On April 17, 2026, the UCLA CalKIDS Institute, California State Treasurer’s Office, CalKIDS, Early Wealth Partnership, and the California Child Savings Account (CSA) Coalition co-hosted the CEWAS Summit on the UCLA campus, bringing together nearly 200 leaders from public agencies, education, philanthropy, and community organizations to advance early wealth-building efforts across the country. The fully booked convening highlighted the state’s progress in building a coordinated system that connects CalKIDS, local child savings programs, and the upcoming HOPE Accounts, while also sharing new research and implementation lessons from the field.
A keynote presentation by Jason Ewas from the Aspen Institute introduced emerging national developments, including 530A Accounts, commonly referred to as “Trump Accounts”, highlighting how California’s work is helping inform broader conversations on early wealth-building across the country. Throughout the day, discussions emphasized the importance of early engagement, trusted partnerships, and school-based outreach in expanding access and helping families fully benefit from these opportunities.
We are deeply grateful to our generous sponsors: TIAA, The BlackRock Foundation, Golden1 Credit Union, Citi, and Citi National Bank. Their support for the critical convening allows us to expand impact and better serve the CEWAS community.
Celebrating Leaders & Honoring Champions of Early Wealth
The organizing committee of the CEWAS Summit was proud to recognize a distinguished group of leaders and partners whose dedication continues to advance early wealth-building efforts across California.
The 2026 Legacy Awards were presented to California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, CPA, Adrin Nazarian of the Los Angeles City Council, and Debbie McDaniel-Lindsey, who accepted on behalf of the late Duncan Lindsey, PhD.
Carmela Clendening was honored as the 2026 Philanthropic Champion on behalf of BlackRock, while Leadership Awards were granted to Dr. Daisy Gonzales of the California Student Aid Commission and Shimica Gaskins, JD, of End Child Poverty California.
The summit also celebrated institutional impact, naming Dr. Joanna Karczewska of Cal State University Los Angeles as the Higher Education Champion, Magnolia Schools and Superintendent Alfredo Rubalcava as the Community Partner honorees, and Glendale Unified School District under the leadership of Dr. Darneika Watson as the TK–12 Champion
The Results Are In:
What We Heard from You at the CEWAS Summit
The 2026 CEWAS Summit attracted a highly engaged group of participants. Most of whom in their post-summit survey reported that CalKIDS and broader early wealth-building efforts are central to their work (over two-thirds indicating a “highly central” role). A total of 50 attendees completed the post-summit questionnaire. Thank you for sharing about your experiences at this gathering and your ideas for future meetings!
Overall satisfaction and relevance were exceptionally strong, with nearly all respondents rating the summit as highly or moderately satisfying and relevant.
The event was particularly effective in expanding familiarity beyond CalKIDS to related programs such as CalABLE, HOPE Accounts, and emerging 530A/“Trump” Accounts; participants showed clear gains in reported pre- and post-Summit knowledge across all program areas on a four-point familiarity scale (0 = not at all familiar to 3 = highly familiar). Participants also signaled a desire to shift future convenings toward practical application, especially implementation strategies, partnerships, and program integration.
Results from the survey also indicate that there is meaningful interest in continued engagement through Communities of Practice: roughly three-quarters of respondents expressed at least moderate interest, with the highest levels concentrated among those whose work is most closely tied to CalKIDS or early wealth-building systems, as well as those who found the summit highly relevant to their work. A more detailed analysis of these patterns will be shared in a forthcoming report.