbursements under the
54 child and family well-being fund.
55 § 2. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 97-aaaa
56 to read as follows:
A. 2801 3
1 § 97-aaaa. Child and family well-being fund. 1. There is hereby estab-
2 lished in the joint custody of the state comptroller and the commission-
3 er of taxation and finance a special revenue fund to be known as the
4 child and family well-being fund.
5 2. The child and family well-being fund shall consist of moneys appro-
6 priated, credited or transferred thereto from any other fund or source.
7 3. Moneys of the child and family well-being fund, following appropri-
8 ation by the legislature and allocation by the director of the budget,
9 shall be made available to the advisory board for the child and family
10 well-being program for grants to nonprofit community-based providers to
11 respond to children's and families' needs in certain communities as
12 established by section three hundred ninety-four of the social services
13 law.
14 4. The advisory board for the child and family well-being program
15 shall submit a report to the governor and the legislature by January
16 thirty-first, two thousand twenty-five and annually thereafter detailing
17 all expenditures made from the child and family well-being fund during
18 the previous year.
19 § 3. This act shall take effect January 1, 2024 and shall expire and
20 be deemed repealed January 1, 2029. Effective immediately, the addition,
21 amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the
22 implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be
23 made and completed on or before such effective date.
