United Way’s Women United action group will hold its fall fundraiser, Innovate and Ignite, to connect and empower women in the community and raise funds for the local United Way’s foster youth initiatives. The Oct. 10 event will take place 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Sequoia at the Cannery, 1601 Alhambra Blvd, Suite 200, in Sacramento, and will include charcuterie, wine, networking and a fireside chat with local women leaders. For tickets, visit www.YourLocalUnitedWay.org.
“This will be such a fun and meaningful night as we gather together to ignite change in our community,” said Dr. Dawnté Early, president and CEO, United Way California Capital Region. “We are eager to share exciting updates and invite women across the region to pool their passions, ideas, expertise and resources to help end poverty for local foster youth through our innovative initiatives.”
The event, sponsored by UC Davis Health, will include updates on Women United’s largest initiative, the Collegiate Guaranteed Income program, which provides $500 per month for 12 months to 10 former foster youth studying at Sacramento State. The program launched in May 2024.
“I feel blessed, thankful and cherished, and a lot of foster youth don’t get to feel that way from many people, so to feel that from strangers is an amazing and surreal feeling,” said Jaliyah, a participant in United Way’s Collegiate Guaranteed Income Program, when she entered the program. “I’m going to use these funds to pay for groceries because they’re expensive, and to fix my car because I need it to get to school. It will also help me pay for classes for next semester, so I’m ecstatic.”
United Way’s Women United action group is a philanthropic network of more than 250 women who work together to focus on their signature issue: ensuring foster youth are prepared for success in life. Since its inception in 2002, Women United has raised more than $2 million to support foster youth through innovative programs focusing on education and increasing self-sufficiency. For more information, visit www.YourLocalUnitedWay.org/Get-Involved/Women-United.
Founded in 1923, United Way California Capital Region has been a transformative force in the Sacramento community for more than a century, serving Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties. The local United Way’s Square One approach to ending poverty is grounded in a public health model and uses a threefold strategy to address community needs from birth and beyond: helping kids excel in school, investing in families and strengthening schools. At United Way’s core is the philosophy that families possess the blueprint for their success. United Way supplies books to young children, provides literacy tutoring, addresses housing and food security, leads the region’s largest tax preparation initiative and launched Sacramento’s first guaranteed income program. United Way works across diverse school districts, providing case management for foster youth and leading the Community Schools initiative in West Sacramento. For more information or to make a donation, visit www.YourLocalUnitedWay.org.
