Fiscal Solutions, Guides and Templates

• Colorado Guide 1: Blending & Braiding


• Colorado Guide 2: TANF for Local Communities: Over 50 Ways to Use Your TANF!


• Colorado Guide 3: Partnering with Funders: A Guide for Communities, Advocates, and Non-Profits


• Cross-System Financing Strategies: Strategies for Innovative Financing of Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment Services for Children and Youth


• Successful Principles andStrategies for Integrated Funding to Support Models like High Fidelity Wraparound

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		Colorado Guide 1: Blending & Braiding:  Step by step instructions to develop and expand fiscal coordination. This Guide is intended as a practical tool to help organizations and communities undertake a planning process that leads to a blended or braided funding model.   The Guide contains detailed definitions on blending and braiding and actionable information on how to develop blended and braided models.
		Template A: Analyzing Our Funding Streams
		Template B: Analyzing Our Gaps
		Template C: Coordinated Financing Plan
		Template D: Budget & Cost Allocation Plan Prepared by the Spark Policy Institute, on behalf of the Blending and Braiding Your TANF Initiative, funded by the Statewide Strategic Use Fund.

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Colorado Guide 2: TANF for Local Communities: Over 50 Ways to Use Your TANF! The purpose of The Colorado Guide to TANF for Local Communities is to demonstrate how to maximize the impact of TANF through its flexibility to meet critical gaps in safety net services, leading to improved outcomes for low-income families. TANF is often referred to as a very “grey” funding stream due to the lack of concrete information available about specific uses and its relative flexibility compared to other government funding sources. This guide will help service providers and local TANF administrators navigate the “grey” and explore the scope of this funding source to more creatively meet the needs of low-income families outside of the traditional realm of welfare. Prepared by the Spark Policy Institute, on behalf of the Blending and Braiding Your TANF Initiative, funded by the Statewide Strategic Use Fund.

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Colorado Guide 3: Partnering with Funders: A Guide for Communities, Advocates, and Non-Profits The Colorado Guide to Partnering with Funders is intended to provide family advocates and their community partners with information on how to approach local public funders to discuss both changes and potential opportunities in how dollars are used to meet the needs of their community. The Guide is one of three guides designed to provide local government agencies, non-profits, and advocates with information on partnering with funders to effectively address the needs of their community. Prepared by the Spark Policy Institute, on behalf of the Blending and Braiding Your TANF Initiative, funded by the Statewide Strategic Use Fund.

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Cross-System Financing Strategies: Strategies for Innovative Financing of Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment Services for Children and Youth The purpose of this paper is to identify various cross-system financing strategies that have been recommended by several Colorado interagency planning groups and outline some initial action steps to be considered by these groups, state leaders, and private and local partners.  These cross-system financing strategies are focused on federal and state funding and not private or local funding.  Although many of these strategies focus on systems that serve children, youth and families, with particular emphasis on behavioral health (mental health and substance abuse), many of them are equally applicable to other human service needs and to adults service systems. Prepared by the Prevention Leadership Council and the Spark Policy Institute, on behalf of Colorado LINKS for Mental Health, funded by the Colorado Health Foundation.

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Successful Principles andStrategies for Integrated Funding to Support Models like High Fidelity Wraparound Colorado LINKS for Mental Health commissioned a study by the Spark Policy Institute to determinekey financing strategies used to support high fidelity wraparound, given the strong interest at both the state and local level to expand the practice statewide and as a means of learning how funding can be integrated across systems. Prepared by the Spark Policy Institute, on behalf of Colorado LINKS for Mental Health, funded by the Colorado Health Foundation.

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