November 11, 2022 | From City of New Orleans

City Releases Youth Spend 2022 Innovative Tool Outlining Critical Investments

NEW ORLEANS — The Mayor’s Office of Youth and Families (OYF) today released Youth Spend 2022: New Orleans Investments in Youth and Children, demonstrating the City’s $53 million investment in resources targeted for this population. Next year, the City is poised to more than double the current investment in youth and children to over $110 million, utilizing funding from the early childhood education millage, American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), and the City’s fund balance. 

Youth Spend 2022 enables users to view a snapshot of programs focused on prevention, intervention, basic services, and positive youth development. The public can also view the amount across age groups as well as different outcomes such as health, safety and justice, and education.  

“As Mayor, my administration has placed an emphasis on addressing public safety outside of a law enforcement lens, and that emphasis is reflective in our financial commitment to impactful, life-changing programs for our youth and children,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “This fiscal mapping tool allows the City of New Orleans to adopt a data-driven approach to youth spending in critical areas, while making these investments transparent to the public.”  

Since 2020, OYF has released this fiscal mapping tool annually to increase public transparency and accountability by analyzing all the City’s spending on services for youth and children, ages 0-24. This year, these investments have increased to $53 million, which amounts to $332 per youth, excluding state and federal dollars that flow through the City’s budget. 

Denver, Santa Clara, and San Antonio are the only other cities across the country that have produced this type of comprehensive tool. These cities invest between $106 and $451 per youth through municipal/county revenue. New Orleans per capita spending in 2023 will more than double these cities, spending over $1,000 per youth.  

Through a data-driven process, OYF worked with the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission, New Orleans Public Library, Orleans Public Defender, Orleans Parish Juvenile Court, Office of Workforce Development, New Orleans Police Department, New Orleans Health Department, the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center, Office of Criminal Justice Coordination, and the Office of Neighborhood Engagement to obtain fiscal information related to youth and children services.  

A few initiatives highlighted in Youth Spend 2022 include:

• Healthy Start, led by the Health Department, which serves 450 new parents to navigate prenatal/postnatal care, enroll in community assistance programs, and develop parenting skills 
• The Junior Civic Leadership Academy led in partnership with the Office of Neighborhood Engagement and Office of Youth and Families, which provides youth ages 13-17 with an in-depth look at City government 
• The Evening Reporting Center, managed by the Office of Criminal Justice Coordination, which is an alternative to the detention program and provides individualized supervision to youth who would normally be held in pretrial custody 
• The City Seats program which funds high-quality early learning seats for low-income families