The Miami Herald recommends

OUR OPINION: THIS GROUP BINDS OUR COMMUNITY TO A COMMON PURPOSE
Posted on Sun, Jul. 27, 2008


Six years ago, voters in Miami-Dade County approved the creation of The Children's Trust by an emphatic margin of nearly 2 to 1. This was a clear signal that our community wanted to invest in children and make their lives better. In the ensuing period, the Trust has built a remarkable record: It delivers what was promised; it has created a transparent, accountable, trustworthy organization that binds our community to a common purpose. The name says it all: The Children's Trust. Voters have every reason to continue supporting this winning project.

You will have the opportunity to make the Trust a permanent part of our community when the issue comes up for renewal on the Aug. 26 ballot. Voters should be just as emphatic as they were the first time in saying Yes.

In a way, voters took a chance in 2002. They were willing to set aside public money to provide a funding base for children in desperate need, but it was impossible to say specifically -- without the required needs assessment -- what programs and services the Trust could offer. Today, they know. As President and CEO Modesto E. Abety has said, the Trust has transformed the way services are delivered to children and families in Miami-Dade County. It invests $100 million or more a year by funding nearly 300 programs and agencies designed to help the target community.

By delivering the funding to established organizations rather than operating programs itself, the Trust ensures that 92 cents out of every dollar goes for services rather than administration. This fulfills a pledge made at the beginning that the money provided by taxpayers would be well spent.

The needs are so great, and the range of programs so broad, that it is impossible to list anything but a fraction of them in this space. They include everything from delivery of healthcare to fostering early learning to violence-abatement to promoting job and artistic skills in young people.

The 211 Helpline operates a 24-hour switchboard that connects parents and youths with programs and services that offer help. A $1 million grant to the county funded 68 community arts programs that involved more than 142,000 children in 2007. Nearly $50 million will be invested this year in summer and after-school programs.

Another $27 million will be used as part of a health initiative administered in collaboration with the school district and other community health providers. Among other things, this program helps to put nurses and health practitioners in schools. The needs are even greater today than they were six years ago as public schools cut back in practically every area of funding as a result of a reduced budget that, in turn, reflects the economic downturn.

Taking care of children doesn't come cheap, but here, too, the Trust offers a good return. It costs the median-assessed-value homeowner $61 a year -- 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value -- to fund the project. This is slightly more than $1 per week, less than what many of us pay for a bottle of water. The ballot will ask whether the Trust, the independent special district for children's services, should be renewed.

The vote should be YES.