End Child Poverty CA Celebrates Successful IMAGINE 2024 #ForwardTogether Legislative Briefing!

THANK YOU to our End Child Poverty Coalition partners, allies, & friends for an amazing IMAGINE 2024 #ForwardTogether Legislative Briefing! The day was filled with storytelling, collaboration, advocacy, and a commitment to move #ForwardTogether, no going back. Take a look at our livestream and highlights!

Coalition members spoke about anti-hunger priorities, baby bonds for foster youth, state budget needs for children, fair living wages for childcare providers, MediCal renewal, access to tax credits and resources, and more! We sincerely appreciate the support and words of elected leaders Assemblymember Liz Ortega and Jess Bartholow from Senator Nancy Skinner’s office.

Powerful personal stories push our leaders to act. Thank you so much to Junebug, Liliana, Sayda, Bryan, Benyamin, Jess, for sharing their heart and soul in front of a standing-room-only crowd. We were incredibly grateful to Assemblymember Liz Ortega for sharing her personal story of being a single mother fighting for dignity. She now takes that experience to the capital to create change–acting on diaper needs and other issues affecting families. 

Advocates Tiffany, Itzúl, Jennifer, Kristen, Anna, Terri, Alissa, Bryan and Jessica laid out each part of the 2024 IMAGINE campaign’s policy priorities this year. The End Child Poverty CA Coalition has been incredibly successful in winning billions of dollars in proven investments to lift up children and families. In a tough economic year, we are committed to creative, equity-focused ways to continue moving forward. 

“I either pay someone out of pocket to take care of them with money we don’t have or I stay home and feel like I can’t give them the education I want for them when they’re young. We should be able to get ahead.“
– Liliana Camacho, Parent Voices Santa Clara

“In my family the idea of food has always been associated with money, stress, basic necessity. I want to save other families the stress of such a tight food budget.”
– Bryan, Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano

As Alissa Anderson of the California Budget and Policy Center said, “We know which investments are needed but we also know how to make those investments. It’s through fairer taxation. This is a policy choice and elected officials can choose differently.” 

The Legislative briefing was a great opportunity to come together behind a shared vision to move #ForwardTogether in 2024 to end child poverty. 

Partnership is an essential part of our work and our collective mission. TOGETHER, we will continue to IMAGINE a future where our children are secure, nourished, respected, valued, and free. Thank you to all the attendees, including Senate and Assembly staff, consultants, and other agency representatives who took the time to come out and listen.

• Shout outs to everyone who helped make this day happen, including our speakers!
  • Jess Bartholow, Senator Nancy Skinner, and her team
  • Margaret Hanlon and the Legislative Women’s Caucus
  • Assemblymember Liz Ortega and her team
  • Alissa Anderson, California Budget & Policy Center
  • Amerika Nino-Rodriguez, Dolores Huerta Foundation
  • Tiffany Whiten, SEIU California
  • Liliana Camacho and June Kealoha; Jennifer Greppi and the entire Parent Voices squad
  • Kristen Golden Testa, The Children’s Partnership
  • Bryan Rodriguez, Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano
  • Itzúl Gutierrez, California Association of Food Banks
  • Benyamin Chao, California Immigrant Policy Center
  • Sayda Turcios, Lideres Campesinas & Safety Net for All Coalition
  • Richard Raya, MEDA and Mission Promise Neighborhood
  • Teri Olle, Economic Security Project California
  • Anna Hasselblad, United Ways of California
  • Sara Bachez, Children Now
• Major kudos to our partners who filled the room and tuned in on Instagram! ECPCA organizations participating included:
  • Golden State Opportunity
  • California Budget & Policy Center
  • The Children’s Partnership
  • California Association of Food Banks
  • Western Center on Law and Poverty
  • Parent Voices
  • Child Care Resource Center
  • Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations
  • California WIC Association
  • Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano
  • The CAP Center
  • California Catholic Conference
  • United Ways of California
  • Friends Committee on Legislation of California
  • Oakland Promise
  • Dolores Huerta Foundation
  • Children Now
  • Economic Security Council California
  • SEIU California
  • Lideres Campesinas
  • Safety Net for All Coalition
  • California Immigrant Policy Center
  • PolicyLink