Most people don’t understand that 70% of outstanding child support debt in California is owed to the government—not to children. And that low-income parents in California make hundreds of millions of dollars in child support payments each year that never go to their children. That’s because we require low-income parents to pay back the cost of public assistance used by low-income mothers and children. This inequitable system takes money away from children in poverty, sets low-income parents up to fail and discourages parents from making payments at all.
“Projects supported by the latest round of grants include A Thousand Ships, a new play by Oakland-native Marcus Gardley that tells the story of women who came to the Bay Area to work in the shipyards during World War II (California Shakespeare Theater); J-Town, Chinatown, Our Town, a multidisciplinary work rooted in Brenda Wong Aoki's family's 121-year history in San Francisco (
“The Zuni Youth Enrichment Project (ZYEP) is devoted to helping youth develop resiliency on the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. Constructing a new youth center and park has long been one of the tribe’s key aspirations. The Zuni people realized they could amplify their impact by integrating Zuni art and culture into the planning, design and building of a new 2.5-acre park, H’on A:wan (of the people) Community Park, which opened to the public on September 29, 2018.
The New York City-based Surdna Foundation has announced grants totaling more than $3 million in support of organizations working to foster just and sustainable communities in the United States.