Reader’s Editorial: Nonprofit continues aiding families despite allegations of sexual abuse by staff
By Christi Grab
March 9, 2026 (San Diego) — Last year, a controversial bill was put forth in the California legislature, AB-495. Opponents claimed AB-495 would make it easy to kidnap children from schools. Thanks to strong push back from the public, the bill was amended.
While it is still possible for a an unauthorized person to kidnap a child out of a school, the onerous has been placed on the school to try to protect the child. The school is supposed to contact the parents and/or people predesignated by the parents before allowing the person with the affidavit to take the child. The bill also requires the person with the affidavit to be “extended family or like family,” with a very broad description of what “like family” means. However, notarization of the affidavit is not required, so anyone can pretend to be an extended family member and sweet talk a lax school secretary into handing over a child.
For the last year and a half, there have been many news stories about a San Diego based organization, named Dreams for Change, where clients have alleged that the staff was sexually assaulting them at safe sleeping sites. I did a little digging and found out that Dreams for Change was a subsidiary of the United Way that was being paid by the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) to help immigrants who are not yet citizens, including some undocumented immigrants, get tax identification numbers and file tax returns (a legal process, per the IRS) so that the migrants can have cash in hand from the state via a program called Cal-EITC. FTB wants Dreams to Change to specifically look for families as they get more cash back than people without children. There is a particular focus on families who have children that are six or younger as they get the maximum cash payout available.
In July 2025, I contacted United Way and told them about the allegations against Dreams for Change. They did not respond. I also contacted 211 San Diego, an organization that refers people to Dreams for Change by phone and told them about the allegations.
In September 2025, I brought the fact that Dreams for Change workers were accused of sexual abuse up to FTB and United Way. I asked FTB for more information about the vetting process for the NGOs who are chosen to work with these vulnerable people. I also contacted 211 San Diego. FTB did not respond, nor did United Way, nor did 211.
In October and November, more news stories came out about the alleged sexual assaults by the staff on the clients. I forwarded each of those articles on to United Way, FTB and 211. In December 2025, I again asked FTB for more information about the vetting process for the NGOs. In January 2026, yet another news story came out about alleged sexual assaults. I forwarded that one on to United Way, FTB and 211.
In February 2026, FTB did finally respond to me, but they ignored the Dreams for Change allegations and were evasive about the NGO vetting process. I checked United Way’s website and found that even though they had taken Dreams for Change off their website. Dreams for Change was still a United Way subsidiary and was still working with vulnerable people regarding tax ID numbers and income tax returns.
This discovery left me distraught — how could FTB and United Way encourage vulnerable people to hand over their private information to an organization they know is staffed by alleged sexual predators? Why would they knowingly endanger these vulnerable people? As a parent, the most upsetting part was that the vulnerable people were giving these predators all of the information necessary to kidnap a child from school. And FTB is specifically encouraging families with children, especially children six and under, to go to Dreams for Change for help with tax returns.
On February 19, 2025, Senator Weber Pierson sent an email out announcing she was hosting a Tacos and Taxes event in conjunction with Dreams for Change and Golden State Opportunity Foundation (which is a tax lobbyist with questionable accounting practices). I called her Sacramento office at 0900 on February 20. The person I spoke with, Kianna Walker, stated that they were unaware of the allegations against Dreams for Change and would evaluate whether Senator Weber Pierson would continue to endorse this event. I emailed them some of the more recent news stories. Over the next week, I called almost daily to follow up. Each time, they said they still hadn’t made a decision as to whether they would continue to endorse the event.
On Monday, March 2, Malaya Sharpe in the San Diego office confirmed that Senator Weber Pierson was still endorsing the event. I asked Ms. Sharpe what protections have been put into place to make sure that the information provided by the vulnerable people would be protected. Ms. Sharpe assured me that no protocols were necessary as nothing nefarious would happen. She also stated that the event was being run by United Way and 211, so all was fine. I pointed out to Ms. Sharpe that 211 was only a referral service — that 211 sent people to Dreams for Change for tax help and that United Way’s San Diego location was Dreams for Change. I told her I thought it was malicious that she was attempting to deceive the public.
The views in this reader’s editorial reflect the opinions of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.