Foundation Focus
The Jackie Speier Foundation for Women and Children is addressing poverty, lack of housing and childcare, and domestic violence.
In addition to more traditional foundation activities, The Jackie Speier Foundation functions as an innovation incubator with the Baby Bonus Program as its initial project. This is a “moon shot” challenge in attempting to solve some of the most difficult human issues we have in San Mateo County.
San Mateo County’s challenge is connecting our tremendous local creativity and wealth with our substantial local needs, hidden in plain sight. Solutions, if successful, can be introduced across the nation and on a global level. Solving problems in our own backyard can benefit not only San Mateo County but the world.
Baby Bonus Program
In 2023, Jackie held listening tours across San Mateo County with women and children living in poverty to better understand their challenges and needs. Potential solutions were discussed at the 2023 Ending Child Poverty Summit. At this event, Jackie announced seed funding for a major innovative Baby Bonus Program for newborn babies in San Mateo County.
The Baby Bonus Program is an evidence-based demonstration project that aims to show how a small amount of money can impact the health and well-being of infants and families with challenging living experiences in San Mateo County. Based on the preliminary results of an NIH study, "Baby's First Years", a monthly gift is expected to improve the physical and emotional health, cognitive development, and overall well-being of an infant. The project will provide a monthly cash gift of $300 along with support services for three years to 600 children on Medi-Cal who were born at Lucille Packard, Kaiser, Sutter Health, and a few other local hospitals.
Currently a design team and Advisory Committee are actively creating the program and funding for the launching of this program in January 2025. An interdisciplinary team from Stanford University will conduct a comprehensive evaluation and generate valuable data to inform local and national policy on reinstating the enhanced child credit, as well as county-level decisions at the pilot's conclusion. Join us in rewriting the story of child poverty in San Mateo County by making a contribution here.
San Mateo Rising: Ending Child Poverty Summit
In August of 2023, Jackie hosted The San Mateo Rising: Ending Child Poverty Summit, a full day dedicated towards addressing the most profound crises in San Mateo County—child poverty.
The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Matthew Desmond, Professor of Sociology at Princeton University and author of Pulitzer Prize winning best-seller, Evicted, and best-seller, Poverty, by America. Additional experts, as well as families afflicted by poverty, spoke or were in attendance.
We look forward to sharing our findings with you. Together we can make a difference in the lives of women and children in San Mateo County.
If not now, when?
If not here, where?
Jackie Speier
After 40 years of public service, Jackie Speier has retired from Congress to come home and revitalize the fight against poverty in San Mateo County. Jackie will bring together the leaders of San Mateo to focus and coordinate their efforts to eliminate poverty.
San Mateo is one of the wealthiest districts in the country with one of the highest rates of child poverty. Jackie intends to raise the awareness and the needed funding to change this.
© 2023 The Jackie Speier Foundation