Funding

Funding during the five-year Project LAUNCH grant provides a strong foundation for service delivery at the Project LAUNCH community level and support for state and tribal planning and development efforts for some grantees. However, to help ensure that local-level services continue beyond the grant period and that effective practices are encouraged in other state and tribal communities, SAMHSA requires local, and when appropriate, tribal and state coordinators and councils to address funding issues in their first year. Beginning with an environmental scan to examine state and local early childhood funding streams and continuing with a strategic plan that includes strategies for ongoing funding, LAUNCH leaders focus on both current and future funding throughout the life of the grant.

Project LAUNCH grantees use a number of funding-related strategies to expand and enhance services for children. For example, programs use the grant period to:

• Consult with state, local, tribal, and District of Columbia partners to identify untapped income sources, such as regional or local foundations and the business communities, and federal funds that can be tapped through additional matching activities
• Determine the actual per unit service for selected evidence-based interventions to inform budget development and proposals
• Make investments (e.g., a workforce development plan to train early education and primary care providers on a common child assessment tool) that have benefits that extend beyond the grant period