Though the terms often are used interchangeably, blending and braiding represent two different strategies for comingling different funding sources:

• Blending refers to incorporating funds from two or more revenue streams together to fund a specific initiative. Funds are merged into one central pot and costs are not necessarily allocated to the separate funding streams.
• Braiding is a practice in which two or more funding streams are used in a coordinated fashion to support a single initiative, but costs are closely tracked and allocated to individual funding streams. There may be restrictions as to which funds can be used for which purposes.

In this fact sheet, we examine how states or localities can take the multiple revenue streams at their disposal and bring them together to achieve a particular policy goal.