Stephanie McLemore Bray - United Way California Capital Region

Post August 12, 2019 Stephanie McLemore Bray

The Square One Philosophy

August 2019 Blog Post

In 2016, United Way California Capital Region made a promise to children and families in this region that we would end poverty, starting at school. Behind this audacious goal is the philosophy that by bringing together funders, nonprofit organizations, government, and the business community, we can remove barriers to opportunity for low-income families. Since adopting this philosophy, we have not only served more individuals, but we have also seen promising outcomes. From improvements in grade-level reading, to helping families move closer to self-sufficiency, the Square One Project is working.

It is with great pride that we share with you these outcomes and more in our annual report. In this report, released just this week, we celebrate our Square One Project’s work to keep kids in school, keep them on track, set high expectations for their success, while supporting their families along the way.

At our United Way, we believe in possibility-thinking and so do the children and families we serve. Whether students in the Robla School district, or families throughout the region who are working toward financial stability and independence, all have a stake in building the future they want for themselves and their children. They understand the importance of creating a legacy that will move them from crisis to thriving. With the help of our nonprofit partners, we are able to meet these families where they are so that they can get there. In the annual report, you will read about the programs and partnerships that are fueling the Square One Project’s success.

It takes the generosity of donors and volunteers to make those outcomes possible. Our corporate partners, foundations, and individual donors, including Women United and our Young Leaders Society, are the engines that drive our fundraising and community engagement. And of course, we could not do what we do without the steadfast generosity and hard work of our United Way Board members and staff.

Please share this annual report with your family, friends, and colleagues. We are so proud of our work, and I hope that as a partner with us, you are, too.

Post June 27, 2019 Stephanie McLemore Bray

United Way California Capital Region Merges with Woodland United Way
Merger will increase community impact throughout the region

After a year of exploration, community meetings and preparation, Woodland United Way and United Way California Capital Region have officially merged.

The new organization operates under the United Way California Capital Region name. Both groups’ boards of directors unanimously approved the merger earlier this month. The merged United Way California Capital Region maintains offices in Woodland and Sacramento. Woodland United Way executive director Lori Ross is now a staff member at United Way California Capital Region directing its Yolo County programs from the Woodland office.

“Our organizations have a long history of collaboration and shared common goals. We approached United Way California Capital Region nearly a year ago to discuss a potential merger as a way to enhance our ability to serve our community,” said Mike Jansen, board chair, Woodland United Way. “Together, as one local United Way we are stronger and better equipped to improve the lives of residents throughout our region.”

“We are thrilled that our longtime partnership with Woodland United Way takes on an even stronger form today,” said Stephanie Bray, president and CEO, United Way California Capital Region. “This merger ensures we are using our resources wisely and efficiently as we work to increase the number of kids across our region who graduate from high school ready for success in college or career.”

The merger will continue the former Woodland United Way’s work to make lasting change in Yolo County through education, including its KinderCamp, Read to Succeed, Imagination Library and Woodland Kids Read programs. Woodland City Manager Paul Navazio and John Purcell, senior vice president at Bayer Crop Science, have joined United Way’s board of directors, and the group has created the Woodland Community Advisory Committee chaired by Woodland resident, former Woodland United Way board member and longtime United Way California Capital Region board member Ruth Miller.

“Our region and our residents are already benefiting from the combined experience, expertise and resources of both organizations,” Miller said. “I have seen how exceptional these two organizations have been individually, and I look forward to their work together to create stronger, healthier communities for families in Woodland and across the region.”

The partnership between the two United Ways recently resulted in Pioneer High School in Woodland attracting a P-TECH program. The P-TECH initiative created by IBM allows students to earn an associate’s degree in STEM along with a high school diploma and paid summer internships with local industry partners. Pioneer’s P-TECH program, SEED Academy, will open in partnership with Woodland Community College in fall 2021.

“Pioneer’s SEED Academy is an incredible asset to our community,” Ross said. “Merging our organizations is already bringing significant resources to Woodland, and I look forward to continuing to direct United Way’s presence in Yolo County.”

Over the past year, United Way has already expanded support and partnerships with nonprofits in Woodland and Yolo County. For the past three years, United Way California Capital Region has collaborated with Empower Yolo to offer free tax preparation services at Woodland High School. This partnership has helped Woodland residents claim more than $1 million in federal tax refunds. Through United Way, Yolo CASA became the first nonprofit partner in the region to offer the CalSavers Retirement Savings program to its employees.

For nearly 100 years, United Way California Capital Region has brought local people together to make community change happen. Today, the nonprofit is bringing people together across Amador, El Dorado, Sacramento, Placer and Yolo counties for its Square One Project, a 20-year promise to significantly increase the number of students in our region who graduate from high school ready for success in college and beyond. United Way believes ending poverty starts in school and is working to ensure kids meet important milestones and their families receive support and resources.

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Post June 7, 2019 Stephanie McLemore Bray

Charting a Path to Financial Wellness
How United Way's programs are different than most out there.

June 2019 Blog Post

Philosopher Lao Tzu once said, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

At our United Way, we strive to bring out the potential in everyone. Whether a child who is struggling to read, or an adult trying to make ends meet, we convene, we collaborate and we commit to helping people tap into their potential to live healthy, productive lives. This includes achieving financial wellness.

For thirteen years, United Way has worked in collaboration with local government, non-profit organizations, businesses, and an army of volunteers to ensure that low and moderate income families don’t have to spend their hard-earned dollars on getting their taxes prepared. Through United Way’s Free Tax Prep Program, formerly known as VITA, we served over 9,000 families this past tax season and saved them a total of $1.8 million in tax prep fees. Over 21,000 volunteers at 49 sites in Sacramento, Yolo and Placer County helped families claim earned income tax credits that resulted in $11.3 million in total federal refunds. With the help of financial counselors who partner with our United Way throughout the year, families chart a path to financial wellness. Families used their refund dollars to pay off debt, purchase a more reliable vehicle, or in some cases move to a better neighborhood. This past tax season, hundreds of families used all or a portion of their refunds to open savings accounts for the first time, or to purchase savings bonds, totaling over $475,000 saved, and average of $1,214.

Our United Way also helps families save for their children’s education through our Kindergarten to College Program, or K2C. This program was launched by Assemblyman and former Sacramento City Councilmember Kevin McCarty, along with SAFE Credit Union, at five schools in the Sacramento City Unified School District. In 2016, our United Way expanded this program to the five schools in the Robla School District, our Square One Program partner. In partnership with the City of Sacramento, and Every Kid Counts, a program administered by the California Student Aid Commission, we will create K2C accounts at six more schools for a total of sixteen in the City of Sacramento. Students at each of the 16 schools will receive a $25 seed for a college savings account, and a $50 match for $25 of family savings, plus a $100 incentive for attending a financial workshop.

The impact of college savings accounts can’t be understated. These accounts increase both the parents’ and children’s educational expectations and correlate with having a college-bound identity. College savings accounts improve attendance and standardized test results. Students are three times more likely to attend college and four times more likely to graduate than those without a CSA account.

Both of these approaches-Free Tax Prep and K2C-are gateways to financial wellness and a pillar of our work to ensure strong support through our Square One Project.

Post April 9, 2019 Stephanie McLemore Bray

It’s All About Outcomes
Three Years into the Square One Project is yielding results.

April 2019 Blog Post

In 2016, our United Way made a promise to this region that we would end poverty starting at school through our Square One Project. This promise marked the scaling of our work to help more children achieve important milestones on their educational journey early on so that they are more likely to graduate from high school, college or career-ready. We announced our partnership with the Robla School District, the district with the highest poverty rate in Sacramento County. We put every resource we could raise into keeping those kids in school, keeping them on track, setting high expectations for their success, and providing support for their families. We engaged the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) and they have concentrated efforts into supporting teachers, families, and students in the Robla School District. Through strategies to improve teaching and learning, and by cultivating a school culture and climate that encourages excellence, SCOE is an active committed partner with our United Way and Robla.

After nearly three years, the data is in: the Square One Project is working! According to the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP):

In 2018 in the Robla School District, the annual increase in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards in English Language arts was nearly TRIPLE the state and county averages compared to 2017 data that placed Robla nearly 20% below the state average and 15% below the county average.
In 2018 in the Robla School District, the annual increase in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards in Mathematics was nearly TRIPLE the state and county averages compared to 2017 data that placed Robla 13% below the state average and 11% below the county average.
In 2017, chronic absenteeism in the Robla District was 15.8% compared to the state (11.1%) and the county (13.4%). In 2018, the rate of chronic absenteeism dropped by 26% and is on track to improve over the state and county average.

Additionally, the Robla School District has increased parent involvement through parent empowerment dinners, communication through a parent portal, electronic newsletters and social media. Through bilingual community outreach assistants, Latino, Hmong and Russian parents are able to stay connected to the school community. Our United Way is building relationships with the broader community to identify ways to sustain the Square One effect into the future.
I hope that as donors and supporters you are proud of our progress. As we have said all along, we cannot do this work without committed partners like you.

Big Day of Giving will soon be upon us. As you consider which of the many organizations you will support on that day, I ask that you include United Way. We rely on the generosity of donors to do our work. In turn, we invest those dollars as efficiently as we can to get outcomes that help change people’s lives.

We also ask that you spread the word about our Square One Project. We want to take our success with the Square One Project and what we have learned to other potential school district partners. With your help, we can also engage other donors and supporters to invest with us in the success of kids in districts like Robla.

Thank you for helping us honor the promise we made to the students, the families, and the community in the Robla School District.

Post February 11, 2019 Stephanie McLemore Bray

The Path to Prosperity for Children and Families

February 2019 Blog Post

According to Prosperity Now (formerly the Corporation for Enterprise Development), a national nonprofit organization that is working to ensure that everyone in our country has a clear path to financial stability, wealth and prosperity, too many families continue to struggle. Prosperity Now projects that forty percent of households are liquid asset poor, meaning they lack the savings to weather a financial shock. Another study, the Real Cost Measure commissioned by United Ways of California, found that in the Sacramento region, too many families do not earn enough to pay rent, feed their families, or afford childcare.

Because of our Square One Project partnerships, we know that many of these families are one financial emergency away from not having enough resources to sustain them and we have been on the front lines of fighting this crisis.

Our work on anti-poverty programs like Free Tax Prep (formerly VITA), and our partnership with businesses, funders, and local government to provide financial coaching for low-income families, is moving the needle on financial stability and self-sufficiency. We are also helping children and families plan for the future by investing in matched savings accounts for education beyond high school, and for foster youth aging out of care.

This month we launched our annual Free Tax Prep program, which removes the cost of tax preparation and helps eligible families claim the tax credits they are entitled to. Last year, over 8,000 families received assistance, resulting in over $10 million in refunds in the form of State and Federal Earned Income Tax Credits. Our goal is to reach 10,000 families!

Through strategic partnerships with funders, our United Way has provided training to nonprofit partner agencies to become financial coaches for their clients. Presently, we are assisting the City of Sacramento with establishing Financial Empowerment Centers to provide free financial coaching that will teach city residents how to reduce their debt, improve their credit scores, increase their savings and end the use of predatory lending. We see this as an important next step to scaling our work in this area.

And finally, with the help of our United Way volunteer action groups, Women United and the Young Leaders Society, we are supporting the dreams and aspirations of students. Whether the entire kindergarten class in the Robla School District or foster youth aging out of care, our volunteers believe that every child has the potential to succeed. We thank them for their gift of time as mentors, and their financial support as investors.

As I have said time and again, United Way cannot do this alone. We are grateful to partners like SAFE Credit Union, Citi Community Development, Internal Revenue Service, State of California Franchise Tax Board, SMUD, HealthNet, and others, along with the many volunteers who give so much to help break the cycle for children and families.

We hope you will join us by supporting the Square One Project. It will be one of the best investments you’ll ever make.

Post January 9, 2019 Stephanie McLemore Bray

Happy New Year from United Way
CEO Stephanie Bray's look forward to 2019

January 2019 Blog

Happy New Year!

Our United Way is excited for 2019. While we can certainly look back and celebrate our accomplishments, we look forward to new opportunities to make a difference for children and families through our Square One Project.

This month marks National Poverty in America Awareness Month by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD.) They remind us that more than 37 million Americans live in poverty; 13 million of them are children. Yet, according to the CCHD, a recent Gallup poll found that only 5% of Americans believe poverty and homelessness are important problems for the country.

Our United Way is proud of our commitment to end poverty, starting at school. We are also grateful to you, our donors and volunteers, for joining us in this fight.

We are steadfast in our belief that access to education beyond high school can help break the cycle of poverty. We remain committed to the long game: we know that the investments we are making today through our partnership with the Robla School District will yield returns well into the future. Most of the students in that school district will be the first in their families to continue their education after high school. Whether they pursue a four-year-degree or vocational-technical training, those students are getting the support they need so that they are well-prepared no matter what path they choose.

This should matter to all of us who live in this region, especially potential employers who will need a future workforce to start or grow their businesses.

Looking ahead, we will be expanding our Square One Project in this region so that more students and families will benefit from our partnership with nonprofit organizations, government, and businesses to provide access to opportunities for everyone to thrive. Our plans for 2019 include:

Partnering with more school districts to provide literacy support for students struggling to read at grade level.
Convening our first ever Foster Youth Summit to create a plan for increasing the number of foster youth who graduate from high school and go on to some form of higher education.
Partnering with the City of Sacramento to create financial empowerment centers as a service for all city residents who want to learn how to reduce their debt, increase their savings, improve their credit scores, and save for the future.
Increasing access to summer learning opportunities through our summer meal program so that students not only receive a healthy meal during a time when food insecurity is highest, but they also get the support they need to stay on track, avoiding the “summer slide.”
Ensuring that kids in the Robla School District can start an education savings account to fund their dream of continuing beyond high school to college or career training.

As I have said time and again, we cannot do this work alone. No one sector can. It also takes an army of donors and volunteers. That’s why in 2019, we will need your continued support.

So, as we recognize National Poverty in America Awareness Month, our United Way is doubling down on our commitment to reducing poverty in our region and we hope you will stay the course with us.

Post October 10, 2018 Stephanie McLemore Bray

Another Year Older, Another Year Wiser

October 2018 Blog, Stephanie Bray

I was born in October and every year I become quite pensive as my birthday approaches. I often reflect on my life up to this point, especially my childhood. I chuckle when I think about how I once believed that anyone older than 50 was really old and pretty much done with life.

Imagine that! Now that I am in my fifties, I am grateful and privileged to lead a life dedicated to serving others and I still feel like I am just getting started! Every day is an opportunity to leave the world a little bit better a place than it was the day before. At United Way, our Experience Corps volunteers share that same passion.

Experience Corps is our United Way’s partnership with AARP to help kids who struggle to read stay on track. Volunteers who are age 50 and older tutor small groups of first through third-graders in the classroom or after school two to three days a week. Our Experience Corps results are remarkable.

During the 2016-2017 school year, 27 Experience Corps volunteers helped 273 students in 9 schools across 4 school districts. 71% of local students who were below grade level at the beginning of the year improved their reading and literacy performance by half a grade level or more compared to 67% nationally. 42% of local students improved by a full grade level or more compared to 30% nationally. And 38% of local students were at or above grade level by the end of the year compared to 29% nationally.

Grade-level reading is a cornerstone of our Square One Project to end poverty – starting at school. By fourth grade, children are reading in order to learn. Therefore, if they are not reading at grade-level, they will not only fall further and further behind, but are also far more likely to drop out of high school.

Our Experience Corps volunteers tell us time and again that they get so much more out of volunteering than they could ever give. When surveyed, 100% of volunteers felt that the Experience Corps program helped them stay physically active, increased their sense of purpose in life and helped them make a difference in the community. Nearly 90% reported that the program helped expand their social network. You can read the full 2016-2017 Experience Corps report here.

Teachers love Experience Corps, too. 92% of teachers reported that the Experience Corps volunteers had a moderate or strong influence on student reading and literacy performance. 87% reported that the volunteers had a moderate or strong influence on student academic engagement behaviors, such as motivation, concentration, participation, or self-confidence. Kids who receive tutoring support are more excited to come to school and experience fewer behavior issues.

So, if you are 50 or older and want to give some of your time to change the life of kid struggling to read, Experience Corps is for you! Join us at one of our upcoming Experience Corps orientation sessions and help change a life today!

Success Story August 14, 2018 Stephanie McLemore Bray

The Power of Partnerships

Published August 15, 2018

Back-to-school time was always bittersweet for me. My daughters are in college now, but I remember how it felt to drop them off on the first day of school. Each new school year was an opportunity for them to learn and grow. Central to their academic achievement was, and still is, the commitment that schools make to provide all kids with the quality education they need to reach and even exceed milestones on the path to high school graduation and beyond. However, for far too many from low-income families, success in school is a struggle.

There are many studies that link poverty with student achievement and the data are distressing. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 40% of the variation in average reading scores and 46% of the variation in average math scores across states, is associated with variation in child poverty rates. That does not bode well for California which, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, has a child poverty rate of 21.3% (about 1.9 million) when adjusted for cost of living. Without the social safety net, (programs like Cal-Fresh, federal and state earned income tax credits, child tax credits and school meals), the percentage would be 35.3% (about 3.2 million.) The five-county region (Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Yolo) that our United Way serves has an average poverty rate of 15.6%. Sacramento County has the highest at 18.4%, and El Dorado County has the lowest at 10.6%.

Through our Square One Project partnership with Title I schools, which have the highest concentration of kids who live in poverty, our United Way is committed to keeping kids in school, keeping kids on track, setting high expectations for their success, and supporting their families along the way. By providing healthy meals after school, we give kids the fuel they need to focus on their homework. By providing reading support, we are increasing grade-level literacy rates, an important measure of future success in school. By educating parents on how to manage their finances, we open a pathway to financial stability for families. None of this would be possible without our partnership with school districts.

As we head back to school, we salute our school district partners for investing with us to improve outcomes for kids. With their support of volunteerism in schools, programs with measurable outcomes, and by allocating financial resources, we have a strong Square One Project partnerships with the Robla, Center, Washington, and Elk Grove districts. Together, we are breaking the cycle of poverty through education one student and one family at a time.

Square One Project March 2, 2018 Stephanie McLemore Bray

A salute to our Young Leaders
Defying the millenial misconception

A recent study of Millennials by Campbell Rinker, a market research firm, told us what we at United Way have known for some time: that those born from 1982 to 2000, are more engaged in philanthropy than anyone believed. Furthermore, Millennials tend to become more generous as they grow older, and they believe “nonprofit organizations meet many of the needs that government cannot.” In fact, they have a strong belief that nonprofit organizations are better at helping those most in need than government, and “expressed a higher confidence in nonprofits” than Gen Xers (1965-1981), Baby Boomers, (1946-1964), or Matures (1945 or earlier).

Our United Way’s Young Leaders Society (YLS), through their generosity, are the next generation of philanthropists. Despite the negative association that many people have with Millennials, who themselves shun the term, YLS members are leaders in their companies and businesses who care about the future of our region. They believe that everyone should have the opportunity to realize their potential. They believe that they have a responsibility to give back, but they want to do more than just give money. They want to see the impact of their giving in real time. Through YLS, they are changing the face of philanthropy in big ways. Since 2015, YLS has raised over $100,000 in support of the Square One Project. Those funds helped provide hydration stations in each of the five schools in the Robla School District, our first Square One Partner, to encourage students to drink more water and less sugary drinks. Those funds will also be used to provide every kindergartener who entered Robla School District this past fall with an education savings account. This matched savings program, known as K2C, will enable parents to help save for their children’s education beyond high school. More importantly, the program starts a conversation about the future, setting high expectations for students. Studies show that by investing just a small amount in an education savings account, students are seven times more likely to complete some level of education beyond high school.

Students will have the opportunity to earn matching funds by achieving all of the educational milestones along the way, including staying on track through grade-level reading, attending school every day, and making the successful transition to middle school. Parents will earn matching funds for every dollar they contribute and through their engagement in the educational success of their children.

Through volunteerism, YLS is helping to educate parents about the power of saving for their children’s futures, another way that parents can earn K2C matching funds. YLS members are also helping with hands-on projects on each of the five Robla campuses throughout the school year. Whether it’s building a school garden, or painting classrooms or playgrounds, or helping to distribute water bottles to the students, YLS members give generously of their time to support the Square One Project. Through special events like the upcoming Brews & Brains Trivia Night, YLS members have fun raising money and increasing awareness about the Square One Project.

Please join me in saluting our Young Leaders Society!

Square One Project January 9, 2018 Stephanie McLemore Bray

United Way’s 2018 Goals
With a new year comes resolutions, see what ours are!

Every new year brings an opportunity for reflection and renewal. Whether it’s to lose a few pounds or reconnect with old friends or get involved in the community, many of us pledge to make changes that make our lives and our communities better. As we look back on the past year, did we do the things that we resolved to do? Did it make a difference? What will we do with the year ahead?

As a volunteer or donor, you have witnessed firsthand or read about our progress with our Square One Project in 2017. We are proud of the work we have done and we hope that you are, too. 2018 brings an opportunity to work even harder on behalf of those we serve. In this new year, we resolve to:

Continue to build and strengthen our partnership with the Robla School District by helping more kids stay on track. We are beginning to see results of our efforts to help students read at grade level through our AARP Experience Corps Program, but we need more volunteers. Learn more about now you can help here.
Provide matched education savings accounts for every kindergartener who entered the Robla School District this past fall, thanks to our Young Leaders Society, setting high expectations for their success in college and beyond.
Continue the fight against food insecurity for the thousands of children and families who go hungry during the summer by increasing the number of meals we serve. We are going for a million meals served, starting this year, with the help of our Summer Meals Collaborative.
Help 67% more families become financially stable through our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA). Thanks to the support of Citi Community Development, we are increasing the number of sites so that we can increase the number of people who get their taxes done for free.
Improve attendance rates in partnership with the Campaign For Grade-Level Reading because we know that attendance every day and all day is the key to success in school for students. Daily attendance also keeps funding in the hands of the school districts, which is especially vital to those that serve low income students.
Broaden our work with foster youth in the region to increase high school graduation rates so that foster youth are less likely to be homeless or become victims of human trafficking. Join Women United and learn how you can help.

I hope that you know how important you have been to our success. With your continued support, we resolve to continue to engage you – our donors, volunteers, and stakeholders – in the work we do to create access to opportunity for those most in need. Together, we will keep these resolutions and many more because our community depends on us.

Happy 2018!

Square One Project July 7, 2017 Stephanie McLemore Bray

Women United!
I am excited to announce that Women in Philanthropy is now Women United!

Our United Way has joined thousands of other women around the country in the next generation of a powerful movement. As leaders in that movement for nearly sixteen years, Women United in the Sacramento Region has invested over $1.9 million in support of emancipating foster youth, the most vulnerable among our children. That support includes matched savings accounts so that foster youth have a safety net when they exit the system. That is why I am a platinum member of Women United and I am humbled to be part of such a dynamic group of women.

Women United members make an annual commitment through workplace giving or by giving directly to our United Way. Women United members give their time to provide life skills workshops and mentoring to teach foster youth how to manage the transition into adulthood. Foster youth learn how to create and manage a budget, how to ace a job interview, how to dress for success, and how to set and accomplish life goals, all skills that we teach the children in our own lives.
During this next phase of our work, Women United will become even stronger advocates on behalf of foster youth to ensure that public policies and the systems they support address their needs, and that resources are being invested in their success. This work will include visits with state legislators to share the successes and challenges that our current policies enable for foster youth in this region.

Women United is an integral part of our United Way’s Square One Project. By ensuring that emancipating foster youth stay on track, one of the four pillars of the project, we know that those students are more likely to graduate from high school and go on to college or career.

And finally, I hope that you will join us on October 26, 2017, as we welcome Simone Biles to Sacramento as our very special guest at the 16th Annual Women United Luncheon. As a former foster youth, Simone is an inspiration not only for other foster youth, but also for all of us because of her determination, grace and excellence. Join us to hear more about her story and meet the foster youth in our region. Their stories are powerful reminders of why we are Women United.

To learn more about Women United, please click here.

Square One Project April 27, 2017 Stephanie McLemore Bray

Food for Thought
Showcasing the importance of nutritious meals and engagement during summer

When I was a child, every weekday at noon during the summer, a truck would lumber down the street where I lived and many of my friends would run behind it until it stopped at the end of the block. My friends would come back up the street with a tray that had a sandwich, a small container of apple juice or milk, and a piece of fruit or a fruit cup. For many, it was the only meal they would have that day. I was fortunate: I did not know what food insecurity was. It saddens me to know that after all these many years, there are far too many children who are food insecure. Research shows that the rate of food insecurity, particularly among households with children, increases during summer break. Only 20% of the students who qualify actually participate in a meal program during the summer. To put it another way, the summer nutrition gap affects 67,435 children in Sacramento County alone.

In 2016, our United Way formed the Sacramento Summer Meals Collaborative which brings together the region’s Summer Food Service Program Sponsors and community advocates to collaborate on ways to increase the involvement of youth in summer programs, raise awareness about summer meals and community meal sites, and develop and implement a regional marketing plan. This regional group which, to date, serves children in Yolo, Placer and Sacramento County, plans to serve nearly 30 summer meal sites this year. Sites will be located at local community centers, schools, libraries and public housing communities. We will serve summer programs and open sites where any child under eighteen can come and receive a healthy, nutritious meal.

A healthy meal is just one way that we meet the needs of children at our meal sites. We feed their minds, too. Many of those children often struggle in school, experience a “summer slide,” and lose much of what they have learned during the school year because of a lack of enrichment opportunities during the summer. To close that education gap, the Collaborative is developing toolkits with activities that will be easy for meal sites to implement this summer.

The Collaborative is one of the many ways that our United Way’s Square One Project provides families with the support system they need so that children can stay on track. We could not do this without the support of donors, champions and partners, which include: Davis Joint Unified School District; Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services; the program sponsors and sites; and, funders like the Wal-Mart Foundation, Sierra Health Foundation, Bank of America, and the many generous individuals who support United Way. We also could not do this work without the leadership of Kristina Ricci, our program officer for health, and Sayla Elsbree-Kraft, our program coordinator. They work diligently to engage our program partners and the communities that we serve.

It truly takes a village and together, we are making a difference.

Square One Project March 7, 2017 Stephanie McLemore Bray

VITA and Square One
Working together to lift families out of poverty

We’re in the midst of tax season and working hard to ensure that low-income, working families file their taxes for free through our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA).

VITA dates back to 1971 when Gary Iskowitz, a professor at California State University Northridge, organized college students to volunteer to prepare tax returns for free. What started out as a valuable community service and hands-on learning opportunity for students has become one of the most efficient and effective ways that low-income, working families achieve financial stability.

In our region, VITA was launched ten years ago and is led by a coalition of nonprofit organizations that our United Way brings together. Each year, we recruit as many as 200 volunteers who give their time from January to April at community and neighborhood centers, libraries, schools, shopping malls, and other convenient locations, including public housing sites, to help eligible families file their taxes for free. Our volunteers receive 12 hours of training, in addition to the many hours they give preparing taxes at VITA sites during the season.

VITA volunteers inform taxpayers about special tax credits for which they may qualify such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (state and federal), Child Tax Credit, and the Credit for the Elderly or Disabled. Not only does the VITA program save families an average of $200-300 in tax preparation fees, but it also enables people to claim billions of dollars annually, boosting the state’s economy. At the same time, families are encouraged to save a portion of their refund for a rainy day and receive valuable coaching on how to achieve their financial goals. And thanks to our diverse corps of volunteers, we are able to offer VITA services in Spanish-speaking and Russian communities.

The work of the Capital Region VITA Coalition would not be possible without support from generous funders including the IRS, the Franchise Tax Board, the State of California Department of Community Services and Development, SAFE Credit Union, SMUD and Wells Fargo. This year, we also received a very generous donation from JPMorgan Chase of 50 Samsung tablets that we use to train volunteers, and to file returns on myfreetaxes.com, another way that eligible filers can prepare their taxes for free if their household made less than $64,000 in 2016.

We are inspired by the work of our volunteers and our coalition to help lift families out of poverty, the goal of our Square One Project. That’s why this year we hosted VITA sites at schools in the Robla School District.

Ending poverty really does start at school!

Learn more about VITA, MyFreeTaxes.com and how you can file your taxes for free.

Blog October 8, 2015 Stephanie McLemore Bray Written by: Stephanie M. Bray

Stephanie McLemore Bray
President and CEO, United Way California Capital Region

Why do YOU give to United Way?
There a many reasons why giving to United Way is THE best way to help those in need.

For 25 years I have worked in the nonprofit community. During that time, I have seen many changes in how people give to support their favorite causes. When United Way was started in the late 1800s, it was a way for people to contribute to a community chest to help their neighbors. Through direct mail, online giving and now crowdfunding, people have more choices than ever when it comes to how they give to the charities they want to support. So, I am not surprised that people are wondering why give to United Way when I can give directly to my favorite charitable organization?

There a many reasons why giving to United Way is THE best way to help those in need.

When you give to United Way, you are helping to improve literacy rates for children at risk of dropping out of school, providing a safety net for foster youth who have no other resources, and you are helping to provide healthy, nutritious meals to children who often do not have enough to eat.
United Way connects donors to nonprofit organizations that would have a tough time doing it on their own. Most charitable organizations have under $100,000 in assets which means that they don’t have marketing budgets or even fundraising budgets. United Way provides them with a way to get in front of people to tell their story.
United Way makes it easy for donors to support local nonprofits. We ensure that those organizations are fiscally sound so that donors don’t have to and we enable donors to give small amounts over time that make a BIG impact in the community.
We help companies that want to give back to the community by matching them with nonprofits. Our annual Day of Caring is one example of how we help business leaders and their employees support their local communities. This year, more than 116 companies and groups participated in the day contributing more than 4,206 volunteer hours!

Why do YOU give to United Way?

July 1, 2014 Stephanie McLemore Bray

Happy New Year!

If you are like me, New Year’s Day is a day of reflection and a day to make big plans for the coming year. At our United Way we celebrate New Year’s Day twice a year: on January 1st, the official New Year’s Day, and on July 1st when our new fiscal year begins.

As I reflect on our work over this past year, I am thankful to you– our donors, volunteers, advocates and ambassadors—for your steadfast and generous support. Thanks to you, more than 690 kids in our STAR Readers project are on the path to reading at grade level. Thanks to you, 3,371 kids are learning how to be Fit Kids by adopting a healthy lifestyle and reducing their risk of childhood obesity. Thanks to you, 495 families were able to complete their tax returns this year at no cost and receive refunds that will help them on their path to financial stability. Thanks to you, 90% of foster youth in our $en$e-Ability project have better money management skills and a safety net as they emancipate out of the system into adulthood and independence. Thanks to you, the Toilet Paper drive received more than 161,000 rolls of toilet paper to be distributed to our nonprofit partners, which will represent real savings that they can invest in programs and services.

Now I will admit that like most folks, I have a tough time keeping those New Year’s resolutions. At our United Way, we resolve that over this next year, we will continue creating pathways to success for individuals and families in this region to realize their potential through education, financial stability and healthy lifestyles. With your support, that is one resolution we will keep. Who’s with me?

Stephanie McLemore Bray is the President & CEO of United Way California Capital Region.

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Stephanie McLemore Bray President and CEO

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Stephanie McLemore Bray
President and CEO