Report by Marcie Jefferys, Policy Development Director, CDF-Minnesota

Overview

Minnesota has an opportunity to improve its outlook for future prosperity by increasing attention to some of its most vulnerable young children today. Seventy percent of the people receiving Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) assistance are children, half of them age 5 or younger, yet few policies address them and little is known about their well-being. The limited data that are available indicate that too many of these children are at risk of, or already, experiencing the harmful effects of deep poverty and other stressors in their environments. This is concerning in light of the research on the short and long-term effects of adverse childhood experiences on children’s development and their increased risk of need for remedial or other costly intervention later in life.

Minnesota has a good foundation of pilot programs and innovative providers on which to build an effective response to improving the early childhood experiences of MFIP children. The state can also take advantage of the targeting opportunity MFIP provides in identifying and offering early childhood services to these families. Including more attention to children in state policies and reports, increasing coordination across program silos at all levels, improving families’ financial status, and increasing access to services for which these children are already eligible, such as Early Head Start and quality child care, are important efforts Minnesota could make to reduce future public expenditures, increase the productivity of its future workforce and improve the lives of its youngest citizens.

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