“The Government Is Us”: Civic Engagement at EARN

Last week, I led EARN’s first civic engagement and advocacy workshop for current and past participants of our matched savings programs. This workshop served as a continuation of EARN’s efforts to build a statewide grassroots constituency that is active, empowered, and organized on public policy issues related to asset building.

The workshop focused on advocating for continued funding of San Francisco’s Kindergarten to College program (K2C), which will come under review by the SF Board of Supervisors this summer.

Last year, the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Unified School District, EARN, and other partners launched K2C, which provides San Francisco kindergarten students with a college savings account. Each account is seeded with an initial deposit of $50 from the City and County of San Francisco and match funding from program partners, including EARN.

Eight EARN savers and alumni participated in the workshop. They reviewed the City’s budget process and learned how it impacts funding for local programs and services. Each person walked away with tools for meeting with local elected officials about important issues.

At the beginning of the workshop, participants shared their previous civic engagement. Most participants had some experience, whether it was attending a school board meeting in their community, helping register people to vote, or attending a rally.

We discovered that most of the participants had an interest in advocacy and bringing more attention to youth-focused issues. Participants were passionate about reducing teenage gang violence, improving health care and fitness and nutrition programs for teens, increasing the number of after-school programs, and supporting college students with better financial aid and college success skills programs.

“The government is us,” stated Belinda Robinson, a workshop participant. “We may need to take things into our own hands in order to see the change we seek.”

Attendees expressed an interest in joining EARN staff this month at a meeting with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to discuss how K2C can encourage families to save for important goals, such as college.

We look forward to holding additional workshops that engage EARN Savers about public policy issues.

Until next time,

Sheryl Lane
Director of Public Policy