Policy Change Demands Persistence

If I expected advocacy work was going to be quick fixes and all wins, I would have packed up and left a long time ago.

When Elise Buik and other California United Way CEOs invited me to help build a statewide network to support United Ways with advocacy and coalition building (more years ago than it feels), I immediately said yes.

Since then, I’ve seen incredible victories across the network, in California and other states: from Utah adopting state-wide universal preschool (shoutout to United Way of Salt Lake!), to United Way of Greater Los Angeles winning a $5 billion public-private investment in fighting homelessness, to United Way of Northern California United Way of Northern California getting tiny homes built to address homelessness in a challenging policy environment, to name just a few.

Stories like these provide hope that big positive changes are possible.

One story that stands out from United Ways of California’s own history is working, in collaboration, to establish and expand the California Earned Income Tax Credit (hashtag#CalEITC,) which now drives $1.3 billion a year to households earning below $30,000.

It started as a very modest credit — if you made more than $13,870, or were self-employed, or under 25/over 65, you couldn’t access the credit. But we kept pushing, year after year, to broaden the eligibility.

Our coalition committed to a strategy of first expanding access, extending eligibility to receive the credit to everyone we could, as a higher priority than increasing the dollar value of the credit.

Over a number of years, we worked with elected officials to extend eligibility to:
✔️ Self-employed people;
✔️ Youth aged 18–25 and seniors over 65 (both not eligible previously, and still ineligible for the federal EITC); and finally
✔️Immigrants filing tax returns using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs).

That last one took us three years, longer than the other expansions. The CalEITC Coalition faced resistance. Lots of people might have walked away when the governor said “no” too many times. But we persisted. This is why we’re here — to keep asking, to keep fighting, to keep the pressure on until we see change.

The moral of the story? Advocacy is a long game. It’s not one-and-done.

I believe more people believe in creating a more just and fair society now than ever before. The massive equity gains we’ve seen in recent years are usually not driven by professional politicians, but by regular people coming together to express their collective power.

If you’re feeling hopeless or frustrated with the slow arc of change, remember that persistence pays off. Keep fighting, keep asking, and don’t be afraid to stick to your values when it gets tough.