Help Move Our 2008 Legislative Agenda

Given the well-known budget crisis currently affecting California, many of the investments needed to improve nutrition in California may be fiscally out of reach this year.  Recognizing this fact, we've been hard at work crafting a robust legislative agenda that can offer no-cost and low-cost solutions to improve low-income communities' access to healthy, affordable food.  Our legislative agenda includes making food stamps more accessible, expanding breakfast access to include more low-income kids, connecting MediCAL to food stamps and school meals, and more.  We’ve created an easy to use legislative tracking page for you to follow these and other nutrition bills through the process.  You can find that page here.

But, we hope that you don’t track just track legislation; we'd rather have you become an active participant in the process.  Three of these bills are already scheduled for hearings in early April.  All of the bills need letters of support; please demonstrate your interest by using one of our sample letters to craft a quick but effective letter.  Your voice does count and these letters really help! 

Below are links to sample letters for five key bills:

AB 1966 – School Breakfast in Needy Schools

AB 2300 – School Nutrition and MediCAL

AB 2704 – Water in Schools

AB 2726 – The Healthy Purchase Pilot

AB 2844 – Food Stamp Reporting

Fact sheets, bill text, and more information on these and on other relevant bills can be found here.

CFPA Testifies in Sacramento and DC

As reported in our last alert, State Senator Alex Padilla (D - San Fernando Valley) convened a hearing on February 20^th to learn how much progress has been made on the Governor's Obesity Prevention Plan.  CFPA's executive director, Ken Hecht, along with other statewide partners in the Strategic Alliance, testified at this hearing.  Also testifying was a former member of the Statewide Youth Board on Obesity Prevention.

The Strategic Alliance produced a useful summary of the hearing that includes links to the testimonies provided. 

To watch the hearing, click here.

CFPA was also invited to testify this past Tuesday, March 4, 2008, before the House Committee on Education and Labor, chaired by Congress Member George Miller (D - Contra Costa), on the school meal programs.  The committee gave particular attention to the recent 143 million pound beef recall, some of which affected school districts across the country.  CFPA's Ken Hecht testified on issues relating to nutrition quality in school meals, with special focus on federal commodity foods, and on barriers to fuller participation in school breakfast and lunch.   

For a link to an archived video of the hearing as well as links to the text of testimony submitted by CFPA, click here.  For a link to just Ken's testimony, click here.

For a link to National Public Radio coverage, click here.

County Profiles in Action

Our new county profiles have proven useful for recent media in the San Bernardino area.  Click here and here for links to two stories that recently ran.

The county profiles can be a valuable resource for your organization as well as local media.  Are you taking advantage of them?  Click here to access them.

Save the Date: Hunger Action Day, May 7, 2008

Mark your calendars!  Hunger Action Day - the California Hunger Action Coalition's much-loved, annual rally and lobby day - is on Wednesday, May 7^th!  Stay tuned for more info.

In this issue:

Help Move Our 2008 Legislative Agenda
CFPA Testifies in Sacramento and DC

Progress on a Controversial Issue: Stigma Sandwiches
Nominees for 2008 Hunger Champions

County Profiles in Action

Save the Date: Hunger Action Day, May 7, 2008

Progress on a Controversial Issue: Stigma Sandwiches

Last summer, a group of parents down in San Diego County (Chula Vista) contacted us about their efforts to stop “stigma sandwiches.”  In their school district and many school districts around the country, children were being punished for their parents' delinquency in paying for school meals or when the kids lost their lunch tickets - through the use of “alternate meals,” or as the media calls them, “stigma sandwiches.”  The children were not allowed to receive the regular meal but instead had to take an “alternate meal,” such as a cold-cheese sandwich.

These passionate parents (William and Cyndi Perno, Alice Coronado) urged us to engage policymakers to find a solution.  Thanks to the leadership of California Assembly Speaker Nunez, US Congressman Bob Filner, and others, we have now taken a giant step towards a solution.

Director Phyllis Bramson-Paul and her team at the California Department of Education, Nutrition Services Division took on the tough task and recently released a management bulletin to all school districts which radically limits the use of alternate meals.  Under the bulletin, alternate meals cannot be given to kids who would receive free and reduced-price meals.  Since the majority of the meals served in California go to these low-income students, this bulletin severely limits this problematic practice.  For the remaining kids who would normally pay full price, the bulletin establishes best practices to discourage alternate meals.

The Chula Vista parents, Speaker Nunez, and CDE should be commended for their efforts.  It is now up to parents and local advocates to ensure that this policy gets implemented.  Please let us know how this policy is or is not working in your community.  We are also interested in hearing your ideas on further policy steps needed to address the remaining issues that the "stigma sandwich" brought up.

Please contact Kumar Chandran, schandran@cfpa.net, 415.777.4422 x129 with your thoughts.

Nominees for 2008 Hunger Champions

The Food Stamp Outreach Coalition is currently accepting nominations for the 2008 Hunger Champions award.  More information on the process and on how to submit your nominee can be found on the USDA website.

Below is some background on the award and the coalition from the above link: 

The nomination process is simple. Any individual, agency or organization who has worked, observed or has personal experience with a local food stamp office that provides exemplary service to food stamp clients and/or applicants may nominate that office to be honored as a Hunger Champion. Nomination forms will be available on various web pages such as the Food Stamp Program outreach pages, World Hunger Year, American Public Human Services Association and the Food Research and Action Center (see websites below). All nominations for this year’s awards must be submitted with a justification of no more than one page by June 30, 2008.

The Food Stamp Outreach Coalition is a national group of interested organizations and individuals that provide a forum for the sharing of outreach ideas, strategies, and resources in order to improve the accessibility of the Food Stamp Program and increase participation by eligible persons. The Coalition seeks to broaden community awareness and improve access and support for the Food Stamp Program and is committed to improving its effectiveness through viable partnerships.
 

Contact:  schandran@cfpa.net