A New Opportunity for States: Parents and Children Thriving Together Initiative

This week, the Nation­al Gov­er­nors Asso­ci­a­tion (NGA) and the Cen­ter for Law and Social Pol­i­cy (CLASP) kicked off a new ini­tia­tive that aims to pro­mote two-gen­er­a­tion strate­gies among states.

The ini­tia­tive, Par­ents and Chil­dren Thriv­ing Togeth­er, will sup­port up to six states in pur­su­ing strate­gies and poli­cies that allow them to address the needs of par­ents and kids at the same time, enabling both to suc­ceed togeth­er. Specif­i­cal­ly, the ini­tia­tive will assist par­tic­i­pat­ing states in devel­op­ing and imple­ment­ing a two-gen­er­a­tion state plan that builds on the inter­ests of their respec­tive gov­er­nors, as well as grow­ing research and emerg­ing pol­i­cy oppor­tu­ni­ties in work­force devel­op­ment, human ser­vices, edu­ca­tion, health, child care and ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion. Through Par­ents and Chil­dren Thriv­ing Togeth­er, cross-agency state teams could work to reshape child- and adult-focused pro­grams and ser­vices by, for exam­ple, reform­ing poli­cies, cross-train­ing staff, using data in new ways and stream­lin­ing and align­ing pro­grams and practices.

States, com­mon­wealths and ter­ri­to­ries can apply to par­tic­i­pate in this new effort, which Casey is sup­port­ing along with the W.K. Kel­logg and Doris Duke Char­i­ta­ble foun­da­tions. NGA and CLASP seek states open to inno­va­tion and learn­ing, with a keen inter­est in improv­ing poli­cies and prac­tices to bet­ter meet the needs of low-income fam­i­lies as a whole. Par­tic­i­pat­ing states will receive two years of inten­sive tech­ni­cal assis­tance, peer-net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and finan­cial support.

“At Casey, we invest in a com­pre­hen­sive strat­e­gy to build the field of two-gen­er­a­tion prac­tice, eval­u­ate pro­grams and sup­port pol­i­cy reform that address­es the needs of fam­i­lies as a whole,” said Rosa Maria Cas­tañe­da, a senior asso­ciate who man­ages two-gen­er­a­tion invest­ments for the Foun­da­tion. ​“We hope this ini­tia­tive will assist states in launch­ing or enhanc­ing efforts to help par­ents and chil­dren suc­ceed togeth­er, with the poten­tial for achiev­ing large-scale impact.”

Appli­ca­tions are due by 5 p.m. EDT Wednes­day, Aug. 10. NGA will host an option­al bid­ders’ webi­nar Mon­day, July 11, from 4 to 5 p.m. EDT. Details on access­ing the webi­nar are avail­able in the appli­ca­tion guide­lines.

Ques­tions? Con­tact Sharon McGroder at smcgroder@​nga.​org or 202.624.5374. NGA and CLASP may pro­vide states with pre-appli­ca­tion con­sul­ta­tion upon request.

Down­load the Request for Applications