The Children's Trust Public Benefit Enrollment initiative empowers local community-based organizations to help ensure that public benefits enrollment becomes more accessible to families with children who are seeking help and essential resources. The initiative seeks to address the pressing needs of Miami-Dade families grappling with economic challenges, especially during the current affordability crisis.
Through strategic funding of community organizations, the initiative will offer one-on-one enrollment assistance and ongoing support for renewals and recertifications, ensuring that families’ eligible benefits are maintained over time. The programs funded will actively track the status of each application to determine approval progress. In total, these comprehensive services are projected to help more than 6,000 families enroll in various public benefits programs, significantly improving their lives and the local economy.
Recent census data has underscored the necessity of Public Benefits Enrollment, revealing that nearly half of Miami-Dade's children are living in impoverished or low-income households, with even higher poverty rates among single-parent households. Many of these children and their families are eligible for various essential public benefits, including nutrition assistance, insurance coverage, home energy credit and housing assistance. These same families and others who might not be experiencing the same financial challenges, but who would nevertheless stand to gain from benefits programs, are also eligible to access low- or no-cost after-school and summer programs and child care. However, numerous obstacles can slow or block families in the enrollment process, such as lack of awareness, limited family literacy, language barriers, immigration status of family members, excessive paperwork, and procedural complexities.
This initiative aims to break down enrollment barriers and enable families to access comprehensive and individualized support for children and families navigating challenging times.
This investment complements The Children’s Trust’s over Family and Neighborhood Support Partnerships (FNSP) initiative as it invests in expert teams of management, clinical and direct service staff along with paraprofessionals who support and work with families' strengths as they navigate complex systems and connect them with essential resources, such as transportation and short-term housing help.