Initiative could help local children’s programs

Published 7:00 am Wednesday, October 14, 2015

By ANNELI FOGT

Editor

As his 3-year-old son climbed, swung, jumped and ran throughout the Vashon Youth & Family Services’ PlaySpace playroom Friday afternoon, Dominic Jovanovich talked about the importance of the PlaySpace, VYFS and the programs offered by the organization.

“What they do is so important, and it’s so needed in this community,” Jovanovich said. “(More funding) would be great for them, especially because there’s so much income inequality here, and these programs should be available to everyone.”

That funding may come to VYFS if a November ballot initiative called Best Starts for Kids passes. Multiple local organizations that work with children, teens and young adults could receive funding for everything from prenatal support programs to mental health screenings and life skills training for school-age children.

The initiative, proposed by King County Executive Dow Constantine, will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot in the form of a six-year levy that would fund the proposed programs. The levy rate would increase property taxes by 14 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. If passed, the levy is expected to raise about $65 million per year and cost the average King County property owner an estimated $56 per year, according to King County officials.

Constantine came to Vashon in January following the opening of Mi Escuelita preschool and introduced the initiative to local school district officials and the community. A January Vashon Island School District newsletter reported that Constantine talked about the importance of investing in early childhood support and education as a “measure of prevention.”

“Best Starts for Kids is how we will transform the way we invest in our next generation, to finally provide the upstream solutions that prevent negative outcomes such as mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, homelessness, and incarceration,” Constantine said in a statement. “By making the latest research and tools available to every parent and caregiver in our community, we will be able to produce the talented, creative and motivated workforce we need to remain a prosperous region.”

According to the county, the revenue generated from the levy would be invested in programs for a mix of children of various ages, from newborn to age 24. The largest chunk of funding, 50 percent (roughly $32.5 million annually), will be invested in strategies focused on children under age 5 and pregnant women, the county website explains. These programs and strategies would vary from home visits for new parents and their children, to maternal support groups and housing for those mothers suffering from domestic violence. The funds will also include a “modest investment to sustain and expand parent/child health services” that are already provided through public county health centers, according to county officials.

The preventative nature of the programs offered under the initiative is something Vashon Youth & Family Services Director Kathleen Johnson can get behind. She said the initiative would provide much-needed funding to her organization.

“We are signed on as an agency and endorsing it; it absolutely would affect us,” she said last week. “During the great recession, 2009 to 2011, early childhood development and prevention program funding evaporated. This initiative could help reinvigorate early childhood development programs.”

Johnson also said that she believes the initiative is “very forward-thinking,” and has science to back up its goals.

“There are countless studies showing the importance of early childhood development programs and the economic savings from them in the long term,” Johnson said. “We not only recoup the savings once, but hundreds of times. Studies show that every $1 spent in early childhood development programs saves $15 later in their life.”

A study from Purdue University published this year shows that same relationship between money spent on these programs and the money saved later. According to the study, titled “Investing in Early Childhood Development is Smart Economic Development,” the researchers state that “for every $1 invested in high-quality early childhood programs, there is a return of $4 to $16.” The returns come in the form of higher worker productivity, lower education costs, reduced crime and less government assistance, researchers say in the study.

“We need to help make a difference early,” Johnson said.

She said that there is a story about a group of villagers who lived near a river and saw a person drowning that summarizes the goal of her organization and those who provide these kinds of programs.

“They pulled the man who was drowning out, but kept seeing other ones coming downriver drowning, so they pulled them out one after another,” Johnson said. “Someone finally decided to go upriver and see what was making the drownings happen and build a wall.”

Johnson said that since VYFS’ funding has been cut, the organization has been focused on “getting people out of the water,” but it needs to focus on building the preventative “wall.”

“We know what’s causing the issues, and we can fix them,” Johnson said.

Beyond early childhood programs, the initiative would focus 35 percent of the revenue ($22 million annually) on investing in strategies focused on children and youth ages 5 to 24. The King County initiative website explains that programs in this category could consist of early intervention to prevent teen depression and substance abuse. Locally, Vashon High School has been looking for ways to provide counseling and mental health services to students. When asked last week, Vashon Island School District Superintendent Michael Soltman said he was not familiar with the initiative.

The last 15 percent of the levy funds would be divided between community programs (10 percent, or roughly $6 million annually) such as creating affordable, healthy food and housing. The remaining 5 percent of the funds would go toward gathering data on the effectiveness of all of the programs.

The revenue used for community programs could be used by local organizations such as the Vashon-Maury Community Food Bank and Vashon HouseHold. Food bank Executive Director Robbie Rohr said that the initiative is the “tip of the iceberg” for funding, and it aims to have all community organizations come together.

“It’s not just about the Vashon food bank or hunger,” Rohr said. “It’s a large community effort in the context of how we, as a community, can come together. This is exactly the kind of opportunity that Vashon needs. It’s an opening for creative thinking on how to help others claim their rights to the tools of success — one of which is certainly not having to worry that that they won’t be able to feed their children, or that they will have to choose between medicine and food. The county calls this a collective impact model….perfect for Vashon.”