2025 was a tumultuous year for our country—politically, economically, socially, legally—and it was especially challenging for child and youth advocates. We navigated federal funding cuts and threats to essential programs that are crucial to supporting the well-being of children and families. We witnessed mass layoffs of federal government employees—both in the District of Columbia and in our own communities—and watched valuable local service providers close their doors when federal funds ran dry. We watched children in our communities withdraw from activities and struggle with heightened levels of fear and anxiety as immigration agents increased their presence in community spaces.

Unfortunately, 2026 appears to be more of the same as the current federal administration continues its attacks on children, families, and working people.

But this year MUST be different. This year, we need more institutions to draw their lines in the sand and say, “We stand for kids!” And we will be one of those organizations! This year we are doubling down on our values about what kids need, what is equitable and fair in a democratic society, and our belief in the value government can provide to support families, children, and youth as a public good.

As an organization, we remain committed to providing practical tools and solutions for all communities—but especially those that are struggling right now—so they can continue to support programs for children and youth in sustainable ways. With that in mind, I’d like to look back at what we accomplished as an organization last year and share what lies ahead for us in 2026.

Helping Communities Weather the Current Funding Climate

Now, more than ever, there is an urgent and increased need to track the funding that is flowing (and not flowing) from the federal level and to understand how much money states currently invest in kids—and where they have room to do more. State and community leaders need to expand their capacity to do this effectively, though. That’s why we continue to put what we’ve learned and the skills our team has developed in strategic public financing directly into the hands of local communities through our various training opportunities, resources, and technical support for local children’s funding coordinators.

Part of that means providing local and state leaders with timely, accurate funding information. So in 2025, we expanded our work on federal funding for kids. We tracked the ongoing funding cuts and program rollbacks implemented by the current presidential administration as well as the impact of last year’s government shutdown on children and youth. You can expect ongoing federal funding updates throughout this year as well. 

Meanwhile, to help state and local leaders understand how funding flows—and the true cost of supporting kids—we continued to expand our fiscal mapping and cost modeling work. Last year, we added five new states to our state fiscal mapping partnership, bringing the total number of states participating in the partnership to 22. We also piloted a new online fiscal mapping course to help local leaders use those state maps and build the skills they need to create community-level maps. Additionally, we introduced two new online cost modeling courses and launched a new cohort to help leaders and advocates expand their abilities to calculate the true cost of programs and services for kids. Stay tuned this year for additional updates about our cost modeling work, refreshed versions of our state fiscal maps, and new custom resources designed to support Tribal governments and Native-led organizations in building sustainable funding systems for Native children and youth.

Securing New Funding for Kids

The 2025 election brought funding wins for kids in several communities across the country, as voters established, expanded, and reauthorized voter-approved children’s funds that together will generate up to $300 million annually! Under a cloud of economic uncertainty and insecurity, voters made their priorities clear: We support kids! We expect 2026 will be another pivotal year for our work on local ballots as well. A record number of communities attended our 2025 Children’s Funding Institute to gear up and organize in preparation for going to the ballot, so we hope the 2026 election will lead to another wave of funding success for children and youth.

In addition to the sweeping success for kids on local ballots, 2025 also brought wins at the state level, with Montana becoming the latest state to establish a dedicated source of funding to support children and youth. (You can read more about Montana’s new dedicated fund, as well as funds in 21 other states and U.S. territories, in our seminal report State Strategies for Sustained Investment in Kids: A Landscape of Dedicated Funding, which we released last year.)

Not only did we provide direct technical assistance that is generating new revenue in states and communities, we are becoming the go-to resource for people who want to understand dedicated revenue for kids in this country. Additionally, we are building our skills organizationally to understand other creative sources of funding that can support programs for kids. I am especially excited that our organization is leading a coalition of national partners who believe that out-of-school time programs can offer youth a positive alternative to social media and that potential payouts from current lawsuits against multiple Big Tech companies could offer a viable means to support these underfunded programs. Watch for more information about this campaign later this year! 

Focusing on the Big Picture

As we celebrate the local and state funding wins that we supported last year, it’s important to remember that we need funding from all levels of government—local, state, and federal—working together on behalf of children, youth, and families. That work begins where people live locally by building a field of advocates for children and youth who can stand strong on the idea that voters want to invest directly in children and youth. When we reinforce their confidence to secure local tax dollars on behalf of kids, that often leads to state-level organizing and a growing movement that can—and will—affect change at the federal level. 

We don’t do this alone. We are immensely grateful for the leadership of our board of directors and the continued support of our funders during a time when we know they are pulled in multiple directions. We vow to be good stewards of these resources. Most importantly, I am grateful for the talented team we have assembled at Children’s Funding Project who are passionate about protecting and expanding funding for programs and services for kids. I am so proud of their expertise and their persistent willingness to dive in and stretch to meet the needs of our community, state, and national partners. 

Never forget, this is a nation of abundance. But we must stand together for what is right, equitable, and needed to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of ALL children and youth within our borders so they can thrive.

Elizabeth Gaines is founder and CEO of Children’s Funding Project.