All In For Kids: A funding opportunity in the Bay Area to combat childhood adversity

COVID-19 laid bare the undeniable fact that, for large numbers of children and families in the San Francisco Bay Area, the opportunity for economic security and healthy child development eroded or never truly existed. We cannot unsee that structural racism and gender discrimination undergirds our systems and our institutions, contributing to violence (e.g., domestic violence) and widespread economic, educational, health, and social disparities that negatively impact future generations.

We know the safety and well-being of children and their caregivers are inextricably linked, and that exposure to adversity in the earliest years of life have long lasting and negative effects through life. But we also know that children, families, and communities are resilient. They know best what they need, and how to identify meaningful and scalable opportunities to reach their full potential, achieve sustained health, heal from trauma, and enhance their well-being. They can accomplish all this and more if policy leaders and support systems seek their involvement to co-design relevant and responsive solutions – at home, in health clinics, in the community, and at school – to address the underlying conditions causing domestic violence, adversity, and family instability. Through All In For Kids, we are looking to invest in community efforts to ensure that families and children, especially our youngest ones, do not suffer lasting mental and physical effects of inequity, stress, trauma, and adversity.

All In For Kids will provide grant funding and learning opportunities over the course of three years for public and non-profit organizations to learn from and work in collaboration with community partners to strengthen the social, emotional, and physical well-being of children (birth – age 5) and families in the San Francisco Bay Area 12-county region. (The 12-County Region includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma County.)

All In For Kids will prioritize efforts that embed sustainability, spread and scale. Rather than investing in direct services or existing efforts that advance the status quo, this initiative will invest selectively in innovative efforts to reimagine how support systems can interrupt childhood adversity with more community resonant opportunities for racial and gender justice, healing, and prevention. To learn more about this opportunity and how to apply, visit: https://www.allinforkidsca.org/all-in-for-kids-rfp