As required by the Initiative, the City would utilize monies from the Fund only for services provided to children and youth from birth to age 18 and their caregivers, as well as services to disconnected transitional-aged youth ages 18 to 24 and, when relevant, their caregivers, or as part of programs that predominantly serve children, youth and disconnected transitional-aged young adults within those ages and their caregivers, including: After School Programs, Housing Support, Mental Health Services, Arts ad Technology Programs, Domestic Violence PRevention Programs and more.

Children, youth, and young adults under 18 make up 24% of Pomona’s population.1 More than 17.2% of these children live in households with incomes below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level.2 As a result, these youth — especially Black, Latinx, and Indigenous youth, LGBTQIA+ teens, and children of working-class immigrant families — have markedly less access to essential resources and supports that enable their more affluent peers to thrive and succeed.

To ensure Pomona’s youth and their families have the same opportunities to thrive and excel, the Pomona Kids First Initiative would amend the City of Pomona Charter to create the Pomona Fund for Children and Youth (“Fund”). This newly created Fund represents an exciting new opportunity to provide increased and dedicated funding for programs and services that address the needs of Pomona’s children, youth, and young adults. The initiative will also create the Department of Children and Youth that will administer the fund. Entities eligible to receive funding would be public agencies3 and non-profit community-based organizations that serve children, youth and disconnected transitional-aged young adults.

The Initiative seeks to secure a portion of the City of Pomona’s unrestricted general purpose revenues, to be transferred to the Fund beginning in January 2025. Revenue set aside for the Fund would begin at 2% and would increase to 5% the following year, then incrementally increase over a period of six years. In Fiscal Year 2030-2031 and each subsequent year after that, 10% of the City’s revenue would be set aside for the Fund.

To ensure that resources are available to those young people in Pomona that need it most, the Fund will prioritize funding for three groups: children birth to age 12; youth ages 13 to 17; and disconnected and/or transitional-aged youth ages 18 to 24 who are most impacted by harm, inequity and lack of access to support and services.