East Bay Community Foundation President & Chief Executive Officer Nicole Taylor, shown here with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Alameda County Community Food Bank in Oakland, helped kick off a day of service Dec. 10 for the “WE Connect Program’s Million Meals Initiative,” a statewide campaign launched to provide one million meals to California families in need.

The project is part of the California Governor & First Lady’s Conference on Women, on whose governing board Taylor serves.

The Conference’s “WE Connect” program is designed to help California’s families become more financially secure by providing information about community-based services and government programs and resources available to them.  The campaign, launched by First Lady Maria Shriver in 2005, connects working families to money-saving programs and services they may be eligible for but are unaware of.“

The participation of the East Bay Community Foundation in this important program,” said Taylor, “stems from one of our primary strategies to advance economic opportunity for individuals and families in need.

“Workers with low incomes are eligible for a number of publicly-funded benefits that can increase their economic self-sufficiency. However, many working individuals are unaware of or do not know how to access benefits such as free or low-cost medical insurance or subsidized child care,” she said.  “Increasing low-wage workers’ participation in these benefits can improve their own economic self-sufficiency as well as build financial assets.”