United Way of California

Richmond, Calif. — Flanked by leaders of the United Ways of California, the Children’s Defense Fund of California, and Richmond’s RYSE Youth Center, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) announced her bill, AB 875, to reestablish California’s Healthy Start program to connect children and families with critical services to improve health and academic outcomes and remedy trauma and violence. 

"For over 15 years Healthy Start was a proven program,"said Peter Manzo, President & CEO, United Ways of California. "We’ve gone without it since 2007 And that’s 12 years too long. We’re thrilled Assemblymember Wicks is authoring AB 875. And we look forward to working with her and our fellow champions for children, youth, and families to launch a renewed Healthy Start. One whose impact delivers on the promise of California for all."

Richmond, Calif. — Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) will join with advocates from United Ways of California, RYSE Youth Center, Children’s Defense Fund, and others to announce the introduction of AB 875 to reestablish “Healthy Start.” Health Start, established in 1991 with bipartisan support, was a historic program that gave seed money grants to Local Education Agencies and community partners to address the social determinants of health and comprehensively meet the needs of students and their families. The program, which was cut in 2007 as a result of the Great Recession, helped connect children and families to services related to: dental health, mental health, vision, academic support, job training, violence intervention and prevention, parenting education, and more. Healthy Start 2.0 will build on the positive community-level impacts of the original program by integrating child- and family-facing service systems and emphasizing evidence-based approaches to program access and effectiveness, especially for high-need communities.

Sacramento, CA – Statement from the CalEITC Advocacy Coalition, of which the United Ways of California is a proud member, regarding the Governor’s budget proposal:

The CalEITC Advocacy Coalition is pleased to see the Governor proposing support and continued expansion of the California’s Earned Income Tax Credit to help working families. The California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) provides much-needed assistance to working families and individuals who are struggling to make ends meet. The Governor’s Budget is a step in the right direction in meeting many of the coalition’s goals, including increasing the credit for families with young children and expanding the income eligibility guidelines to reach more Californians. We look forward to working with the legislature to further strengthen the credit by ensuring that all working tax filers who meet the income eligibility are eligible for the credit, including working immigrant tax filers.

Los Angeles, CA – Statement from Peter Manzo, President and CEO of the United Ways of California, (UWCA) regarding Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2019-2020 budget proposal: 

Los Angeles, CA - Below is a statement from Peter Manzo, President and CEO, on behalf of United Ways of California (UWCA) regarding the new retirement savings program, CalSavers:

United Ways of California is proud to announce a grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to support a statewide initiative to engage and educate business leaders and employees about CalSavers, a new retirement savings program created by the state to enable more Californians to save for retirement.