United Way of the Bay Area Blog
Live United
It’s the Friday after United Way of the Bay Area’s fabulous 90th Anniversary Gala Celebration, and we are all still basking in the afterglow of a warm and wonderful evening. More than 450 of us had the pleasure of witnessing this historic gathering of donors, volunteers, community partners and well-wishers while we celebrated a near-century [...]
“Welcome to San Francisco – we’re excited to have you!” said the noticeably overjoyed Alcatraz Island employee and avid 49er fan, as he ushered Nnamdi and his Asomugha College Tour for Scholars (ACTS) students to the boat for their trip to Alcatraz. When news leaked that Nnamdi Asomugha was returning to his “home roots” – [...]
Thanks to a $1.5 million grant from Chevron, East Bay SparkPoint Centers will continue to be funded, and SparkPoint Oakland has re-opened in larger quarters in the Eastmont Town Center. The mall has 20,000 visitors per week, many of whom are low-income. SparkPoint will offer them a wide range of educational and support services to [...]
Hollywood, you can keep your Oscars! Within the Bay Area legal community, there was only one award on everyone’s mind this week: Koko. This week, the Anniversary Koko Challenge wrapped up with the annual Koko Awards, celebrating the success of the legal community’s fight against poverty, hosted by Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP. Over [...]
One of United Way’s functions is to support the nonprofit community so we can all serve the Bay Area more effectively. The pressure on Bay Area nonprofits to speak about impact, performance, and measurement grows every year. Many want to get on the bandwagon, but agencies struggle with the bandwidth and expertise to make the [...]
United Way Vice-President, Tse Ming Tam grew up in abject poverty. He and his five brothers and sisters scrounged around restaurant alleys for food, and Tse Ming was functionally illiterate through age 25. His personal struggles have informed his life work, combatting poverty in the Bay Area. And it is because of his visionary work [...]
East Bay Congresswoman Barbara Lee beamed with pride at United Way’s SparkPoint Oakland grand re-opening: “Good things are happening here in Oakland! People across the country ask me about economic empowerment and how to move people out of poverty. I’m proud of the fact that we’re doing that here. SparkPoint is paving the way to [...]
With the current urgency around fixing the federal budget, Congress is looking for ways to streamline the government and make it more effective. Today, United Way of the Bay Area briefed Congress about our innovative SparkPoint Centers to spotlight how providing multiple services under one roof streamlines the process of moving people out of poverty. [...]
United Way’s SparkPoint American Canyon cut the ribbon on its new, larger location where more community partners can provide services to a greater number of local residents. According to Stacy Lopez, the SparkPoint Employment Coordinator, “It’s exciting that we have a larger location that allows our community partners to provide resources to a greater number [...]
Fresh vegetables. Canned goods. Spices. Ingredients for a Thanksgiving table and some of the items San Francisco Food Bank volunteers sorted during United Way’s Week of Caring. Perhaps one of the most popular ways to volunteer in our community is to work at a soup kitchen or food bank. There’s something so rewarding about the [...]
