FUNDING POLICIES
Funding Policy & Project Scope
Last updated: 01/17/2021
Project Background and Description
On April 5, 2005, the citizens of Lafayette County passed a 1/8 of a cent sales tax measure, which created a Children's Services Fund for children and youth nineteen years of age or less in Lafayette County. The Lafayette County Children's Services Fund Board (LCCSF Board) has been appointed by the County Commission and entrusted to oversee this Fund. The Fund is created pursuant to RSMo §67.1775, RSMo §210.861, and the ballot language presented to the voters on April 5, 2005. RSMo §210.861 specifies the types of services that may be funded by the LCCSF Board. These policies have been adopted to provide guidance and structure to the Board in making decisions about funding programs and services consistent with its mission and the public trust. Decisions on individual applications for funding are within the sole discretion of the Board. By statute, funds may be invested to address the following needs:
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Up to thirty days of temporary shelter for abused, neglected, runaway, homeless or emotionally disturbed youth
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Respite care services
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Unmarried parent services
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Outpatient chemical dependency and psychiatric treatment programs
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Counseling and related services as a part of transitional living programs
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Home-based and community-based family intervention programs
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Prevention programs which promote healthy lifestyles among children and youth and strengthen families
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Crisis intervention services, inclusive of telephone hotlines
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Individual, group, or family professional counseling and therapy services
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Psychological evaluations
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Mental health screenings.
Revenues collected and deposited in the community children's services fund may not be expended for inpatient medical, psychiatric, and chemical dependency services, or for transportation services.
Beneficiaries of the Children’s Services Fund
To orient funding decisions, the Board believes it is important to identify the beneficiaries of the Fund. All funding decisions should be made with these beneficiaries in mind and with the purpose of serving one or more of these beneficiaries:
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Lafayette County children and youth nineteen years of age or less and their families.
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The taxpayers of Lafayette County, who expect and deserve a return on their investment in the form of better outcomes for Lafayette County youth.
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Other funding providers that serve these same children, youth and families, especially other government funding providers, who provide the Board with an opportunity to match funding sources in order to provide a multiple effect in terms of services provided to our shared, Lafayette County children and youth nineteen years of age or less and their families.
Beneficiaries and Outcomes
The Board believes that for each funding approval the following three items must be identified in advance:
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Identify the beneficiaries;
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Identify the outcomes the agency will achieve;
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Identify how the agency will measure the effectiveness in achieving the desired outcomes.
These three items should be determined in an intentional transparent way with an emphasis on the deployment of evidence-based practices to achieve the desired outcomes. These three items should also form the basis of an outcomes-based budgetary planning process for services to be purchased.
Maximization of Funding and Program Sustainability
To the greatest extent possible, agencies are required to maximize funding from all other sources. Other funding sources may include, but are not limited to: commercial, federal and state insurers, other federal and state funds, city funds and funding from schools, courts, not-for-profit organizations, private organizations and other direct support. Proposal review processes and contracts for services and programs will specify procedures to monitor good faith efforts to comply with this policy. To reiterate, LCCSF is a funder of last resort.
Fair and Equitable Treatment
It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that funding decisions for children, youth and families are made in a fair and equitable way. Application of this principle should inform budgeted dollar amounts for programming efforts, the need for a wait-list program when appropriate, and fair protocols to address imminent safety concerns or other exigent circumstances of those children, youth and families.
Funding Goals
The Board believes that it should invest in meaningful services to children, youth and families in a way that utilizes multiple effective strategies. To that end, the Board intends to invest its funding appropriated for services in the following general categories:
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Pilot programs that provide innovative services
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Purchase of services programs
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Pursue match funding opportunities
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Pursue strategic opportunities
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Contingency reserve to support other programs in exigent circumstances
These funding goals should be evaluated and revised as appropriate on a defined, annual basis. The Board should receive input from stakeholders on the stated funding goals and appropriate percentages as part of its annual budget creation process.
Examples of Types of Funding Classifications Envisioned
The Board envisions that the application of the principles expressed in these policies could lead to the appropriate funding of a variety of programs including, but not limited to, the following:
Pilot programs: Pilot programs may involve the creation of definitions for a class of children, youth and families, the creation of definitions for evidence-based services, and the creation of techniques to evaluate effectiveness. This may be a collaborative effort with other stakeholders to provide services that can make a meaningful impact on children that are not currently being provided. These programs could include funding to build capacity among appropriate service providers to provide these new, evidence-based practices.
Pilot programs could be proposed by service providers or by others who have insight into what a potential class of children, youth and families need to improve their outcomes.
Purchase of Service (POS) programs: These programs would utilize definitions for existing services, outcomes, and effectiveness measures in an effort to expand quality services to reach more children, youth and families.
Care should be taken with POS program initiatives to ensure that the Board is not simply supplanting funding from existing funding sources, but instead is creating a greater number of resources to serve children, youth and families such that, whenever possible, existing funding sources maintain their previous efforts to serve those children, youth and families.
These POS programs should:
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Empower non-conflicted individuals (referrals from outside the provider agencies) to identify potential children, youth and families.
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Have provider-choice as an essential component so that the children and their families get to choose to receive services from similarly-qualified service providers.
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Have well-defined, evidence-based services.
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Have multiple, qualified providers to perform said services.
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Have established units of service.
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Have established costs per unit of service.
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Have effective evaluation mechanisms to ensure quality and outcome measurement.
Providers should document time ethically and in accordance to Medicaid standards and fill out the provided Purchase of Service Monthly Invoice adequately, or there will be no reimbursement for services. Additional requirements or guidelines for Purchase of Service(s) will be laid out in an agreement between agency and Lafayette County Children's Services Fund. Providers must be willing to participate in any evaluation efforts.
Match funding programs: These programs would involve a partnership with another funding source to provide match funding for the procurement of services. This could be done either as a pilot program or to leverage resources to purchase services that have already been defined by alternative funding sources. Care should be taken with match funding program initiatives to ensure that the Board is not simply supplanting funding from existing funding sources, but instead is creating a greater number of resources to serve children, youth and families such that, whenever possible, existing funding sources maintain their previous efforts to serve the same children, youth and families.
Match programs should provide an incentive for others to bring match dollar program ideas to the Board for funding part of a match. In this way, the Board should seek to leverage the smart, capable, and imaginative talent in Lafayette County to maximize its ability to reach children in need.
Service Delivery: The agency will perform the services and activities as set forth in the application and contract agreement. LCCSF shall utilize the application and contract to monitor service delivery and program expenditures. LCCSF reserves the right to assess the satisfaction and engagement of clients served by the agency through surveys.
Availability of Funds
Payments underfunding agreements are dependent upon the availability of funds or as otherwise determined by the LCCSF Board. Funding agreements can be terminated if funding becomes unavailable in whole or in part, or for cause shown, and the LCCSF Board shall have no obligation to continue payment. Submittal of an application for funding is a specific acknowledgement and acceptance of LCCSF's right to terminate a funding agreement before its anticipated completion date. No funded agency shall have any expectation of continued funding, and no process rights are generated by LCCSF's agreement to provide funding.
APPROVAL AND AUTHORITY TO PROCEED
We approve the project as described above, and authorize the team to proceed.
Board Chair printed: ______________________________________________
Board Chair Signature: ____________________________________________
Date: