United Way of the Bay Area Blog
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There are just a few weeks left in this year’s tax filing season, and United Way’s Earn It! Keep It! Save It! free tax assistance program is on track to serve more than 55,000 low- and moderate-income tax filers in the Bay Area. We recently met returning client Jonathan H. at the free tax site at Mission Economic Development [...]
Umpqua Bank proudly displays a sign in their lobby that promotes their affiliation with SparkPoint American Canyon, their neighbor just a few store fronts away. The partnership between SparkPoint and Umpqua Bank has come out of necessity and circumstance. Located in southern Napa County, the small city of American Canyon (population 16,000) has been hit [...]
Jose Zuniga, a father of two who lives in Napa County’s American Canyon, was unemployed when he turned to SparkPoint. It had been a while since he was last out of work, so he knew he needed to not only update his resume, but also improve his job-hunting skills. Jose credits SparkPoint Employment Coach Stacy [...]
A few years ago, Evelyn Ibanez never imagined her family could become homeless. She and her husband held steady, full-time jobs at the same Bay Area company for more than a decade. But when the recession hit, they were both laid off, victims of corporate downsizing. After exhausting their savings, the family of five became [...]
The American Canyon Eagle newspaper published a great article about the recent one-year anniversary celebration at the SparkPoint American Canyon Center. Here’s an excerpt: SparkPoint — the United Way program the helps families with financial issues such as employment, credit, taxes, career advancement and more — marked its one-year anniversary in American Canyon last week. [...]
SparkPoint American Canyon Center hosted a community open house celebration last Thursday evening to celebrate its one-year anniversary. With more than 100 guests in attendance, festivities spilled out onto the sidewalk. Volunteers from UPS were on hand to welcome guests, serve food and drink, and help with the “wheel of fortune” game. SparkPoint American Canyon [...]
United Way’s Fall Backpack Drive was a big success! United Way gathered and distributed more than 1,000 backpacks overflowing with school supplies to children from low-income families, thanks to the generous donations and volunteers from more than a dozen Bay Area companies. The back packs were delivered to children whose families are clients at United Way’s SparkPoint [...]
Emma, a mother of three, first came to the American Canyon Family Resource Center three years ago to participate in a “Positive Discipline” parent education workshop. Since then, she has taken advantage of several resources offered by the Resource Center, including free tax assistance, financial coaching, credit counseling, and employment resources that have been added [...]
Yesterday, 3.5 million California children who depend on Medi-Cal were at risk of losing their health coverage. Today, those children and their families can breathe a sigh of relief because the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that extends critically-needed federal Medicaid funding to 30 states, including $1.3 billion for California. This funding will enable [...]
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. SparkPoint career coach Lloyd Williams worked with Jackie to refresh her job-search strategies. Lloyd is an employee of the Workforce Collaborative, one [...]
