Jackie's Newsletter June 2024

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I am so appreciative of your support of The Jackie Speier Foundation and our efforts to eliminate child poverty in San Mateo County. Although I was recently elected to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, I am actively developing initiatives through the foundation, and I want to update you on our progress since our San Mateo County Rising Summit in August 2023.

San Mateo County, despite its affluence, grapples with a persistent issue: child poverty. In a county that is home to 22 billionaires, over 23,000 children are living in households with an income of less than $27,000. This disparity, often rooted in race and ethnicity, combined with the high cost of living, further strains families, making it harder to meet basic needs. To learn more about poverty in San Mateo County, read my report here.

Our initial project, The Baby Bonus Program is an evidence-based demonstration project that aims to show how a small amount of money and family support services can impact the health and well-being of infants and families with challenging living experiences in San Mateo County. This program builds on the work from a recent multi-year NIH study, “Baby’s First Years”, which examines the benefits of an unconditional monthly income boost. The first-year results have shown a significant improvement in the brain development of impoverished children between birth and age one.

We are planning to launch the Baby Bonus Program on January 1^st, 2025. The project will provide a monthly cash gift along with support services for three years to 300 or more randomly selected children on Medi-Cal, depending on our funding, who were born at various local hospitals. This initiative is expected to improve the physical and emotional health, cognitive development, and overall well-being of the infant. If this program is as successful as we anticipate, we will take it to Congress to expand services and end child poverty across the nation.

To stay updated on the Baby Bonus Program and other resources and information visit our website here. Join us in rewriting the story of child poverty in San Mateo County.

All the best,

Jackie