In May, United Way gathered with community leaders from the North Vallejo Health Collaborative to celebrate the grand opening of a children’s health center at Vallejo’s Elsa Widenmann Elementary School. United Way provided a $100,000 grant to support the clinic. The grant is one of our many investments in Community Schools, which bring essential services to families and students on [...]
Rising Numbers of Children Living in Poverty
June 8, 2010 By
According to an alarming article in today’s USA Today, “the rate of children living in poverty this year will climb to nearly 22%, the highest rate in two decades, according to an analysis by the non-profit Foundation for Child Development. Nearly 17% of children were living in poverty in 2006, before the recession began.” The [...]
Reject Budget Cuts to Children's Health Care
June 7, 2010 By
One of the ”muscles” that United Way flexes in our community impact work is advocating for sound public policy. Below is a recent letter to the editor from United Way CEO Anne Wilson, written in response to the Governor’s recently proposed budget revisions, which could put health care out of reach for thousands of our state’s poorest children. The letter appeared in [...]
FREE Summer Meals for Bay Area Kids
June 4, 2010 By
Communities throughout the Bay Area will begin free summer meal programs for children this month, serving meals on weekdays throughout the summer at summer-school and community sites. All children 18 years old and younger are eligible, regardless of their families’ income. Families are encouraged to dial 2-1-1 for free meal information in more than 150 [...]
United Way Goes to the Capitol
April 29, 2010 By
United Ways of California are now organizing our fourth annual Capitol Day, which will take place in Sacramento on May 5. Last year, more than 50 United Way staff and volunteers from across the state met with legislators to promote our public policy agenda. This year’s event will continue strengthen United Way’s relationships with California’s key decision [...]
United Way supports First 5
April 15, 2010 By
United Way recently took a stand to support First 5 California, sending letters to Assembly and Senate members throughout the Bay Area to encourage them to preserve funding for this critical program. First 5 pays for children’s health insurance and education, as well as health and human services that benefit children and families throughout the [...]
West Marin Mom Blossoms as a Community Leader
March 24, 2010 By
Elvira de Santiago first learned about the Shoreline School Readiness program after giving birth to her fifth child in 2007. She took advantage of Shoreline’s insurance enrollment assistance, the car seat program and parent education workshops. United Way funds the Shoreline School Readiness program, a child-services collaborative that serves hundreds of families in West Marin, [...]
Making Kids Smile
March 18, 2010 By
Three-year-old Doug was recently referred to the PDI Surgery Center, a United Way grantee, after Baby Bottle Tooth Decay badly corroded his teeth. This kind of tooth decay is most often associated with young children who fall asleep with bottles in their mouths, allowing sugary liquids (juice and milk) to pool around their teeth. All told, Doug needed 11 teeth capped [...]
Fighting for Children’s Health
February 16, 2010 By
Jenny Li of San Francisco lost her health insurance and her job as a line supervisor at a Bay Area electronics manufacturer because the company relocated to Mexico in 2007. The loss of insurance would have had devastating effects. Jenny’s teenage son is challenged by mental-health issues that require two types of medication and regular [...]
Thinking Outside the Classroom to Help Children Achieve
February 8, 2010 By
One of our long-standing focuses has been on raising student achievement across the Bay Area. One of the ways we’ve done this is through our Community School model which integrates multiple support services like mentoring and parenting programs, with school activities in low-income neighborhoods. This has yielded significant results for students including reduced violence, better [...]
