Elise Buik serves as president and chief executive officer of United Way of Greater Los Angeles, the tenth largest local United Way in the United States.

Dear Friends,

When I arrived in Los Angeles County from Atlanta 16 years ago, little did I know how much I would fall in love with this amazing community, and that my husband and I would pick it as the place to raise our two boys. This region has given so much to so many, yet far too many of our residents are falling behind. It is unacceptable to me that one in four of our children lives in poverty, that we are the homeless capital of the nation and that hard-working families are struggling more than ever before.

United Way of Greater Los Angeles has out a new plan, Creating Pathways Out of Poverty, to do our part. We live in a vast county and can’t do this work alone. I hope that you will join us as we endeavor to improve our quality of life and create a new land of promise and opportunity for everyone in our community. Together, we can make it happen.

Elise Buik
President and CEO,
United Way of
Greater Los Angeles