May 18, 2021 – Bill 932

The Honorable Marc Levine
California State Assembly

Dear Assembly Member Levine,

Catholic Charities of San Francisco, Marin, and San Mateo Counties enthusiastically supports your bill AB 932 to establish the competitive Cradle-To-Career (C2C) Community Grant program to address child poverty and achievement gaps among at-promise California children of different races and socioeconomic statuses.

The success of Catholic Charities’ community-based services in engaging diverse Bay Area youth in their education while also providing support to their families from East Palo Alto to San Francisco’s Mission District and San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood, attests to the strength of C2C’s “place-based” approach targeting the needs of children and their families.

Catholic Charities affirms AB 932’s premise that eligible California children and their families are best served by a local network of trusted community partners that can identify the highest local needs and provide the solutions. This certainly has been our experience in changing the lives of vulnerable individuals and families over the past century by connecting them to appropriate wraparound services through the web of relationships we have cultivated with our trusted partners.

Catholic Charities strongly endorses AB 932 as a crucial investment to tackle the underlying systemic issues of poverty for our at-promise youth and their families, providing for long-term economic justice driven by communities.

Thank you,
Jilma Meneses
Chief Executive Officer
Catholic Charities
San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin Counties

cc: Assemblymember Phil Ting, Chair, California State Assembly Committee on Budget
Assemblymember Dr. Joaquin Arambula, Chair, California State Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Health and Human Services
Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, Chair, California State Assembly Appropriations Committee
Assemblymember Anthony Redon, Speaker of the California State Assembly
Senator Nancy Skinner, Chair, California State Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee
Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman, Chair, California State Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Health and Human Services
Senator Toni Atkins, Senate President pro Tempore of the California State Senate