Shared Prosperity

Image Shared Prosperity

The Shared Prosperity Initiative engages the business, government, and nonprofit sectors to mitigate displacement of very low-income residents and allow these residents to continue to contribute to Arlington’s economic viability and diverse community fabric. We do this through a combination of policy analysis, advocacy, demonstration pilots, and striving to attract major resource investments in three target areas.

You can find examples of our policy work, advocacy materials, and resources in each of the three target areas below. Keep scrolling to learn more about the urgent need to address these targets in Arlington, or click the buttons to jump directly to a target area:

The Need

Nearly 24,760 individuals in Arlington are trying to make ends meet on $46,410 or less. That’s 30% of our area median income for a family of four. These lower wage earners and their families are at high risk of displacement.

Three primary factors drive our lowest-income residents from the community:

All of these issues, separately and when taken together, represent the crushing pressures and impossible trade-offs that our very low-income neighbors face every day as they try to keep a foothold in Arlington. Read “Why Inclusion Matters” for a deeper dive into these issues.

Arlington County is one of the fastest growing communities in the Washington Metropolitan region and is an exemplar of a broader pattern of economic growth enjoyed by our region. Yet, not everyone in Arlington shares in the opportunity to contribute to and benefit from economic growth.

Very low-income residents in particular are facing mounting pressures, such as the steady decline in affordable housing and overall increases in living expenses. There is a significant gap between living wages and actual wages for residents working essential functions in our community. These include our childcare and health care workers, office cleaners, and restaurant, retail and construction workers.

Arlington’s high national rankings for its schools and livability grab headlines while the stories of the tens of thousands of people living in or near poverty often go untold. Our safety-net nonprofits and the County work relentlessly with these residents and remind us they are just one emergency away from eviction or job loss.

Our Target Areas

affordable housing and childcare and workforce development

Arlington is known for its thoughtful and holistic approach to planning and community engagement, as well as a commitment to preserving the diversity and rich social and cultural fabric of the community. 

Arlington Community Foundation’s Shared Prosperity Initiative builds on this prior community work and brings together public and private leaders to continue pursuing bold solutions that encourage inclusive economic growth and stop the displacement of our lowest-income residents.

Since the spring 2019 Shared Prosperity kick-off roundtable, Arlington Community Foundation has worked with urgency to refine the strategies discussed and take bold near-term steps in three key areas to reduce this displacement: more deeply affordable housing, deeply affordable childcare, and increased workforce and wage opportunities.

While we are working on longer term solutions, we have called on local government and businesses to go beyond business as usual in two ways: an infusion of resources, and changing local practices over the next five years to stem the displacement.

Want to be a part of the solution? A donation to the Shared Prosperity Fund helps us and our partners advocate for more deeply affordable housing, as well as private rental and childcare subsidies that help individuals work on self-sufficiency and ensure they are not priced out of our community.

Deeply Affordable Housing

In the FY25 budget, based on advocacy and analysis led by ACF, the County Board invested an additional $1 million to “buy-down” apartments to rents affordable to families and individuals earning less than 30% AMI. This is the first time in Arlington’s budget history that funds are specifically earmarked for deep housing affordability at 30% AMI. Learn more about deep affordability here.

By 2024, using government and private investments, create affordability for an additional 1500 Arlington households with incomes of 30% of AMI or less using demonstrations of financing for “bricks and mortar” units affordable at 30% AMI and new rent subsidy strategies. Evaluate and adjust the approach to emergency rent assistance to ensure that housing for very low-income persons can be stabilized through a variety of financial crises.

Actions and policy work 2019 – 2024

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Countywide Policy to achieve Deep Affordability

Financing to bring 60% AMI units to 30% AMI affordability

Rent subsidies

Emergency rent assistance

Barcroft Apartments redevelopment

Policy and advocacy materials

Deeply Affordable Childcare

In 2023, Arlington Community Foundation produced a status report on what actions had taken place toward more affordable child care in Arlington since the acceptance of the 2018 Child Care Action plan by the County Board. Community advocacy following the release of this report led the County Board to fund, beginning in FY 24, a new full-time senior level DHS position to support the implementation of the Child Care Action Plan. Read the report here.

The Goal

By 2024, through government and private investments and policy changes, an additional 1,000 children from very low-income Arlington families (30% AMI and below) will have access to quality child care. For context, in 2023, there were approximately 1,800 children under age 6 in households below 30% AMI.

Inventory changes 2019-2022  

  • The total number of childcare slots (licensed, religious exempt and APS) grew from 7,570 to 7,887 (4%). In raw numbers, this is an increase of 317 slots. These slots serve approximately 38% of Arlington’s 0-5 year-old children. The gross gain in non-APS slots was 460 (7%) from FY 2019 to FY 2022.
  • Decisions to open new programs, expand existing programs or move from unlicensed to licensed, resulted in an increase of 825 licensed slots (16%), bringing the number of licensed slots to 5,899 (out of the 7,887).
  • Five childcare centers entered the Virginia Child Care Subsidy Program, creating the opportunity for growth in subsidized slots.
  • Between FY21 and FY22, Arlington families increased their use of the Virginia Child Care Subsidy Program—resulting in a 72% increase in families enrolled in subsidized child care (from 181 to 311 families). An additional 117 children are supported in 2022-23 with VIEW/TANF, Early/Head Start or local dollars, bringing the total number of affordable slots to 428.
  • The 428 affordable slots existing in July 2022 still represent ONLY 5.5% of the available supply, and ALL of the 7,887 available slots serve approximately 38% of Arlington’s 0-5 year-old children.

Key Takeaways

In the 4+ years since the 2018 acceptance of the Child Care Action Plan by the County Board, Arlington is only 147 slots closer to our 1000 affordable slot goal. At this rate, it will be another 27 years before we have sufficient affordable slots to serve today’s young children from very low income families. 

Without an explicit County Board commitment to incentivize affordability and dedicated staff to guide implementation of the Child Care Action Plan, it is unlikely that the cost of childcare can be brought within reach of very low income families.

Key Recommendations

1. Fund an additional FTE to ensure a consistent focus on Child Care Action Plan implementation, with a priority focus on vulnerable populations. As originally demonstrated in the 2017-2018 Child Care Initiative and development of the 2018 Child Care Action Plan, the position must have the authority and relationships to work across all County departments, the Manager’s office, and APS. The position was subsequently created in FY 24.

2. Establish and annually publish, as part of the budget process, an integrated set of specific child care affordability metrics.  

Progress on the elements of the CCI Action Plan and overall inventory could be better tracked for the public and the many stakeholders who were a part of the Initiative by creating a Child Care budget page that integrates the metrics from Child Care Licensing and Child Care Subsidy Performance Measurement Plan.  To enhance understanding of challenges and growth related to affordability, the following metrics should also be tracked:  

  • The number of affordable slots from any provider in Arlington sorted by ages 0-2, 3, and 4 and expressed as percentages of all children 0-5 (pre-kindergarten) AND children whose families earn less than 60% AMI (300% federal poverty line).
  • The number of affordable slots disaggregated by the following categories: state-funded, federal government funded (VIEW, TANF, Early/Head Start), fee-reductions within a private or County program, private or philanthropically funded, and/or created using land use tools or development concessions.
  • The number and percentage of children receiving a Virginia Child Care Subsidy who have no co-pay requirement.
  • The number and percentage of children receiving a Virginia Child Care Subsidy who have a 7% co-pay. 
  • Disaggregation of APS offerings through VPI or Pre-K Montessori including family payment levels and number of children also enrolled in Extended Day.

Actions and policy work 2019 – 2024

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Rent reduction and other strategies to lower the cost of childcare for families

Privately funded childcare scholarships

Virginia Child Care Subsidy Program changes and provider supports 

Local efforts to increase access to affordable childcare

School-aged childcare during pandemic virtual learning

Policy and advocacy materials

Workforce and Wages

The Goal

By 2024, through collaboration between government, business, and philanthropy, at least two sustained job-specific skill training programs that lead to full time jobs with living wages and benefits will be operating in Arlington County. A dependable pool of funds that covers ancillary needs such as transportation and child care will be established for Arlingtonians who are actively engaged in training.

One of our key goals is plausible career pathways with hiring commitments and living wages and benefits for very low income folks with a high school diploma/GED or less. To break that down further:

By plausible we mean realistic careers (ex: hospitality, transportation, and building trades, not necessarily tech jobs) given people’s educational backgrounds and existing skills.  

By pathways we mean ones involving training or apprenticeships that lead to forward mobility and take childcare and transportation onto account.

By hiring commitments we mean that there are employers who have positions committed to this effort,

Living wages and benefits are key. We are very focused on the benefits cliff and what a bind that puts people in as they strive to increase their incomes.

We are looking for something that is scalable. In other words, not just a few slots here and there, but projects with the right partners and investments that could provide opportunities to a significant number of  low income Arlington residents.

For more context on these needs, read these articles about the challenges workers face in finding full time employment, and how reduced work hours negatively impact almost every aspect of a person’s life.

Actions and policy work 2019 – 2024

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Workforce pathways

Explorations around apprenticeships

Key insights and recommendations

Policy and advocacy materials

Shared Prosperity Partnership

What is the Shared Prosperity Partnership?

In January 2019, Arlington Community Foundation was named as the lead local partner by the national Shared Prosperity Partnership. The Partnership — a collaboration of Urban Institute, The Kresge Foundation, Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, and Living Cities — convenes local leaders in select communities across the United States to support inclusive growth by providing data, research, and access to national experts, networks, and financial resources.

Contact Us

If you have questions about our policy work, the Shared Prosperity Initiative, or Economic Mobility in Arlington, please contact our Director of Grants and Initiatives Brian Marroquín.

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BRIDGES OUT OF POVERTY INITIATIVE
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SAFETY NET ARLINGTON
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