California Families Encouraged to Claim College Savings Funds and Protect Personal Data
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
Ethnic and Community Media Forum highlighted two initiatives supporting Californians: CalKIDS, the nation’s largest state-led child development account program that recently surpassed 900,000 claimed scholarship accounts, and DROP, California’s new free privacy tool that helps residents request deletion of personal information from registered data brokers in a single request.
SACRAMENTO, Calif – State and community leaders joined ethnic and community media outlets today for a targeted Ethnic Media Forum hosted by the Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications (OCPSC). The Forum highlighted efforts to expand access to college and career training scholarships through CalKIDS, as well as California’s new Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP), a first-of-its-kind consumer privacy tool designed to help Californians protect their personal information from data brokers.
CalKIDS Scholarships
The Forum featured updates on the California Kids Investment and Development Savings Program (CalKIDS), which recently surpassed 900,000 claimed scholarship accounts statewide. The state has invested in new partnerships aimed at connecting eligible students to available scholarship funds, including a coordinated effort with the California Cradle-to-Career Data System and the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office that identified 40,000 community college students with more than $20 million in available CalKIDS Scholarships.
CalKIDS remains the largest state-led child development account initiative in the nation, helping millions of California children access scholarship funds for higher education and career training. Since launching in 2022, more than 5.6 million CalKIDS accounts have been established statewide with more than $2.3 billion invested in California students’ futures.
“California is investing in our students long before they arrive on a college campus or at a training program” said California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, CPA. “While we’re helping students cover college and career training expenses like tuition, books, and supplies, we’re also helping ensure families have greater access to educational opportunity.”
Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP)
In addition to education savings, the Forum spotlighted the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP), launched earlier this year by the California Privacy Protection Agency (CalPrivacy). The free online tool allows Californians to submit a single request directing registered data brokers to delete and stop selling their personal information.
During the Forum, Tom Kemp, Executive Director of CalPrivacy, emphasized the importance of ensuring communities vulnerable to scams, fraud, identity theft, and AI impersonation attempts are aware of their rights under California privacy laws and also understand how to use the new tool.
“Removing your personal information from the businesses that sell it could decrease the risk of identity theft, fraud, spam calls, and hacking attempts,” said Kemp. “DROP puts that power back in consumers’ hands and helps ensure communities across the state understand and can exercise their privacy rights.”
DROP allows Californians to verify residency, create a profile, and submit a deletion request in minutes through the state’s privacy portal. Beginning August 1, registered data brokers will be legally required to begin processing DROP requests and delete personal information every 45 days.
The briefing was conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation available in Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Hmong, Korean, and Tagalog as part of the state’s ongoing commitment to expand equitable access to public information and resources.
For more information, visit:
CalKIDS: calkids.org
DROP: privacy.ca.gov/drop
Forum recording
For the press kit click here
ABOUT THE OFFICE OF COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS AND STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
The Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications (OCPSC), housed within GO-Serve, is the single state entity coordinating California’s most important statewide public awareness and community engagement initiatives. The Office works in collaboration with state agencies, departments and other stakeholders to realize more inclusive and effective outcomes in statewide outreach initiatives.
Recognizing the critical role of community, OCPSC partners with a network of trusted messengers to address critical state issues, engaging Californians directly with relevant and actionable information while bridging equity gaps in statewide outreach. Learn more at ocpsc.ca.gov.
