While the federal transition of power and the new administration’s policy priorities have captured our attention in the past week, there are many initiatives at the state and local levels that have the opportunity to shape the economic and social wellbeing of communities across America.
In the early months of 2025, legislative sessions will convene in at least 36 states and the District of Columbia and leaders will deliberate on agendas that have the opportunity to meaningfully address issues of poverty, economic development, and gaps in training and education. Particularly given the recent uncertainty around the availability of federal funding, these sessions will be even more critical to ensure the health and resiliency of our communities.
Our team at Beam is closely tracking initiatives that have the potential to enhance and reinforce critical safety net benefits and improve economic mobility. As these sessions progress, we encourage state leaders to embrace policies and programs that have the potential to improve community resilience, increase access to child care and housing, and deliver meaningful support to individuals and families.
Here are a few opportunity areas that we hope will continue to gain momentum in the 2025 state legislative season and beyond.
Enabling rapid delivery of disaster assistance
Given the devastating start to the year and the historic tragedy that has already unfolded in the Los Angeles community, it’s critical for states to address climate resilience. In just the past year, several climate-related disasters–wildfires, hurricanes, floods–have torn through communities. The increasing frequency and intensity of these events underscores the need for effective and proactive disaster relief infrastructure.
Many states are already committing to distributing federal disaster relief funds more effectively. In California, a special session called by Governor Newsom asks the legislature to accelerate the availability of disaster relief funding in response to the state’s historic wildfires. Leaders in North Carolina have also committed to “cut through red tape to help people rebuild quicker” from the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene last year.
These are critical and necessary response efforts. But for many states, their focus is often reactive in nature. Through our work with non-profit and philanthropic organizations on emergency relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Helene and the LA wildfires, we’ve seen firsthand the delays to emergency aid distribution caused by a lack of off-the-shelf state infrastructure. When it comes to getting assistance out to communities following a disaster, states shouldn’t be recreating the wheel each time.
Instead, states should proactively identify communities and businesses at risk of receiving insufficient federal relief during times of crisis—such as home-based child care providers, small businesses, college students, and underinsured homeowners—and set aside supplemental reserves to support them. States should also plan for steady-state, streamlined emergency aid delivery mechanisms that ensure these relief funds reach those in need without unnecessary delays.
We’re hopeful more states will commit to funding programs and infrastructure investments that prioritize simplicity, speed, and an understanding of the interplay between different relief funding streams, not only to provide immediate relief but also serve as a model for future resilience that other states can follow.
Increasing investments in childcare and support for families
Supporting families is crucial for economic mobility and building resilient, prosperous communities. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a lot of momentum in this arena, and continue to see efforts and opportunities in 2025 to grow this momentum, particularly on two fronts: new, direct investments in programs that expand access to affordable child care and leveraging existing federal funding streams to effectively reduce child poverty.
States are building on investments in childcare to address the lack of affordable access. Recently, New York’s Governor Hochul proposed $110 million in capital grants for child care centers, counties, and municipalities, with $10 million set aside to target home-based child care providers. These funds would address child care deserts by supporting the creation of new programs and providing funds to help existing programs with necessary repairs and renovations.
We’re also seeing initiatives to reduce the financial burden of childcare itself and expand coverage for families, with states like Illinois introducing concepts of expanded eligibility to existing childcare assistance programs, which would ensure even more children will have access to safe, high-quality care.
We hope to see many more of these types of programs take shape in 2025, as well as bolder programs like the universal pre-K efforts that Illinois, Colorado, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and others have built in past years.
Beyond making new investments, states can also take advantage of existing federal funding— assuming clarity on the looming federal funding freeze—to move the needle on reducing child poverty. For example, the federally-funded Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program offers states opportunities to more effectively support family well-being through direct cash transfers. In 2024, Michigan approved $20 million in TANF funds to provide cash support to mothers. In its first year, the state’s RxKids program has already seen improved outcomes for families like reduced evictions, improved maternal mental health and well-being, and reduced food insecurity.
Similarly, while 45 states, tribes, and territories in 2024 participated in the Summer EBT program, the first new federal food assistance program in decades, there is significant opportunity for second movers to combat child food insecurity across the country by opting in this year. Alabama and Utah have already committed to implementing this program in 2025, and other states are exploring it to help ensure consistent access to nutritious meals during the summer months when traditional school meal programs are unavailable.
By prioritizing programs like these, states have the opportunity to not only support children and families, but also drive long-term economic mobility and resilience.
Expanding rental assistance and cash payments to tenants and prioritizing new housing supply
With rents climbing across the U.S., homelessness rising, and half of all renters cost-burdened, it’s clear that rental assistance programs and new housing supply will both be critical to stabilizing communities in 2025.
States like New Jersey are considering holistic models to prevent eviction that would not only address the risk of families falling behind on rent but also the barriers posed by security deposits of getting into housing in the first place.
Programs like these can be transformative in providing a safety net for families with low incomes. We encourage legislators to embrace more of these efforts as well as additional, more-flexible programs mirroring Philadelphia and other local direct to tenant cash assistance programs that have renewed interest in considering the merit of delivering rental vouchers as direct cash.
We cannot solve the housing crisis without building new rental and housing units, however. Just as New York City recently adopted the “City of Yes,” under which the city will build 80,000 new units over the next 15 years, states need to aggressively catalyze the development of new affordable housing supply. Colorado’s Prop 123 effort, the effects of which are now beginning to make their way into communities, provides an example that states might look to both raise funds for and deploy relevant capital.
There are many ways to drive meaningful progress in advancing economic mobility through state legislative sessions this year. By embracing innovative and effective programs that provide quick access to disaster relief, childcare support, rental assistance, and by investing in new housing supply, states can make significant strides in improving the lives of individuals and families. We’re here to support these efforts, which are not just about addressing immediate needs but also about creating systems that empower communities and promote long-term resilience.
Photo by Keira Burton
