The ONME Network

As Californians spend a lot of time online, they may not realize how vulnerable they are to data breaches, say experts California’s new Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, or DROP, gives residents a free, centralized way to tell hundreds of registered data brokers to delete their personal information and stop selling it, as state officials warn that identity theft, scams and large-scale data breaches continue to expose millions of Californians to risk.For years, privacy advocates have argued that one of the biggest gaps in consumer protection was not whether Californians had privacy rights on paper, but whether they could realistically use them. The state’s new Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, launched by the California Privacy Protection Agency earlier this year, is designed to close that gap by replacing a fragmented, broker-by-broker process with a single online request. Through DROP, a California resident can verify eligibility, create a basic profile and submit one deletion request that is sent to more than 500 registered data brokers. According to the state’s privacy portal, data brokers must begin processing those requests starting Aug. 1, 2026, and must delete data within 90 days.

About CalKIDS The California Kids Investment and Development Savings Program (CalKIDS) was launched in 2022 by the State of California with a clear mission: to help jumpstart college savings for children statewide by awarding scholarship accounts to youth across the state. Administered by the ScholarShare Investment Board, CalKIDS takes the initiative by automatically offering children born in California and eligible public school students in California a CalKIDS Scholarship Account, along with other potential financial incentives. *All children born in California on or after July 1, 2022

California’s winning strategy of using the trusted messengers for its California Connects regional convenings was the magic touch; over 300 community leaders, nonprofit groups and organizations, ethnic and community media outlets were the trusted messengers who met in Sacramento, CA, April 23 to get some tools and tips to stay healthy and financially equipped.  As previously stated by key state and Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications (OCPSC)  administrators, California took the next step to invest in these trusted messengers, who in turn help their niche communities and the greater community throughout California. Nonprofit groups and organizations serving vulnerable communities say they got an encouraging boost on strategies to keep their organizations going as well as ways to help their communities effectively.

The California Connects Regional Convenings, an 8-city statewide tour launched in late 2025 by the Office of Community Partnerships & Strategic Communications (OCPSC) to connect local leaders, nonprofits, and community partners directly with state agencies, aimed to strengthen regional networks and provide tools for community resilience.  News producer and host, Julia Ann Dudley Najieb, talks with California administrative leaders, Sacramento political leaders, and the OCPSC administrative team about the bridging of California's resources to Californians, using trusted messengers.

The California Complete Count Census 2020 was a revived, every-10-year process experiment that proved one thing: trusted messengers were the key to reaching "hard-to-count" populations throughout California. That is why the state invested over $187 million in that effort that panned out. The state stayed away from federal top-down messaging as well as going beyond legacy media. Ethnic media played an even stronger role in reaching niche communities and neighborhoods throughout California. When the pandemic hit in 2020, California used the same strategy to reach fearful residents about the covid-19 vaccinations through its "Vaccinate All 58" campaign. CBOs and local staff shared information through door-to-door canvassing, neighborhood, and ethnic media, which was tailored culturally and linguistically to the local population. Local youth used the power of social media, and their followings to connect with younger generations about the COVID-19 updates and vaccination information. At that time, the state of California campaign analyzed regional data (ZIP codes/census tracts) to target areas with the lowest vaccination rates and highest inequities.