Securing Our Future Initiative

About the Program

Category: Community and Economic Development (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

The Securing Our Future Initiative (SOFI) is a collective impact initiative that is eradicating childhood poverty throughout Palm Beach County, Florida. The SOFI consists of over 100 community partners and seeks to build a system of care that maximizes economic mobility through people, partnerships, and policy. Collectively, our partners are creating an opportunity ecosystem to address poverty and support families of low-income as they progress through the self-sufficiency continuum ultimately culminating in families earning a living wage and higher. This initiative is people-centered and supports families using the two-generation or whole family model by providing basic needs of both the children and parents such as childcare, transportation, housing, and so much more by engaging multi-sector partners.While we provide direct support services, we understand that poverty will always exist with the current policies in place. Qualitative data collected from community conversations with families of low-income manifest into aggressive policy recommendations such as addressing the fiscal benefits cliff, at the local, state, and federal level. Our goal is to reduce poverty in Palm Beach County by 10% over 10 years. In our 2020 pilot year, we supported nearly 100 families and 44% of them increased their household income.