Social Policy Action is in the Cities and the States

For all the attention that is going to the turbulence in Washington, it is easy to overlook some exciting and reasonably large-scale social policy innovations happening in cities and states. These initiatives involve significant scale and commitments of resources, and if fully implemented could produce a statistical bump in life opportunities for low-income and vulnerable populations.

Los Angeles has elevated homelessness to the Mayor’s top priority and has begun implementing a series of significant policy and program steps to respond to an estimated 21,000 people on the street. The Comprehensive Homelessness Strategy Report, released in January, has provided the framework for the City’s approach. This has been followed up by a series of public hearings, the passage of Proposition HHH, and budget commitments.  In all of these efforts, Los Angeles has conveyed real seriousness-of-purpose about addressing housing, social service, and health needs of the homeless population. Highlights of the proposal include a “housing first” approach, a coordinated social service (“no wrong door”) system, and targeted services for veterans. The plan estimates a commitment of $1.8 billion over ten years. Proposition HHH itself supports $1.2 billion in bonds for housing options for the homeless.

Mayor Garcetti has proclaimed homelessness “the moral issue of our time” and argues it is eminently solvable in the foreseeable future.

In New York City, Mayor Bill De Blasio is moving to provide free universal preschool for 3-year olds. This initiative follows on the success of De Blasio’s program to provide universal pre-kindergarten for all 4-year olds in the City. De Blasio has invoked the research of James Heckman and others in making this case. The additional budget commitment for the program is about $36 million; fully implemented it is estimated that the program would cost an additional $177 million over what the City already spends on preschool.

At the other end of the School pipeline, Governor Andrew Cuomo has implemented a program to provide free college tuition in New York state, city, and community colleges for students with family incomes less than $125,000.

The federal government is in retreat, and the leadership of HHS, HUD, Justice, and Education is backpedaling federal initiatives as fast as possible. For so many areas of social policy – aging, child welfare, community development, education, housing, mental health, poverty, public health, and substance abuse treatment – the action will be local, regional, and state.

A number of organizations, sites, and blogs keep track of these social policy innovations in cities and states. To follow this work, monitor the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fixes at the New York Times, Next City,  the Center for the Study of Social Policy, Policy and Practice, and Governing for States and Localities.

Look at what is happening in cities and states if you want to feel some optimism at the moment.