As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, please think about the millions of families who are in need of housing and food assistance.  Shelves of food pantries across the country are bare.  Programs that provide utility and rental assistance are running out of funds to help people.

The Emergency Food & Shelter Program (EFSP) helps stabilize families in times of crisis by providing emergency food, shelter and utility and rent assistance.  EFSP $3.4 million funding helped more than 186,000 Bay Area individuals in 2010:

• More than 3 million meals were provided
• 129,996 emergency shelter bed nights were provided
• 316 households were provided rental assistance to avoid eviction or to re-gain permanent housing following an episode of homelessness
• 192 household were assisted with their utility bills (water, PG&E)

This year (FY2011) Congress cut EFSP by 40% from $200 million to $120 million.  Moreover, because of gridlock in Congress, the funds were not released until months after the winter demands spiked.

Congress must act on 2012 funding by December 16th.  Now is the time to advocate for restored funding of the EFSP at $200 million in FY2012.  We are also asking that Congress require the Department of Homeland Security to release the full funding amount immediately upon Congress enacting its December 16 appropriations bill.  Releasing the dollars now will allow communities meet winter demands and to allocate funding to best meet local needs.

Please take two minutes to email your federal representatives and ask for support of for EFSP: click here

Please join United Way of the Bay Area in a nationwide effort to protect Medicaid for millions of Californians and Americans – call your members of Congress THIS WEEK. It only takes a few minutes of your time and it is easy to do.

The Congressional “Super Committee” tasked with reducing the federal deficit will vote on a plan next Wednesday, November 23, to reduce the deficit.  Medicaid continues to be at risk of being cut.

That’s bad news for more than 6.5 million Californians, 50% of which are children, who rely on Medicaid for healthcare.

Kaiser Family Foundation’s “State Health Facts.org” shows that California ranks highest in the number of individuals insured by Medicaid – that means out of 50 states, California ranks first in the number of people who were insured by Medicaid. In the same report, it shows that though 50% on Medicaid are children, they are only 20% of the program cost. Makes good fiscal sense to preserve Medicaid for children and all.

Take action today to preserve health care for the neediest in our community!  Click here to look up your Representative and get talking points.

We need your help to protect federal funding for VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) and EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit), which are essential to United Way’s Earn It! Keep It! Save It! (EKS) tax assistance program. Take action today to ensure the survival of EKS.

Funding for both the VITA program and the EITC could be on the chopping block as the Congressional Super Committee, which is charged with reducing the federal deficit, makes decisions about which federal programs to cut or preserve.

Of the 212 free tax preparation sites in the EKS Bay Area Coalition, 115 are VITA sites. VITA sites not only provide free tax preparation, and bring millions of dollars back to our region, but also serve as an important gateway to services that low-wage workers need, including low-cost banking, job counseling and financial-skills training.

The EITC is one of the largest federal income-support programs and is intended to make employment more attractive than public assistance by supplementing low-wages and incentivizing work. For many low-income families, the EITC is a substantial credit that can mean the difference between being sheltered or homeless.

We need your help to protect funding for these vital economy-boosting programs. Call Congressmember Xavier Becerra (202-225-6235), our California representative on the “Super Committee,” and tell him to protect funding for VITA and the EITC. By calling today, you’ll join thousands of volunteer tax preparers who are participating in the Day of Action declared by the National Community Tax Coalition, which is a membership organization for community-based organizations offering free tax preparation and financial services to low-income working families.

Your call will help ensure United Way’s Earn It! Keep It! Save It! Coalition continues to grow and succeed. EKS is an important local economic stimulus, which has brought $275 million in tax refunds back to the Bay Area since 2003 – money which is spent locally and which research shows has generated 1,057 jobs in the Bay Area. Read more about the economic impact.

• This op-ed is co-authored by Shelley Kessler, San Mateo Central Labor Council Executive Secretary/Treasurer and United Way of the Bay Area Board Member, and Eric McDonnell, United Way of the Bay Area Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer.

Four million of California’s poorest children, including 300,000 in the Bay Area, are in danger of losing their health coverage.

Congress – under pressure to shrink the national deficit – is backpedaling on key elements of the Affordable Care Act that ensure needy kids get basic health care.

When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, it explicitly prohibited states from altering eligibility and enrollment requirements for children’s health insurance.  In California, this means Healthy Families and Medi-Cal cannot create additional barriers to access and enrollment.

Unfortunately, there are members in Congress who are now advocating to repeal these provisions in a misguided effort to achieve short-term state and federal budget savings.  As a result, California will be permitted to institute cuts to vital health safety net programs, reducing the ability of families to access care.

These proposed cuts could not come at a worse time.  The recession has hit California families hard.  U.S. Census figures released last week indicate that more than 6 million people in California – more than 2 million of them children – lived in poverty last year, an increase for the sixth straight year.

Record numbers lack health insurance.  With statewide unemployment over 11 percent, thousands of families who relied on employer-based health coverage are now uninsured.   As a result, their children are less likely to get preventative care and more likely to require costly emergency care.

Medi-Cal and Healthy Families are lifelines for California families who are struggling with unemployment and reductions in family health coverage on the job.  This is clearly illustrated by the surge in Medi-Cal enrollment, which is up 12.5 % in the last three years, compared to just a 1.1% increase in the three years prior to the recession.

Children are relatively inexpensive to cover: children make up 41% of the total Medi-Cal enrollment, yet they only account for 19% of all Medi-Cal expenditures.  When children take advantage of preventative care offered by insurance coverage, costly hospitalizations are prevented.  Not to mention that healthy kids perform better in school, which helps prepare them for success in life.

In California, there are already 773,000 uninsured children living below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. That represents one of seven low-income, uninsured children nationally.

Let’s not put another 4 million California children at risk of losing their health coverage.  Congress and the Administration should do everything they can to protect the health of our children by rejecting attempts to weaken Medi-Cal and Healthy Families.

If you care about protecting the health of our state’s most vulnerable children, call your Congressional Representative today and tell them, “No more cuts to health care and insurance for poor children.”

How many lawyers in gorilla suits does it take to tackle poverty? It might sound like joke, but to the 31 Bay Area law firms competing in United Way’s Koko Challenge this year, fighting poverty is something they all take very seriously.

Every year, the legal community comes together to raise money to fight poverty. Competition is fierce, and top winners receive stuffed gorillas as a prize. Law firms have been known to station their gorillas proudly in their lobbies, symbolizing their dedication to the community.

On September 22, we kicked-off the 24th annual Koko Challenge, Last year, 21 participating firms raised $1.5 million. With 10 new firms joining the Challenge this year, we’re excited to see the legal community once again raise the bar for philanthropy in the Bay Area.

The theme of this year’s challenge is “Class action against poverty,” to align with United Way’s community effort to cut in half the number of local families who live in poverty by the year 2020.

Gap, Inc. General Counsel Michelle Banks, chair of this year’s Koko Cabinet, announced this year’s goal to raise $1.8 million, with $700,000 directed to United Way.

The Fremont Group General Counsel Rick Kopf chimed in, urging everyone to increase their gifts by 20% and direct it to United Way programs: SparkPoint, Community Schools, MatchBridge, 211 and Earn It! Keep It! Save It! This collective increase would raise an additional $300,000 for United Way, and enable us to continue to operate and expand our poverty fighting programs.

Shook, Hardy and Bacon LLP Partner Kevin Haroff offered to wear his new gorilla suit to any Koko Challenge event hosted by the 10 new participating firms.

The spirit and enthusiasm of Shook, Hardy and Bacon LLP Partner Kevin Haroff was hard to match as he had already purchased his own gorilla suit. To help raise spirits – as well as funds – during this year’s Challenge, he offered to wear the gorilla suit to any event hosted by the 10 new participating firms.

Many thanks to Shook, Hardy and Bacon LLP, winner of last year’s Baby Koko award and host of our kick-off event. And, thank you to the Koko Koko Cabinet, a volunteer committee that oversees the Challenge (listed below). The Challenge would not be possible without your support and enthusiasm.

For more information about how you can join the 2010-2011 Koko Challenge please contact Danielle Cohen (415) 808-4322 or dcohen@uwba.org.

2011 – 2012 Koko Cabinet

• Michelle Banks, EVP, General Counsel, Gap, Inc. – Chair
• Charles S. Custer, Partner, Gordon & Rees LLP
• Nancy Greenan Hamill,  Campus Counsel, UC Santa Barbara
• Kevin Haroff, Partner, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP
• David A. Hearth, Partner, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
• Michael W. Kelly, Partner, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP
• Rick Kopf, Managing Director, Operations & General Counsel, The Fremont Group
• R. Hewitt Pate, VP, General Counsel, Chevron Corporation
• James Potter, SVP, General Counsel, Del Monte Foods
• Jay J. Price, Assistant General Counsel, Bank of America
• Bill Sawyers, EVP, CAO & General Counsel, Ernst Gallo Clinic and Research Center
• Jim Strother, EVP, General Counsel, Wells Fargo & Co.
• Vanessa Washington, Senior EVP, General Counsel & Secretary, Bank of the West

View a photo slideshow from the event: