WHAT WE BELIEVE: All our children and youth deserve to be safe, loved, and given ample opportunities to reach for their dreams.  That means communities must ensure that sufficient resources are spent uplifting their young people.  Yet public budgets are way out of balance.  Particularly when it comes to our most disadvantaged young people, those who are black, indigenous, sexual minorities and children of color, our elected officials have chosen to spend much more money on punishment and repairing problems than on providing opportunity and preventing problems.  Too many children and youth are denied the chance to develop to their potential.

The mission of Funding the Next Generation is to inspire and prepare communities to increase public funding for children and youth.  With the belief that action starts at the local level, we help coalitions create city and county policies and revenue streams that will fund and sustain services such as childcare, preschool, after school and youth development programs, career preparation and summer jobs, health care, recreation, parent support and community schools.

We know that rhetoric and policies on paper are meaningless unless resources follow. We know that what gets funded is what gets done. Sadly, getting enough resources for children and youth is often a battle.  Funding the Next Generation helps win those battles – in city and county budgets, and at the ballot box.  We strive to see that coalitions leading the struggle are diverse, inter-generational, rooted in community and follow the voices of those most impacted by budget policy.

Fighting for democracy: Bringing people together to engage in the policy fight for the next generation will help us all overcome the extreme polarization that is weakening our country and enable us to strengthen our democratic institutions from the ground up.

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This initiative was founded and was directed for its first 10 years by Margaret Brodkin, who is nationally recognized for her pioneering work and tough advocacy in building a constituency for children and successfully fighting for hundreds of millions of dollars in public funding for children and youth services in San Francisco.  Brodkin is now Founder-In-Residence and provide consultation and training for the initiative.

Funding the Next Generation works with coalitions of advocates, public officials, non-profit agencies, alongside parents and youth most impacted by funding priorities.  We work throughout California and have sparked action around the country.

“Margaret Brodkin is the Johnny Appleseed of children’s funds.”
– Larry Tramutola, political consultant for dozens of winning campaigns for school funding, progressive policies and the strategist behind the historic soda tax victories in Berkeley, San Francisco and Oakland, California.

Introducing Christina Gilbert, FNG’s New Director

from October 16, 2024 newsletter