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No Immigration Action at Food Banks during Harvey

September 8, 2017 By Larry

Food assistance needed without fear

As part of the response plan for Hurricane Harvey, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a joint press release encouraging community members to seek emergency assistance without the fear of immigration action. The statement clarified that, “routine non-criminal immigration enforcement operations will not be conducted at evacuation sites, or assistance centers such as shelters or food banks.”

Assurances like this are essential to calm fears and maintain access to critical services.

Unfortunately, confusion and fear around the issue of immigration have caused some local families to feel that it is no longer safe to use needed services available in our community.

The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano believes the Department of Homeland Security can prevent unnecessary hunger by expanding the scope of this commitment. We urge them to issue guidance that includes food distribution sites on the list of sensitive locations protected from routine immigration enforcement actions. Everyone should feel safe receiving nutrition assistance, not just those impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

The Department of Homeland Security established that its emergency response priorities are “to promote life-saving and life-sustaining activities,” but not all emergencies are caused by natural disasters. Food banks across the country provide life-saving and life-sustaining services every single day for families coping with personal emergencies, like a sudden illness or the loss of a job.

The Food Bank and our partner agencies provide food to anyone in need. As a private nonprofit, we do not ask and are not required to report the legal status of anyone we serve. However widespread worries and misconceptions about new immigration policies have led some families to avoid our services.

The number of clients at Food Bank distributions has decreased since November, with the sharpest decline in January. Caitlin Sly, Program Director at the Food Bank, explains that, “immigration fears undoubtedly play a role in the drop we’re seeing at distributions and in applications for federal nutrition assistance. People are afraid to seek out the help they need.”

We recently met a woman at a distribution in Fairfield who was picking up food for herself and another family. She explained that her neighbors stopped coming to that site because of their immigration status; the parents were afraid and barely left their home at all. Worried that her neighbor’s children were going without food, she offered to bring home an extra bag for them. Not everyone is lucky enough to have such concerned neighbors.

Another woman in Concord shared with our staff that she decided to homeschool her 18 year-old son during his senior year of high school. Although he had protected status under the DREAM Act at that time, his mother was afraid that going to public school in this political climate was too risky. She said she would rather her son miss out on the free lunches he got at school than risk deportation.

The Food Bank encourages all public leaders, from local city council members to the Director of Homeland Security, to help fight hunger. We urge them to address barriers to food access created by the climate of fear and uncertainty. Everyone deserves the reassurance that the victims of Hurricane Harvey have received – that there will be no repercussions for seeking out food assistance.

No one should be hungry, especially when resources like the Food Bank are available.

President’s Budget Will Increase Hunger and Hardship

June 1, 2017 By Carly

The president released his proposed FY 2018 budget this month that calls for $193 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over the next decade. These deep cuts represent a 25 percent reduction in funding, a move that would increase hunger and deepen poverty for millions of Americans already struggling to make ends meet. About 67,000 individuals in Contra Costa County and 40,000 in Solano County relied on federally-funded SNAP benefits each month of 2016 – about half of whom were children.

In an effort to reduce federal spending on SNAP, the budget both cuts vital nutrition funding and pushes costs onto states—an historic shift that would permanently alter SNAP’s entitlement structure and abandon our nation’s long-standing bi-partisan commitment to combat hunger. The current structure of SNAP allows the program to flexibly expand and contract its caseload based on need, ensuring that benefits are available to anyone who qualifies. The proposed changes, however, would require states to pay for 25 percent of benefits that are currently fully funded by the federal government.

Restructuring SNAP’s program structure would require California to absorb $1.8 billion annually in SNAP benefit costs. Such cost-shifting measures would undermine SNAP’s efficiency, flexibility, and reach—particularly in times of economic recession.

The budget proposal also targets low-income seniors and the working poor by proposing to eliminate the minimum monthly SNAP benefit of $16. This would result in 110,000 individuals in California being kicked off the program, the vast majority of whom are seniors living on Social Security and low-income workers who use SNAP to supplement their earnings. Eliminating the minimum benefit would also cause the state to lose $14 million each month in SNAP benefits that currently flow into local economies and support food retailers and farmers.

The president’s budget contains a number of other harmful proposals that would increase hunger, restrict eligibility and reduce benefits for California’s low-income families. These threats including time limiting SNAP benefits for childless workers in areas of high unemployment, benefit caps for large SNAP households, and prohibiting California and other states with high costs of living from assisting families with incomes over 130 percent of the federal poverty line.

These proposed cuts to SNAP would force even more Americans to rely on emergency food assistance providers like food banks, but the president’s budget proposes $27 million in cuts to these charitable organizations. The federal Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) provides local organizations with dried and canned food items, representing more than 13% of all pounds distributed by the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano last year.

“There is no way that food banks and other charities could replace the proposed billions in cuts to SNAP benefits,” says Caitlin Sly, Program Director at the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. “Food banks are a complement, not a substitute, to the safety net.” Only 1 in 20 emergency assistance meals are provided by nonprofits, the rest flow through federal nutrition programs like SNAP.

The budget proposal also includes cuts of $627 billion from Medicaid, $21 billion from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, also known as Welfare-to-Work), and $72 billion from Social Security programs like Supplemental Security Income (SSI) that support low-income seniors and people with disabilities.

The president’s budget sends the message that hunger is an acceptable outcome in America. The Food Bank is urging Congress to oppose any budget proposal that goes back on our decades-long commitment to eradicate hunger and support a bi-partisan budget deal that invests in the health and nutrition of nation’s most vulnerable residents.

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Governor’s Budget fails to lift SSI recipients out of poverty

January 11, 2017 By Carly

On Tuesday Governor Brown revealed a conservative 2016-17 Budget Proposal that maintains recession-era cuts to the vital Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Program. SSI is a very basic income available to blind, disabled, and aged individuals who have limited or no income and resources. The maximum grant for an individual is just 90% of the federal poverty line.

Despite steady economic growth and a healthy state budget reserve, the Governor’s proposal fails to make desperately-needed investments in SSI to allow seniors and people with disabilities to share in the state’s prosperity.

The maximum SSI benefit for an individual is only $895/month, which is barely enough to afford rent – let alone food – in the Bay Area. Because SSI recipients are ineligible to receive CalFresh nutrition assistance benefits, most rely heavily on food banks, sometimes as their only source of nutrition.

“There are days when I only have bread to eat,” says Toni, an SSI recipient from Concord.

Toni says she wouldn’t have even that if it weren’t for the groceries and hot meals she receives from the Food Bank distribution at her local church. She receives just $909 each month in SSI and Social Security Disability Insurance. After paying $870 in rent for her small apartment, Toni must choose whether to spend her remaining $39 on medication, transportation, or toiletries. “You have to pay all the other bills first. Food has to be last.”

After 10 years without a state-funded increase to SSI, advocates successfully negotiated a one-time cost of living adjustment through last year’s state budget process. The 2.67% increase to the state’s contribution is an important step towards restoring benefits, but it is nowhere near enough to lift California’s 1.3 million SSI recipients out of poverty.

Lisa, an SSI recipient from Bay Point, saw her income rise just $5 this year. “Five dollars means that I can maybe afford to do two loads of laundry,” she says. “I still don’t have enough money to survive. We have gone without food for days… I can’t afford even the minimum.”

The 2016-17 state budget can and must reinstate SSI benefits to their pre-recession levels and add a meaningful cost-of-living adjustment so that no one has to suffer the indignity of hunger.

“I wish there was a way for me to talk to Governor Brown myself,” says Lisa. “Do you think he knows what it’s like to worry about a bill so much it gives you a stomachache first thing when you wake up every morning?”

Newly released White House Report outlines strategy to end hunger and increase opportunity

November 14, 2016 By Carly

President Obama’s Advisory Council for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships released a report last week that provides recommendations to the incoming President on combatting economic inequality in America. This report, Strengthening Efforts to Increase Opportunity and End Poverty, argues that we must go beyond service provision to address past and present systems of structural racism and discrimination.

The factors have given rise to current levels of extreme inequality and financial insecurity are numerous and complex. The report’s authors assert that “efforts to substantially alleviate poverty must address underlying economic, social, and racial justice issues” if they are to be effective and sustainable. In addition to historic and present structural discrimination, the report points to a weakening of the social safety net, declining wages, concentrated poverty and wealth, mass incarceration, and a broken immigration system as underlying causes of economic inequality.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as CalFresh, was cited as a fundamental and proven tool to fight poverty and inequality. These grocery benefits lifted as many as 10 million people out of poverty in 2014, including 5 million children. Research shows that children who receive food assistance have lifelong improvements in their educational, health, and economic outcomes. The Food Bank works diligently to increase access and strengthen the CalFresh program through our policy advocacy, direct outreach, and partnerships with county CalFresh departments.

The authors’ primary anti-hunger recommendation is to expand the use of food insecurity screenings in health care settings. They call for federal guidance to health care providers on screening their patients’ access to food, integrating patient responses into their medical record, and providing referrals to nutrition-assistance programs like CalFresh. These practices could combat hunger, improve health outcomes for low-income individuals and families, and reduce health care costs. The Food Bank is very supportive of this recommendation and is currently looking at how we can partner with local health care providers to systematize food insecurity screening and referrals.

Although screening for food insecurity and prescribing programs like CalFresh are moral imperatives in the fight to end hunger, the report issues in-depth recommendations to prevent that need from arising in the first place. The authors argue that in order to fulfill our national commitment to end extreme poverty and hunger in America by 2030, we must shift our understanding of poverty away from individualized instances of “personal responsibility” to work toward economic, social, and racial justice.

To learn more about the Council for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships’ analysis of poverty and solutions to inequality, we encourage you to read the full report.

2016 Anti-Hunger Bills in Review

October 7, 2016 By Carly

Last Friday, September 30^th marked the Governor’s final deadline to sign off on bills approved by the state legislature in 2016. This session was full of satisfying victories and disappointing losses. After months of traveling up to Sacramento to testify in policy hearings, meeting with and educating our elected officials on the issue of hunger, and organizing community members to send letters and make phone calls in support of these bills, here’s how it all shook out:

Let’s start with the good news…

AB 1747 (Weber) Address college student hunger by expanding CalFresh outreach to students, increasing access to CalFresh restaurant meal programs, and requiring public colleges to provide surcharge-free access to EBT.
AB 2057 (Stone) Clarify laws concerning replacement benefits for CalFresh recipients fleeing domestic violence.
SB 1232 (Leno) Require counties that use electronic employment databases to verify earned income in a way that is both transparent and helpful to low-income CalFresh applicants.
SB 1339 (Monning) Improve processing of inter-county transfers for CalFresh/CalWORKs/Medi-Cal recipients.

Before getting to the bad news…

AB 1584 (Brown) Increase Supplemental Security Income (SSI/SSP) grants for food and living expenses by automatically applying an annual cost of living adjustment.
- Although this year’s state budget included a one-time cost of living adjustment that will be added SSI/SSP grants on January 1st, 2017, the Governor vetoed this bill which would have automatically added cost of living adjustments each year. In his veto message he made clear that it was not because the bill was unworthy, but because he wants these issues dealt with in the budget process.
AB 1770 (Alejo) Update CalFresh eligibility standards to include all legally present immigrants and refugees who meet all other eligibility rules.
- The Governor vetoed this bill. In his veto message he made clear that it was not because the bill was unworthy, but because he wants these issues dealt with in the budget process.
AB 2054 (Thurmond) Design a Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children program (SEBTC) to provide nutrition assistance benefits to eligible households during the summer when kids lose access to school meals.
- This bill died in committee and never passed the legislature.
AB 2151 (Chu) Increase CalWORKs special diet or food preparation needs allowance and allow for various health professionals to determine need.
- This bill died in committee and never passed the legislature.
AB 2131 (Maienschein) Create a specialty John Lennon “Imagine No Hunger” license plates, the proceeds from which would fund CA Food Banks.
- This bill died in committee and never passed the legislature.
AB 2768 (Thurmond) Provide a tax credit for prepared food donations to soup kitchens and hot food providers. Position: Support
- This bill died early in committee and never passed the legislature. Organizations can still donate certain prepared foods, but they will not get a tax credit for it.
SB 904 (Hertzberg) Prevent counties from opting-out of federal waivers that lift CalFresh’s three-month benefit time limit for Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs) when unemployment is high.
- This bill died in committee and never passed the legislature. Counties will voluntarily opt-in to lifting time limits for CalFresh recipients if they qualify based on their unemployment rate.

In a number of his veto letters, the Governor indicated that he would prefer to handle these issues through the state budget process, rather than as bills. The Food Bank will continue to advocate for our top priority issues that weren’t passed this year, and we look forward to engaging with the Governor and others through the state budget process and others. To learn about the anti-hunger investments that were made in this year’s state budget, read our article published in the East Bay Times!

Hunger Action Month Spotlight on CalFresh

September 15, 2016 By Carly

What is CalFresh?

CalFresh is a federal nutrition assistance program that serves as one of the most important safeguards against hunger in America. Low-income households that qualify for CalFresh receive monthly electronic benefits that can be used to purchase groceries at most grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and food retailers.

Why is the Food Bank involved?

Many people mistakenly believe that the bulk of nutrition assistance comes from food banks, but 19 out of 20 emergency meals are actually provided by the government through programs like CalFresh. The Food Bank’s mission is to end hunger, and we know that we can’t do this solely through food distributions. Only about 60% of qualifying Contra Costa residents receive CalFresh benefits, and the Food Bank realized that many of our clients didn’t know that they were eligible or needed assistance navigating the application process. In 2014 the Food Bank began to partner with the Contra Costa CalFresh office and other community-based organizations to increase participation among eligible populations to improve food security and strengthen our local economy.

Next steps you can take to help increase CalFresh participation in Contra Costa

Learn about what the local CalFresh partnership is doing to increase access and participation by checking out our brand new list of key achievements.
Ask Governor Brown to sign AB 1770! Certain categories of legally present immigrants can receive CalFresh, while others – including those protected under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (also known as DREAMers) – are arbitrarily excluded. AB 1770 would update CalFresh immigrant eligibility rules to eliminate this discrepancy and ensure all legally present immigrants are eligible for CalFresh if they meet all other qualifications.
Call (916) 445-2841
Sample Script: “Hi, my name is [give your full name] from [give your zip code and organization or city.] I’m calling to ask Governor Brown to please AB 1770 to update CalFresh immigrant eligibility requirements. Thank you!”
Tweet
.@JerryBrownGov: Help end @CALimmigrant hunger by signing #AB1770
Find out whether or not your local grocery store, corner store, or farmers’ market accepts CalFresh benefits. If they don’t, encourage them to do so!
Attend a “Just the Basics” training at the Food Bank to learn more about the CalFresh program and how you can help raise awareness. The training will take place on September 22^nd from 9:00am-12:00pm at the Food Bank, located at 4010 Nelson Ave., Concord, CA 94520. The training will be facilitated by County CalFresh staff and Food Bank CalFresh Outreach staff. To RSVP, call the Food Bank at 925-676-7543.
Donate to the Food Bank help fund our outreach work.

Food Bank Inducted Into the Advocacy Hall of Fame

August 1, 2016 By Carly

The Food Bank’s New Year’s Resolution was to focus on anti-hunger advocacy in addition to continuing to provide food to 190,000 people each month. Just over half way through the year we are proud to announce that the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano has been inducted into Feeding America’s 2016 Advocacy Hall of Fame.

To receive this designation, we were required to meet a minimum of five challenges that demonstrate the impact of our advocacy at local, state, and federal levels. Here’s a sampling of a few actions we’ve taken so far this year:

Challenge #1: Communicate with local Members of Congress or their staff.

(Left to right) Larry Sly, Carly Finkle, and Rep. McNerney at a food distribution in Antioch.

Local Congressmember Jerry McNerney (D-9), pictured above, visited the Food Bank’s Antioch Community Produce Program in March. He came to help distribute produce, learn about the Food Bank’s programs, and discuss opportunities to improve food access through federal legislation.

Challenge #2: Engage local media on policy issues.

Local news outlets published a number of opinion articles authored by Food Bank staff about the state of hunger in our community, the need for substantive policy change, and updates on relevant legislation. In case you missed it, our Op-Ed about the new 2016-17 state budget was published in five Bay Area newspapers this month!

Challenge # 3: Ask grassroots supporters to act on policy issues.

Advocates at an anti-hunger rally in front of the state capitol.

The Food Bank organized a group of sixteen community advocates who traveled to the state capitol to meet with local elected officials and engaged citizens from across the state. We collectively demanded greater investments in safety net and nutrition programs as part of California’s annual Hunger Action Day.

Challenge #4: Ask community leaders to act on policy issues.

The Food Bank coordinated a coalition letter with a number of faith leaders who run pantries in our distribution network. The letter was sent to to State Senator Loni Hancock asking for her support for the Food Bank’s anti-hunger priorities in the state budget. Our top three priorities were all included in the final budget, which Senator Hancock supported.

Challenge #5: Educate and mobilize local organizations around policy issues.

The Food Bank presented its legislative agenda to the Multi Faith Action Coalition’s Food Security Task Force, helped identify their policy priorities, and traveled to Sacramento together to advocate for our shared goal of ending hunger.

Challenge #6: Communicate with state legislators or their staff.

(Left to right) Larry Sly, Carly Finkle, and Assemblymember Frazier at a distribution site.

Local State Assemblymember Jim Frazier (D-11) handed out produce at a Food Bank distribution in East County earlier this month. He had the chance to see firsthand the realities of and response to food insecurity in the community. The Food Bank also had the opportunity to thank the Assemblymember for voting in favor of every single one of our anti-hunger priorities that came before him in committee or on the Assembly floor this year.

New State Budget Tackles Hunger

June 30, 2016 By Carly

The State Budget is more than an estimate of California’s annual revenues and expenses; it is an expression of our collective values and priorities. The expansion of anti-hunger investments in the 2016-17 State Budget, which Governor Brown signed into law on Monday, June 27, 2016, reflects a strengthened commitment to end hunger in California.

In the most agriculturally productive state in the nation, nearly 14% of the state’s general population is considered food insecure. This means they occasionally or consistently can’t afford the food needed for a healthy and active lifestyle. As many as 1 in 4 children go to bed hungry each night. Food insecurity can negatively impact school attendance and performance, workplace productivity, and general health.

The nutritional investments in the 2016-17 budget are a testament to the magnitude of this issue as well as the strength of existing anti-hunger programs. Due to fears of a looming recession, the state targeted limited funds to expand successful pilots and strengthen established distribution networks. The budget includes measures to strengthen California’s food banks, encourage the adoption of innovative school breakfast programs, and expand incentives for nutrition assistance recipients to shop at farmers’ markets.

The state’s investment in local food banks will increase food access, improve public health, and support California’s farmers. The State Emergency Food Assistance Program (SEFAP) will provide $2 million to emergency food providers to purchase and distribute California-grown foods. California food banks are able to provide an average of five meals for every dollar in funding they receive. By funding community based distribution networks directly, SEFAP is expected to provide an additional 10 million meals to low-income Californians next fiscal year.

The budget also increases, simplifies, and extends an existing tax credit for agricultural producers who donate excess produce to California food banks. The previous tax credit boosted donations by 50% since it was established in 2011, but it will expire at the end of this calendar year. These financial incentives offset the considerable costs associated with harvesting, packaging, and transporting donations, and will help divert millions of pounds of food from landfills directly to those who need it the most.

Only about half of the eligible children that receive free and reduced-price school lunches in California are able to take advantage of school breakfast. Innovative after-the-bell breakfast pilots have increased participation, improved class attendance, enhanced academic performance, and decreased disciplinary incidents. The state’s commitment of an additional $2 million to increase startup and expansion grants for after-the-bell breakfast programs in high-poverty schools will ensure that all children start the school day with the energy they need to learn, grow, and achieve.

Finally, the state’s contribution of $5 million to expand existing nutrition incentive programs will support local farmers and improve access to nutritious foods for low-income households. Commonly known as Market Match, these funds double the purchasing power of CalFresh recipients when they use their grocery credits at farmers’ markets. As farmers continue to reel from the drought and diet-related illnesses among low-income individuals become more prevalent, Market Match could generate an additional $60 million in sales for California growers while improving public health and nutrition.

While these budget commitments will not be enough to end hunger, they represent carefully targeted investments in proven and effective programs. The anti-hunger provisions in the 2016-17 State Budget merit celebration, but there is still much to be done in the public and private sectors to address food insecurity in California. The resounding and relentless calls from the anti-hunger community helped get us this far, and they will not quiet until food access is recognized and realized as a right for all.

Low SSI Benefits Leave Seniors and People with Disabilities in Poverty

May 25, 2016 By Carly

Andrew Cheyne (left), Lisa Lopez (center), and Carly Finkle (right) in front of the Governor’s office.

Meet Lisa. She lives in an apartment in Bay Point. Lisa’s children are grown, but she hands out donated toys at Christmas time to the kids living in her complex if their parents can’t afford to buy them presents. Humble, generous, and deeply empathetic, Lisa is one in a million. But she is also one in 1.3 million, the number of Californians living on Supplemental Security Income (SSI.)

SSI is a public program that provides a very basic income to seniors and people with disabilities who have no or limited income and resources. Californians who receive SSI are categorically ineligible for CalFresh, a federal nutrition assistance program, because these benefits are technically bundled. However, the maximum SSI grant for individuals is just $889 each month, which is equal to 90% of the poverty line. Because $889 is barely enough to afford rent, let alone food, SSI recipients rely heavily on food banks, sometimes as their only source of food.

Every Sunday, Lisa walks to the end of her block to a food distribution housed in a local church. She carries home a couple of grocery bags and lives on whatever happens to be in the bag for the entire week. The Food Bank has other distributions in Bay Point, but Lisa was in a car crash that left her permanently disabled, and she isn’t able to walk any farther than to the end of the street. With a twisted spine, carrying groceries even a single block is no small feat.

Because Lisa worked full-time as a black jack dealer before her accident, she receives a little bit of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), bringing her monthly income up to $909. Even so, $750 of this is immediately spent on rent, and the rest is quickly sent off to pay electricity, water, heating, phone, and cable bills. Her SSI check is supposed to afford her food for the month, but it is barely enough to buy soap and toilet paper.

The deep injustice of leaving 1.3 million disabled and elderly Californians to live in poverty has spurred a broad coalition of advocates into action. Grants for this program were severely cut during the recession and still have not increased, despite an improving economy and 14% increase in the cost of living. California can and must reinstate SSI benefits to their pre-recession levels and add a cost-of-living adjustment.

The California legislature must pass a state budget by June 15^th, and increasing SSI grants is one of the Food Bank’s top priorities to fight hunger this budget season. Lisa has traveled to Sacramento as a Food Bank advocate multiple times to share her story and give voice to the millions of SSI recipients who have gone unheard in the capitol for far too long. Because of the ongoing efforts of advocates like Lisa, the Governor proposed a modest 2.96% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to SSI grants. While we welcome this increase, it does not go far enough.

Benefits must be restored in full and supplemented by a COLA that adequately reflects increases in the cost of living. As the price of housing skyrockets throughout the Bay Area and state, we cannot continue to force our disabled and elderly neighbors to choose between rent, food, and the medicine they need to stay healthy. As budget negotiations come to a head, please join Lisa and lend your voice to this critical issue.

Go to www.ca4ssi.org or email Carly Finkle at cfinkle@foodbankccs.org to learn more about how to get involved.

Food Bank Completes Successful Mailing Campaign in Partnership with County and Schools

April 25, 2016 By Cassandra

Only about 60 percent of all Contra Costa residents who qualify for federal nutrition assistance, known as CalFresh in California, actually receive these benefits. CalFresh is vitally important to the health of our community, and research shows that children whose families participate in the program are less likely to be obese as adults and more likely to complete high school.

The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano has been looking at different ways to increase participation in the CalFresh Program and came up with an innovative idea: to mail postcards to families enrolled in Medical and School Lunch programs but not yet enrolled in CalFresh. If a household qualifies for Medical or the School Lunch program, they are likely eligible for CalFresh as well. Campaigns such as this are being utilized across the country to increase enrollment in Health and Nutrition Assistance programs.

The Food Bank received funding from the John Muir/Mt. Diablo Community Health Fund to launch two direct mail campaigns to two targeted populations. In the first campaign, the Employment and Health Services Department of Contra Costa identified those individuals enrolled in Medical but not enrolled in CalFresh and mailed them CalFresh information from the Food Bank. In the second mailing, school districts in central and east Contra Costa mailed the Food Bank’s CalFresh postcards to their Free and Reduced Lunch participants.

Between the two campaigns, over 100,000 households from our community were sent postcards that alerted them to their potential eligibility. These individuals were invited to contact the Food Bank’s CalFresh Outreach team, who could help them navigate the application process. The effort targeted populations that were not previously reached and resulted in nearly 1,000 new applications.

The Food Bank is very pleased with the results of this campaign and our successful partnerships with the county and schools. The Food Bank is considering mailing CalFresh information to these same lists again this year and continuing to explore new populations to target.

-Authored by Cassie Wagner, CalFresh Outreach Manager

Proposed Budget Cuts Threaten Nutrition Assistance

March 28, 2016 By Carly

Federal nutrition assistance programs are under attack, once more.

This month the House Budget Committee passed a FY2017 Budget Resolution that would cut $3.5 trillion from programs for low-income households over the next ten years, including $150 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). If enacted, these changes would exacerbate hunger and deepen poverty for millions of Americans.

SNAP, known as CalFresh in California, is a federally-funded nutrition assistance program that provides grocery credits to low-income households. In 2014 the SNAP program raised 4.7 million Americans out of poverty, including 2.1 million children. The proposed 29 percent cuts would force SNAP administrators to choose to reduce benefits or kick currently-eligible households off the program.

Even at present nearly 80 percent of SNAP grocery credits are redeemed within the first two weeks, indicating that benefit amounts are not enough to last recipients the entire month. April, a SNAP recipient from Vallejo, said that with four teenage children, her grocery credits only last a week and a half. She uses SNAP “to buy them meat and milk and all the expensive things…then we come [a Food Bank distribution] for whatever else we need.” Any further cuts to the program would place an enormous burden on both SNAP recipients and the emergency food networks that would have to fill that gap.

The resolution bundles deep cuts with a mandate to convert SNAP to a block grant, which is an annual lump sum given to states to administer a program. Federal SNAP funding is currently an uncapped stream that fluctuates based on enrollment. A block grant would significantly reduce the program’s ability to respond immediately to unforeseen changes in need.

For example, between 2007 and 2013 when nearly 20 million additional people became eligible for nutrition assistance during the recession, SNAP caseloads increased by close to 40% to meet demand. During this same period, the block granted program Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) barely budged despite a similar increase in need and eligibility. TANF caseloads peaked in 2010 with a 16 percent increase and had already fallen below pre-recession levels by 2013. SNAP’s ability to immediately respond to increased need during economic downturns is one of its strongest features. This flexibility should be strengthened and protected, not eroded by a block grant.

Although supporters of block grants argue that it gives more control to states, SNAP is county administered in California and there is already substantial local control over eligibility, implementation, and oversight. During times of recession, block grants would force states to choose between cutting benefits to households, creating waiting lists for families in need, or even shifting funds away from food assistance to fill other budget shortfalls.

Without a block grant, states have a significant incentive to increase enrollment among eligible individuals in times of economic downturn. More qualified participants mean more federal dollars streaming into local economies. According to a 2015 report by California Food Policy Advocates, if every qualified household in Contra Costa and Solano enrolled in SNAP it would annually generate more than $147 million and $43 million in economic activity for each county, respectively. Under a block grant, however, this incentive rapidly disappears. Dollars that aren’t spent on SNAP benefits can be redirected to other areas in the budget.

The calls in this report to defund and restructure SNAP hinge on concerns of “relentless and unsustainable growth.” Although caseloads have yet to come down to pre-2007 levels, they have been steadily declining since 2013. When the recession hit, the program responded exactly as it was intended to: its caseload ballooned to meet increased need. The fact that millions of people continue to qualify for nutrition assistance is reflective of a slow and deeply uneven recovery, not a fatal flaw in the program.

As a nation, we should focus on job creation and job training, not kicking the ladder out from under those that remain unemployed or underemployed. The Food Bank is strongly opposed to the House Budget Committee’s resolution to cut and block grant SNAP, and we encourage you to reach out to your Representatives in the House to ask them to oppose these disastrous changes.

Carly Finkle is the Advocacy Manager for the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano and can be reached at cfinkle@foodbankccs.org.

Food Bank Has Programs For Children

March 1, 2016 By Larry

Originally posted on the Vacaville Reporter: An astonishing one out of five children within our community is food-insecure. Child hunger doesn’t just affect children. It affects parents and our society as a whole.

When children grow up with chronic hunger, we know that they experience significant physiological damage because their growing bodies don’t get the nutrition they need. Children also suffer psychological damage because they don’t have the sense of security that comes from knowing where their next meal is coming from.

Food is the most basic daily need. As a parent myself, I can imagine the anguish a parent faces when they struggle financially to the point where they can’t always have enough food to feed their children. Not being able to provide for your child destroys a parent’s self-worth. Many parents face it on a daily basis and many more found themselves in this boat for the first time during the housing crash in 2008.

Studies have shown that food-insecure children fall behind their friends in academic achievement. Children are the future of this country, as we all know, so not providing adequate nutrition now will ultimately negatively affect all aspects of this nation.

To address child hunger, we have programs at the Food Bank that cater specifically to children. Farm 2 Kids helps low-income children have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. We partner with after-school programs in low-income areas in eligible school districts. Children take home three to five pounds of produce weekly.

Our School Pantry Program provides nutritious, nonperishable food to students attending qualified low-income schools. Located on school grounds, the pantries offer middle school and high school students access to groceries on an as-needed basis.

The Food Bank is an important resource for children in need within our community, and we also conduct outreach to educate families with children about other resources available to them. We work with the county to help enroll families in the CalFresh program. Through this program families receive benefits to purchase groceries helping to stretch their limited budgets. CalFresh is the most effective nutrition assistance program at pulling families out of poverty.

In three short months, schools will be out for the summer. When my children were growing up, summer just meant adjustments to our family routine because school was no longer in session. We never thought about our children not having enough food because school is out.

Unfortunately, the reality for many children is that summer breaks mean less food is available to them. That’s why the Food Bank advocates for the Summer Food Service Program at the government level.

Also, we perform outreach locally to educate families about this federal nutrition assistance program that helps children 18 and younger. We believe that no family in our community should ever have to send a child to bed hungry.

If you are interested in donating to the Food Bank to help us end child hunger, please visit www.foodbankccs.org/childhunger.

The author is executive director of the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, based in Concord. Email: info@foodbankccs.org.