FedEx Volunteers Bolster SparkPoint Resource Fair

As part of FedEx’s 6th annual Cares Week, a team of 45 FedEx employees from around the Bay Area helped United Way host a community resource fair at the SparkPoint Oakland Center on September 24.

The volunteers completed a wide range of tasks to support the event, which was held at Lion Creek Crossings, the housing complex which is home to SparkPoint Oakland Center.  FedEx volunteers: 

  • assembled more than 250 food baskets and backpacks, which were distributed to low-income families.
  • knocked on doors throughout the housing complex to encourage residents to attend the resource fair.
  • distributed information about United Way programs, such as SparkPoint, 211,Earn It! Keep It! Save It!, and BankOn Oakland.
  • served up root beer floats and passed out balloons to families.
  • gathered surveys from residents, which will inform SparkPoint’s efforts to serve the community.

United Way’s Sparkpoint Oakland Center is one of several one-stop centers in the Bay Area that offers a full-range of personalized mentoring and financial coaching services. Each center helps families to create a step-by-step plan that tackles their unique financial challenges, and connects them to services that help them move up the career ladder, build assets and manage their credit. The SparkPoint Oakland Center has served more than 400 people since it opened in 2009.

In celebration of FedEx’s 6th annual Cares Week, thousands of employees from more than 30 cities across the country and over 40 countries around the world came together to give back to their communities and volunteer for special services and events. During the week of September 20, FedEx team members participated in thousands of local projects celebrating the spirit of volunteerism, collaboration and community.

The “Spark” in SparkPoint

Oakland resident Jackie B. came to SparkPoint Oakland Center in January after seeing an ABC-7 news segment about SparkPoint.  After being unemployed for two years, Jackie hoped SparkPoint could help with her job search.

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SparkPoint career coach Lloyd Williams worked with Jackie to refresh her job-search strategies.  Lloyd is an employee of the Workforce Collaborative, one of five organizations that work together to deliver services at SparkPoint Oakland Center.  Jackie and Lloyd met regularly to talk about Jackie’s goals and her job search. She credits Lloyd with being the “spark” that helped her stay motivated.

“SparkPoint gave me the inspiration I needed to keep going and not give up,” said Jackie.  “They look out for you and help you like family. There’s a lot of love here.”

In early May, Jackie secured a full-time position, with benefits, as a customer service representative at the Oakland Marina.  She says she loves her new job.

Learn more about SparkPoint.

SparkPoint Featured on Front Page of SF Chronicle

United Way’s SparkPoint Centers are featured on the front page of today’s San Francisco Chronicle.

United Way Centers offer credit, career advice

Janeise Ollison’s eyes lit up as she described how she was advised to fix her credit and boost her savings.

“It was real simple; I paid one little PG&E bill for like $35 from two or three years ago, and my credit score jumped,” she said. “And the check-cashing place had been ripping me off; at least $50 of my monthly checks went to them. That’s money that could be in my pocket.”

The 24-year-old mother of two, who has worked as a security guard and bus operator, got even more buoyant discussing the career counseling that led her to study culinary arts and restaurant management, and to develop a plan to start a catering business with her mother.

Ollison got all that guidance from the SparkPoint Center in Oakland, a new concept being pioneered by United Way of the Bay Area to help working families build financial stability. It’s a one-stop shop that brings together multiple agencies and counselors to help low-income people improve their credit, build their assets and increase their income.

 Read the entire article.