KIDVANTAGE

KidVantage services address the stresses of poverty by providing concrete assistance at no cost and with no strings attached. Our goals are that Agency Partners, Programs & Providers can focus on using their resources and expertise to support and build trust with families while delivering a broad spectrum of health & social services to clients; and that kids have their nutrition, health, safety, and developmental needs met. Tangible support promotes and protects developing minds and bodies. Families are able to be more successful in the program they are participating in; concrete support helps families build on their own strengths to develop their core capabilities. This enables families to better ensure the safety and well-being of their children with basic needs met, and stress reduced. Kids & Families have reduced risk from stress, increased protective factors, increased nutrition & health, safer kids, improved ability to learn, and reduced child abuse & neglect. Our guiding overall goal is to strengthen families, build resilient kids, reduce inequity, and contribute to a stronger community.

Through partnerships with health and human service organizations, early learning programs, schools, and food banks, we provide basic essential goods to approximately 15,000s children aged 0 through age12 each year. KidVantage distributes diapers, formula, car seats, baby food, clothes, shoes, school supplies, and thousands of other items within 6 days of a request to families and caregivers experiencing economic challenges, homelessness, or family disruption. In 2022, KidVantage supplied 176,587 orders of essential goods, including more than 1.9m diapers. We support more than 280 family-service sites and programs within 80+ partner agencies that directly assist children and family caregivers participating in their programs. Through this network of programs, children and expectant mothers each week get tangible health, safety, and care support through one of KidVantage's four Hubs across central Puget Sound. Bringing a family concrete assistance helps providers build trust with families, opens up communication and pathways to additional services, and can improve the level and length of engagement with the agency. It saves money and time for many agency partners so resources can be directed toward their mission. Parents and caregivers already participating in a program have more reliable access to concrete support for their children, providing a crucial protective factor for families so they can be more successful in the program they are participating in, learning to build on their own strengths through supportive services/interventions and are most apt to be receiving additional protective support such as housing or social networks. In conjunction with the services provided by KidVantage's partners, the supplying of vital basic goods can contribute to an improvement in the biological and relational health of the family. Having diapers or food or clothes in hand helps to mitigate the chronic stress of poverty. - children are at less risk (including child abuse & neglect), with increased social/emotional competence and cognitive development and improved health outcomes so that kids can reach their potential, supported by their family and community. Programs can more effectively deliver needed health and social services to clients.
An additional community benefit of KidVantage is bringing together people as volunteers or donors. Approximately 2,000 volunteer hours are donated each month for collecting goods, sorting, and packaging orders. Many people can be a part of the work of KidVantage, actively taking responsibility for others, and for their community. They build social connections and networks and provide concrete assistance to families increasing the health of the community, and benefitting everyone, including volunteers, in-kind donors, providers, end-users, other stakeholders, and the community as a whole.

For 33 years, KidVantage (formerly EBC – Eastside Baby Corner) has been responding to the emergent and ongoing needs of families living in poverty or crisis. KidVantage specializes in providing concrete goods in times of need that children need for safety and healthy development, and family caregivers need to care for their children. As a nexus point between 80+ agencies in a 5-county area, KidVantage’s expertise lies in procuring goods, efficient distribution of goods, and as a connector. KidVantage connects with the community, inviting community members to help one another by giving their goods, time, or money. Schools, human service organizations, and medical providers are networked together through KidVantage. A professional and highly trained staff and an engaged Board of Directors are the backbone of the operation. KidVantage has a strong and tested infrastructure. We are able to process thousands of requests each week through a sophisticated online ordering system. KidVantage is a member of national networks, such as the National Diaper Bank Network and Baby2Baby, providing access to resources of goods and assistance. Our team works locally and nationally in purchasing goods in large quantities.
KidVantage uses a poverty reduction framework to reduce community, income and/or societal inequities. Supported by the 10-year Strategic Plan, the strategic direction aligns with the Theory of Change through:
• Engaging & informing the Community through volunteering, donating goods, and financial support.
• Procuring & providing tangible basic needs.
• Supporting Agency partners, programs & providers so they may concentrate their resources & expertise on supporting & building trust with families.
• And as a result:
• Children and families experiencing poverty and/or crisis.
• Families want to participate longer and become more successful in programs.
• Kids have their nutrition, health, safety & developmental needs met.
• Kids & families reduce their risk from stress, increase protective factors, and improve their nutrition & health.
EBC is a Level 2 provider of HealthierHere, a Washington nonprofit that works to reduce the social determinants of health and is a receiptant of funding through King County's Best Starts for Kids.

Since 2019, the KidVantage partner network has grown by 50% in response to the changing and growing needs of families in the greater Puget Sound, Washington region. The trends first seen in 2020 have continued over time, with more new recipients than ever (up 54% last year) and sustained needs. In 2022, KidVantage assisted 11,907 households (unduplicated), providing more than 5 million items, and did so with a 97.21 fulfillment rate. The north King County/south Snohomish hub was moved from Kenmore to a much bigger facility in Shoreline in 2022, and a pilot mini-hub was opened in Kent to service south King County and Pierce County partners. The additional locations, coupled with mobile distribution and community resource programs improve equity in access by reducing barriers for partner providers.

KidVantage was born in 1990 as Eastside Baby Corner when Karen Ridlon, a local pediatric nurse practitioner, became concerned about the large numbers of babies in her practice beginning life without adequate food, clothing, beds, or safety equipment. Since 2008, KidVantage has successfully transitioned from an all-volunteer, founder-led organization into a sustainable organization with a governing board and hiring professional staff. At the same time, KidVantage has doubled the number of children helped each year and more than doubled the number of goods given annually. In our continuing efforts to reach MORE kids, KidVantage expanded our service area by merging Northshore Baby Corner into EBC in 2015, creating the EBC - Northshore Hub, and by opening the EBC-West Sound Hub, in April 2016. (The Northshore location moved to Shoreline in 2022.)

KidVantage works from a program framework to organize & support the strategic direction, addressing each of our distinct yet overlapping areas: Starting Out Right (maternal and infant health and well-being), Safe Kids & Families (training and supplies for transportation/sleep/home & outdoor safety, and Strong Foundations for Every Kid (ready for school, ready to learn, healthy play).