fbpx
donate

January 25: Lifting Children & Families Out of Poverty Member Briefing

Written by

Connect with legislators and legislative staff, partners and advocates, and community members at one of our first events of 2023!

  • Who: Co-hosted by ECPCA & EPIC
    • Speakers include: Sen. Skinner, Dolores Huerta Foundation, + more!
  • What: Lifting Children & Families Out of Poverty Member Briefing
  • When: Wednesday, January 25  |  12:00-1:30 pm PST
  • Where: 1021 O Street, Room 1200 | Sacramento, CA
    • No live stream, a recording will be available after the event
  • RSVP: Via Eventbrite
  • How about legislative visits? This is a perfect opportunity to check in with representatives and staff! We’re asking partners to schedule visits around the 12-1:30 pm briefing time. 
  • Support us: Spread the word by sharing the invite, the Eventbrite link, and/or one of our social posts with your networks!
  • Questions? Contact Andrew Cheyne
Rectangle with three rows of colors: grey brown, light blue, and dark blue and a yellow border. Dandelion images in the background. Top left corner says IMAGINE and top right corner has the EPIC and ECPCA logos. Text reads: Member Briefing: Lifting Children & Families Out of Poverty. Join Sen. Nancy Skinner, Dolores Huerta Foundation, people with lived expertise, and advocates for a briefing on 2023 policy priorities to lift children and families out of poverty. Bottom includes details on the event (included in text).

Join Our L.A. 2020 Campaign Launch with Dolores Huerta & Senator Holly Mitchell

Written by

End Child Poverty California 2020 Los Angeles Launch image

NOTE LOCATION UPDATE: St. John’s Well Child and Family Center (Rolland Curtis), 1060 Exposition Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90007

Let’s celebrate 2019’s End Child Poverty California wins, and get the Plan passed in FULL in 2020! Our families work hard every day. The time to end extreme child poverty is NOW.

Join us on Friday, February 21, 2020, at 10 a.m. to launch our Los Angeles Community Campaign. ==> Click to Register

The Los Angeles launch and press conference will feature civil rights leader Dolores Huerta, Senator Holly Mitchell, and others. In collaboration with the Dolores Huerta Foundation, we’re proud to announce the primary sponsors for this event are St. John’s Well Child and Family Center and Crystal Stairs.

LOCATION: St. John’s Well Child and Family Center (Rolland Curtis), 1060 Exposition Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90007

Find Out More and Register for the L.A. 2020 Launch

Join us at 10 a.m. for snacks and welcome. The press conference will start at 10:30 a.m. and will be followed by neighborhood community outreach. This is a free event.

Help make the L.A. 2020 Launch great:

==> Share the Facebook event page, and mark that you’re interested and/or coming:

==> RSVP and share the Information and registration page.

==> Sign the 2020 petition to our leaders.

==> Retweet and comment on the Twitter event announcement.

==> Download and print flyers to put up:

End Child Poverty CA 2020 Los Angeles Launch Flyers (English and Spanish)Download

The End Child Poverty in California campaign is sponsored by GRACE (Gather, Respect, Advocate, Change, Engage) and the End Child Poverty Institute to end extreme child poverty and reduce overall child poverty in California. In close partnership with the Dolores Huerta Foundation, we are working to increase support and community engagement across the state. We invite you to be part of the movement to address the highest child poverty rate in the nation by implementing simple solutions to a complex issue. Read our 2020 priorities.

Help Us Reach 1,500 Signatures!

Written by

In January, California legislators got a visit from parents, children, and #EndChildPovertyCA partners who came to Sacramento with a simple message: We have the solutions to end extreme child poverty — now we need the political champions to join our movement.

Add your voice to ours: Sign our petition TODAY to tell our legislators this is the year to end extreme child poverty in California — and help us reach our NEW 1,500-signature goal!
Parents, children, and partners at the #Together4Kids2020 advocacy event in Sacramento where we sent the message that ALL our kids should be healthy, fed, & housed
In Sacramento, Parent Voices California parent Monique Rosas reminded legislators that California’s child poverty rate isn’t a failure of people — it’s a result of divestment in public systems for communities and families. “Not being able to afford childcare or housing has a lot to do with the broken system, not the people,” she said. “We will continue to fight until our children are housed, fed, and supported in love.” 

We have a chance to repair that broken system this year, and support among our elected leaders is growing. The Governor’s budget already includes three of our five legislative priorities for 2020: These are wins you helped achieve! And now, we’re going all in to tell legislators that it’s time to pass all five.

Will you sign our petition TODAY to help us reach our NEW 1,500-signature goal?
We are so grateful to our partner, the California Alternative Payment Program Association, for organizing #Together4Kids2020, and to dozens of partners like Children Now, California Association of Food Banks, Parent Voices California, Western Center on Law & Poverty, Hayward Promise Neighborhood, Alameda County Community Food Bank, and MORE who showed up with their voices and their signs!

California is the richest place in the nation, with more millionaires and billionaires than any other state. Ending extreme child poverty here isn’t a pipe dream. It’s something we can and will achieve — with the help of our legislators, our partners, and you.

In Solidarity,
Jackie Thu-Huong Wong
Vice President of Policy and Advocacy
End Child Poverty CA

You’re Part of the 42% of Californians Who Know We Have a Child Poverty Crisis

Written by

Californians engaged to #EndChildPovertyCA in Fresno, Ca., this May

As a member of the #EndChildPovertyCA movement, you’re a part of the 42% of Californians who know there’s a child poverty crisis in our state.

I want to thank you for being engaged in this issue. Deep child poverty is not a fact of nature — it’s a result of policy, and we’re changing it together.

December is the most important fundraising month for movements like this. The more we raise now, the more ambitious we can be in 2020. Will you contribute to our growing movement today?

The needs of our children living in deep poverty can’t wait: There are almost half a million of them, and their dreams and futures are being cut short because of a lack of access to food, healthcare and, all too often, basic shelter. 

Our families are working hard to make ends meet. There’s so much more we can do together to change the underlying structures that make poverty so persistent — and California is the only state with a plan to do it. Alongside our families, our partner organizations, community leaders, and allies like you, we’re working to #PassThePlan to end deep child poverty in our state for good.

Will you contribute to help us achieve our goals for 2020, so we can get the End Child Poverty Plan passed in full?

DONATE ANY AMOUNT

$10

$25

$50

$100

If you can’t donate to #EndChildPovertyCA today, just remember: Most Californians don’t know there’s a child poverty crisis in our state. You can change that by sharing news about our movement with your friends — in person and online.

Share on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

Together, we’ll turn 42% into 100% — and make California the first state to end deep child poverty.

Thanks for all you do,

Conway Collis
President and CEO of GRACE and End Child Poverty California

_____

End Child Poverty CA is a movement to build a bright future for ALL California kids and free our families from the cycle of poverty. If someone forwarded you this email, sign up here to get updates from End Child Poverty CA. 

Giving Tuesday: Powering Our Movement

Written by

It’s the season of giving, and we’d like you to think about your gifts. The voices, donations, and talents of our community — big or small — make this movement strong. And everyone has something to give as we build a California where all children are fed, healthy, and housed. 

2019 has been a powerful year for the End Child Poverty CA movement.

Thousands of you made our movement a huge success this year.

➡️ You spoke up for the End Child Poverty Plan.

➡️ You showed up in Chula Vista, LA, Pomona, Weedpatch, Fresno, Salinas, Oakland, and Sacramento.

➡️ You shared your stories in front of crowds of hundreds of people, in your communities and educated legislators and other officials. 

Throughout the year, the powerful testimonies of parents cut through the politics to make the needs of our communities clear. Your stories stick with us — stories like the one from Ana, who spoke on behalf or our partner Mission Promise Neighborhood. Her words continue to inspire us:

“[I’ve learned] not to keep my voice within myself but speak it out to share my knowledge so other families can advocate for their children, because we are all advocates. We just need to… speak up and say, ‘This is what I need for my children, and all of the children.’”

Community members like Ana are building momentum to power this movement in 2020. Will you chip in to power it, too?

Donate any amount

$10

$25

$50

$100

Together in 2020, we’re going to…

  • Make sure the Child Tax Credit is expanded to help children and families in extreme poverty have adequate food, housing and other essentials. It’s the most potent piece of #ThePlan to END extreme child poverty in our state.
  • Partner with civil rights leader Dolres Huerta, co-founder of the United Farmworkers and founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation to build a grassroots army of Californians mobilized to end child poverty in our state for good. On-the-ground community teams will serve as local action hubs to free our families from the cycle of poverty. 
  • Organize events and rallies around the state. We’re going to remind our leaders that child poverty is a moral and political choice — not an inevitability — and we’re serious about ending it.
  • Expand our network so that we’re impossible to ignore. We’re more than tripling the number of partners and community members involved to #PassThePlan and end extreme poverty for 450,000 California children. 

Will you chip in to help us achieve our goals? Every dollar makes a difference.

We’re filled with gratitude this holiday season — and we’re also aware that there are a lot of expenses this time of year. If you can’t donate right now, please forward this email to one or two people to let them know that there’s a place for them in our growing movement to END extreme poverty for our children.

For the last forty years I’ve been involved with serving youth caught in the juvenile justice system and foster care, helping to overcome educational disadvantage and to provide desperately needed healthcare. We can end the abject poverty that so often leads to these human crisis and enormous state costs. For children in abject poverty, in and out of homelessness, their needs can’t wait. Please join us.

With gratitude,

Conway Collis
President and CEO
GRACE

End Child Poverty CA is a movement to build a bright future for ALL California kids and free our families from the cycle of poverty. If someone forwarded you this email, sign up here to get updates from End Child Poverty CA. 

ACTION: Get Loud for Child Care & Foster Youth

Written by

Child care and strong support for foster youth are two pieces of the End Child Poverty Plan facing upcoming hearings. (See below for good news about support for foster youth!)

The power of the End Child Poverty Plan is in its comprehensive approach. It tackles many factors that push families into poverty or keep them there. There’s no magic bullet. Get involved and stay involved: share this post and tweet or share to Facebook in support of the End Child Poverty Plan Legislation.

CHILD CARE: BUDGET HEARING + AB 194 

ASSEMBLY BUDGET HEARING 3/26

TWEET THIS

We support expansion of #childcare for CA families. Parents are losing jobs because they can’t get care. Our families can’t wait. @AsmKevinMcCarty @Bill_Brough @J_GallagherAD3 @AsmMoniqueLimon @AsmJoseMedina @AsmMuratsuchi @AsmPatODonnell @PhilTing @JayObernolte #EndChildPoverty

CLICK TO RETWEET: https://twitter.com/EndChildPovCA/status/1110554014142197768

AB 194, Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes (D- San Bernardino) 

AB 194 will dramatically expand access to child care through a $1B investment, which is long overdue. Your tweets and social shares let our leaders know there’s deep support for expanding child care access and affordability.

TWEET THIS

Without child care, parents can’t work to provide for their families. Parents need affordable, reliable care. We support #AB194 (@AsmReyes47) to expand #childcare for CA families. #EndChildPoverty @AD26Mathis @AsmStevenChoi68 @laurafriedman43 @AsmMikeGipson @BMaienschein

Click to tweet: https://ctt.ac/bXm5Y

***

Child care is life-changing. Without it, parents can’t go to school to build their careers. We support #AB194 (@AsmReyes47) to expand #childcare for CA families. @AD26Mathis @AsmStevenChoi68 @laurafriedman43 @AsmMikeGipson @BMaienschein #EndChildPoverty #PassThePlan

Click to tweet: https://ctt.ac/yJOW4

SUPPORTS FOR FOSTER YOUTH: AB 531

Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale)

Foster youth experience homelessness and housing instability at much higher rates than their peers. In one survey, over 35% of youth experienced homelessness while enrolled in extended foster care. California has expanded its transitional-age programs for foster youth aged 18-24 in recent years. Now we need to fulfill our promise to support them with AB 531: increased access to safe, stable housing.

GOOD NEWS: AB 531 will be adopted unanimously. Help us say THANK YOU to the members of the Assembly Human Services Committee. 

TWEET THIS

CA made a promise to #fosteryouth. THANK YOU @AsmReyes47 @AD26Mathis @AsmStevenChoi68 @laurafriedman43 @AsmMikeGipson @BMaienschein for helping keep it. #AB531 provides transitional housing support for foster youth as they become adults. #EndChildPoverty #PassThePlan

Click to tweet: https://ctt.ac/6yeET

 

 

 

Let’s Get Loud: Social Media for End Child Poverty Plan Budget Hearings

Written by

Big decisions are being made right now about the End Child Poverty Plan. Let’s make our voices loud: 450,000 kids living in deep poverty depend on it. 

The CA Legislature is in the middle of its budget process. Leaders are deciding where money goes and which programs get funded. We know that these End Child Poverty Plan recommendations take financial commitment:

  1. The Targeted Child Tax Credit
  2. Expanded CalWORKs grants
  3. An expanded California Earned Income Tax Credit

These three programs will eliminate deep child poverty and have a significant impact in reducing overall child poverty. We need to make sure our leaders know we want them funded. The State Assembly Budget Committee on Tax Credits meets to discuss budget priorities at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 12. 

Here’s what to do:

  1. Send a tweet or two (tweets & social graphics below)
  2. Make a call (script & phone numbers below)
  3. Join us at the hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, 3/12 (RSVP details below)

1. TWEET THESE

Copy, paste, and download a graphic OR push “click to tweet” without a graphic.

A. ==> CLICK TO TWEET <==

A strong California economy should make all of us stronger. Let’s support #CalEITC #CalWORKs and a #TargetedChildTaxCredit. With these powers combined, we can end deep child poverty. @autumnrburke @AsmJimCooper @GavinNewsom @Rendon63rd @PhilTing #EndChildPoverty #PassThePlan

–

B. ==> CLICK TO TWEET <==

We can END poverty for 450K kids in CA with this triple threat:

-a Targeted Child Tax Credit

-an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit

-expanded CalWORKs

Let’s dream big: #EndChildPoverty #PassThePlan

–

C. ==> CLICK TO TWEET <==

Young or old. Big or small. Brave or bold… The California Dream is for ALL OF US. Let’s push for a #TargetedChildTaxCredit and expanded #CalEITC & #CalWORKs so the CA Dream is in reach for everyone. #EndChildPoverty #PassThePlan

–

D. ==> CLICK TO TWEET <==

Californians are doing everything they can to make ends meet. That’s why ALL low-income workers in CA should get the Earned Income Tax Credit. Spread the word—the #CalEITC is for everyone. @autumnrburke @AsmJimCooper @GavinNewsom @Rendon63rd @PhilTing

2. MAKE TWO CALLS BEFORE NOON ON 3/12

  1. Committee Chair Asm. Jim Cooper: (916) 319-2009
  2. Committee Chair Asm. Autumn Burke: (916) 319-2062 

CALL SCRIPT:

Hi, my name is ___. I live in ___. I’m calling, in advance of this week’s budget hearing, to support the End Child Poverty Plan. Almost half a million kids in our state live in extreme poverty. This is a moral crisis. Please help by supporting a Targeted Child Tax Credit and expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and CalWORKs for low-income families and families in deep poverty. I support the California Dream for all of us. Thank you!

3. JOIN US for the hearing on 3/12 at 1:30 p.m. in Sacramento

We want to pack the room with as many End Child Poverty Plan supporters as we can. We’ve already heard from legislators that they’re seeing our red stickers all over the capitol. We need to keep it up! If you can make it, email Evelyn at evelyn@grace-inc.org to let us know you want to come. You can also mark your calendar for one of our next big dates:

  1. March 25 hearing for SB 298 (Caballero) the End Child Poverty Act
  2. April 11 Senate Budget Committee Hearing

–

Thank you! The End Child Poverty Plan is a coordinated set of solutions that will eliminate deep child poverty and cut overall child poverty in half. Stay tuned for more action opportunities focused on these and the other End Child Poverty Plan recommendations.

PETITION TO OUR LEADERS: Make Ending Child Poverty a 2019 Priority

Written by

We have to make sure our California leaders know that for 2 million kids, ending child poverty can’t wait.

We’re at a key juncture as Governor Gavin Newsom revises his proposed California budget and legislators fight for their bills. SIGN ON to tell our elected leaders that the End Child Poverty Plan should be a key priority in 2019.

  • It’s comprehensive and achievable.
  • It invests in families and communities.
  • It will END extreme poverty in California for 450,000 kids.

Let’s do this! The End Child Poverty Plan letter has already been signed by over 60 esteemed California organizations. Seventeen pieces of legislation supporting the plan have already been introduced and the list is growing. We have to keep the momentum going so Governor Newsom and California State Legislators know this movement is only growing. Click to sign on:

Read the full letter below and click here for the press release. Help amplify the movement by sharing on social media:

    

Dear Governor Newsom and Budget Leaders of the California State Legislature:

We are writing as a broad coalition of Californians to ask that you urgently and immediately take actions to end deep childhood poverty and substantially reduce overall child and family poverty in California by implementing the End Child Poverty Plan.

One in five children in California live in poverty. We are the 5th largest economy in the world with the highest percentage and largest number of children living in poverty of any state in the nation. This is a human and a fiscal crisis that we have the ability to solve.

According to the Harvard Center on the Developing Child, the toxic stress of extreme poverty has a life-long negative impact on a child’s brain development. The same research indicates that the impact can be reversed by making the proven investments recommended by California’s Child Poverty Task Force that reduce or eliminate the need for more costly remediation in the future.

The Task Force’s End Child Poverty Plan is comprehensive, research-based, and community-informed. When fully implemented, the plan will end deep poverty for the 450,000 children in California living under 50% of the federal poverty line within four years and substantially reduce California’s highest-in-the-nation level of overall child and family poverty.

As children’s advocates, non-profits, religious leaders, business organizations, and concerned individuals we urge that the comprehensive End Child Poverty Plan be acted on immediately.

Reducing child and family poverty by 50% will also have a net positive impact on state and local government budgets of an estimated minimum of $12 billion annually in reduced remedial health, social service and educational expenditures and increased tax revenues.

The Governor’s proposed budget is an excellent starting point to begin reducing childhood poverty, especially for children living in deep poverty. The California Legislature can take the important step to eliminate deep poverty among families with children in the short term and to reduce overall childhood poverty by fifty percent by 2023 by adopting the Task Force’s science-based budget proposals. They include:

Primary Investments

  • Increase grants in the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program to bring families up above deep poverty as proposed in the Budget Act of 2018.
  • Increase and expand access to the Earned Income Tax Credit.
  • Adopt a Targeted Child Tax Credit (TCTC) that would put money back in the pocket of families and put it to work in the economy. This proposal also serves to provide a rental subsidy for families living in deep poverty or experiencing homelessness. Research conducted by the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality shows that cash or near cash subsidies have a long-term positive impact on reducing childhood poverty and increasing the overall economic health of a community. The TCTC alone, when fully implemented will eliminate deep child poverty within four years.

Foundational Investments

  • Guarantee access to early care and education for children 0–8 years of age who are living in poverty in order to support child early development and families’ employment, education, health and upward mobility.
  • Expand voluntary home visiting programs to support pregnant women and families with young children.
  • Add 20 state-funded Promise Neighborhoods offering coordinated, community-driven support services.
  • Secure Healthcare for All Californians.
  • Fully fund transitional housing programs and supports for foster care youth up to the age of 21.

We urge these investments for the children of California today, to support the California Dream for each of our children.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

Also signed and supported by:

GRACE

Children Now

Children’s Defense Fund

County Welfare Directors Association of California

First 5 CA

First 5 Los Angeles

Fresno EOC Street Saints

Home Start, Inc.

Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce

St. John’s Well Child and Family Center

Western Center on Law and Poverty

Youth Policy Institute

The Actors Gang

Alameda County Community Food Bank

Alliance for Children’s Rights

American Academy of Pediatrics

Barrio Logan College Institute

California Alternative Payment Program Association (CAPPA)

California Association of Food Banks

California Catholic Conference

California Emerging Technology Fund

California Interfaith Coalition

CalEITC4ME

Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County

Child Care Law Center

Child Care Resource Center

Children’s Advocacy Institute

Children’s Institute

Children’s Network of Solano County

Clinica Romero

Council on American-Islamic Relations

Cradle to Career Fresno County

First 5 Alameda

First 5 Association of CA

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano County

Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission

Friends Committee on Legislation of California

Good Samaritan

Jamestown Community Center (The)

Jewish Center for Justice

John Burton Advocates for Youth

JPAC – Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California

Lutheran Office of Public Policy- CA

Marin Promise Neighborhoods

Maryvale

Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA)

Mission Graduates

National Association of Social Workers

National Center for Youth Law

National Council for Jewish Women

National Foster Youth Institute

Parent Voices

Pathways LA

Policy Link

Rise Together Bay Area

SALEF (Salvadorian American Leadership and Educational Fund)

Shields for Families

South Bay Community Services

United Way Bay Area

United Way California

United Way of Greater Los Angeles

 

cc: Members of the California State Legislature

IMAGINE: End Child Poverty California's Vision for a Just Future
ECPCA: 2019 Bus Tour
Gov. Newsom Signs Historic Budget
John Lewis, Civil Rights Leader

Twitter Feed