Connecticut is set to receive up to $265.4 million as part of a major multistate settlement with Meta Platforms, Inc., and for those of us who work with children and young people, one part of the agreement deserves particular attention: at least half of Connecticut’s funds must be directed toward addressing harms to youth associated with social media.
That makes what happens next especially important.
The settlement, announced August 26 by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, resolves claims brought against Meta by attorneys general across the country. Meta will pay states $12.19 billion over 10 years, with the total potentially increasing to $17.1 billion depending on whether TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat agree to comparable safety terms and monetary relief. The agreement is still subject to approval by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Northern District of California.
The agreement also requires changes to Instagram and Facebook for young users, including time limits, nighttime restrictions, reduced school-hour notifications, age-assurance measures and stronger parental controls. Attorney General Tong called the agreement the largest state settlement with a single defendant in history and said it “charts a new course for online safety.”
Those protections will receive a great deal of attention, and understandably so. From my perspective, however, one of the most important pieces of the agreement is what it says about the money coming back to states.
Connecticut’s share can support mental health and crisis intervention, afterschool and summer programming, phone-free school zones and other efforts aimed at addressing youth harms. The explicit inclusion of afterschool and summer programs is significant because it recognizes something many of us who work with young people have seen for years: protecting children in a digital world also means investing in the places, people and experiences available to them away from a screen.
Young people need something to move toward
For a young person heading into the hours after school, that could mean a playground or recreation program, a science or robotics club, sports practice, a theater rehearsal, an art class, a summer program, time with a mentor, a first job or simply a safe place where caring adults know their name and are glad to see them.
These experiences matter because young people need opportunities to connect with peers, develop relationships with adults, explore interests, build skills and discover where they belong.
Connecticut already has a strong foundation for making that possible.
For generations, Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCAs and YWCAs, Big Brothers Big Sisters, municipal youth services, parks and recreation departments, libraries, schools, camps, arts and cultural organizations, faith-based organizations and many other community programs have provided places for children and youth to learn, play and grow outside the traditional school day.
Young people participate in sports, go to camp, learn to swim, explore science and technology, make art, receive mentoring, develop leadership skills, spend time outdoors and build relationships with adults and peers.
The issue is that these opportunities still aren’t equally available to every family.
Cost matters. Transportation matters. Where a program is located matters. So do staffing, program hours and whether there is an open spot when a family needs one. The amount and variety of opportunities available to a young person can look very different depending on the community in which they live.
The demand is already there
The latest America After 3PM survey gives us a clearer picture of that gap. Parents of 291,385 Connecticut children say they want an afterschool program for their child, while 96,444 children are currently enrolled. Nearly 195,000 children are not enrolled even though their parents say they would participate if a program were available.
Families report cost, transportation, location and availability among the obstacles that keep children from participating.
That is why I hope Connecticut thinks beyond simply adding a handful of new programs or issuing a series of short-term grants.
We have an opportunity to strengthen the full network that makes youth opportunities possible. That includes afterschool and summer learning, sports and recreation, arts and music, STEM, mentoring, outdoor education, leadership development, career exploration, community service and community-based mental wellness supports.
It also means paying attention to what happens behind the scenes. A program cannot serve a child who has no way to get there. A community cannot expand programs without enough trained staff. Families cannot choose among opportunities they cannot find. Providers cannot plan effectively if funding disappears from year to year.
Transportation, workforce development, program quality, coordination among schools and community organizations, information for families, data and evaluation are all part of building a stronger system.
The goal is not one program for every child. It is for every young person to have enough options to find something that interests them, people they connect with and a place where they feel they belong.
Why I’m watching what happens next
The Connecticut Network for Children and Youth has been working with partners in Connecticut and nationally to make sure public funds connected to social media harms reach the children and young people they are intended to support.
We’re part of a broader national effort advocating for settlement resources to support the full range of youth development and well-being opportunities, including afterschool and summer programs, mentoring, sports, arts, outdoor experiences, youth leadership and mental wellness supports.
The Meta agreement establishes an important starting point by explicitly recognizing several of these investments as appropriate uses of settlement funds. The next stage will happen here in Connecticut as decisions are made about how those dollars are allocated, how programs access them and how the public can understand where the money is going.
That process deserves close attention.
We should be asking whether investments expand opportunities for young people who currently have the least access, whether youth and families have a voice in setting priorities, whether community organizations can participate, and whether the public can track how funds are spent and what those investments make possible.
We should also resist using these resources simply to replace funding that Connecticut is already providing for children and youth. The value of this settlement will be much greater if it expands what is available rather than filling holes left somewhere else.
What Connecticut could build
I have spent more than 30 years working in and around afterschool and out-of-school-time programs, from direct service with young people to leading programs and working across Connecticut’s youth-development field. I know how much these opportunities can matter to a child, and I also know how hard programs work to stretch limited resources to meet the needs they see every day.
Connecticut has the organizations. We have experienced professionals working with young people in communities across the state. We have schools, municipalities, nonprofits and families that know their communities well. Most importantly, we have children and young people with interests, talents and ideas that deserve room to grow.
The Meta settlement will not solve every challenge facing young people, and no one funding source should be expected to do that. It can, however, help Connecticut expand access to the programs, relationships and experiences young people need outside the school day and during the summer, while strengthening the infrastructure that allows those opportunities to last.
I’ll be closely following the settlement and Connecticut’s decisions about these funds in the months ahead, because the details will matter. I also hope youth-serving organizations, families and young people across the state will be part of that conversation.
When we ask children and teens to spend less time on a phone or place stronger limits around their digital lives, we also have to pay attention to what is available when they look up from the screen.
Connecticut has an opportunity to make sure there is somewhere to go, something worth doing and people who are glad to see them.