Casey Awards $2.1 Million in Grants to 21 Organizations That Advance State Policy Solutions

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion has award­ed grants of $100,000 each to 21 orga­ni­za­tions that edu­cate deci­sion mak­ers at the state and local lev­els. The Foundation’s $2.1 mil­lion invest­ment will help advance the use of data to for­ward laws and poli­cies that help improve the lives of chil­dren and families.

“We are excit­ed about part­ner­ing with these orga­ni­za­tions because it marks the first time that we include both long­time Casey part­ners as well as new part­ners we learned about through a request-for-pro­pos­al process,” said Kari­na Jiménez Lewis, Casey asso­ciate direc­tor. ​“We hope to see a mix of tra­di­tion­al and inno­v­a­tive approach­es to pol­i­cy advocacy.”

These 21 grantees will form a peer net­work to reg­u­lar­ly engage with each othr and under­stand issues in their respec­tive states: 

• Alaba­ma Arise
• Chil­dren’s Action Alliance (Ari­zona)
• Cal­i­for­nia Com­petes: High­er Edu­ca­tion for Strong Economy
• Unit­ed Way of Con­necti­cut (Cam­paign for Work­ing Connecticut)
• Food Research & Action Cen­ter (D.C. Hunger Solutions)
• Flori­da Pol­i­cy Institute
• Geor­gia Bud­get and Pol­i­cy Institute
• Ida­ho Voic­es for Children
• Mary­land Cen­ter on Eco­nom­ic Policy
• Michi­gan League for Pub­lic Policy
• Chil­dren’s Defense Fund-Min­neso­ta, in part­ner­ship with Min­neso­ta Bud­get Project
• Mis­souri Bud­get Project
• Mon­tana Women Vote
• Our Turn Inc. (North Carolina)
• Ground­work Ohio
• Insti­tu­to del Desar­rol­lo de la Juven­tud (Puer­to Rico)
• His­pan­ic Alliance of South Carolina
• The Edu­ca­tion Trust in Tennessee
• The Edu­ca­tion Trust in Texas
• Unit­ed Way of Salt Lake with Voic­es for Utah Children
• Voic­es for Vir­gini­a’s Chil­dren and The Com­mon­wealth Insti­tute for Fis­cal Analysis

“We know that pol­i­cy­mak­ers val­ue chil­dren and fam­i­lies, regard­less of their par­ty affil­i­a­tion,” Lewis said. ​“We rely on a bipar­ti­san approach to ensure that deci­sion mak­ers in states use trust­ed, pub­lic data sources and rely on cred­i­ble, smart orga­ni­za­tions that know what is at stake for young peo­ple in their communities.”