New study from UCLA says only 12 percent of low-income adults in California are getting food stamps.  Urge state budget leaders to seize a number of opportunities to improve food stamp participation!

 

Background:

Last November, UCLA's analysis of data from the California Health Interview Survey showed a striking amount of hunger in California :  2.2 million low-income adults in California cannot always afford to put food on the table.  About one out of every three of these adults experiences episodes of hunger.  This week, UCLA researchers released a new study showing that food stamps are failing to reach California ’s neediest residents—and that the state does an especially poor job in reaching working families.  According to this most recent research: 

• Nine out of ten adults in California who are so poor they would likely qualify for food stamps aren’t getting them.
• Six out of ten of these adults have jobs.
• Only two percent of these adults are receiving cash assistance.
• Nearly half of these adults live in households with children, which means that millions of children are also missing out on food stamps in California .

For more information about this study—including press releases, county-level data about food stamp enrollment drops, and county-level data about the benefits of food stamp dollars—visit CFPA's press page.

Meanwhile, budget negotiations are moving slowly forward.  On Wednesday, the Big 5 met to discuss the budget impasse, and there are now signs that some Democrats may drop their bid to increase taxes in order to close the deficit. Without significant revenue increases, however, deeper cuts to programs and services to low-income Californians are inevitable.  (For more on the budget and what you can do, click here.)

AB 231 also continues to move forward in the Legislature, though we are hopeful that a number of its provisions will be completed in the budget, not through the bill.  On Monday, it will be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee, but we expect that it will be put in the "suspense file" (aka on hold) until much later in the summer.  For all of the materials and information you've ever wanted on AB 231, please visit our Legislative Tracking Page.

Action:

First, make sure that three key budget negotiators get this week's reality check by faxing it to Governor Davis (Fax: 916-327-5296), Assembly Member Cox (Fax: 916-319-2105) and Senator Brulte (Fax: 916-327-2272).  This week's reality check features a family who was unable to get food stamps because a parent was unable to leave work to complete the finger-imaging requirement. 

Be sure to sign and print your name, your address, and, if appropriate, the name of your organization.  With campaigns like this, volume is important—so please help us out by sharing this easy action with your co-workers and colleagues.

We also want to motivate key leaders to improve the state's poor performance on food stamp participation, particularly when it comes to helping working families.  As a second, separate step, please send the new CHIS study and a letter to the Governor at 916-327-5296 (fax).  Use our sample letter as a guide, or feel free to write your own. 

If you're interested in pitching the new CHIS study to the media, visit our press page or contact Autumn Arnold (415-777-4422, ext. 107) for a press release that can be customized for your community. 

Updates

 

More Hassles for Low-income Folks  Last week’s alert focused on proposed verification and paperwork hassles for low-income applicants for school meals.  This week, we want to be sure you are aware of efforts to make the valuable and successful Earned Income Tax Credit more difficult to obtain by low-income workers.  The IRS is seeking comment on new forms and procedures to “pre-certify” some low-income filers.  Despite the fact that other taxpayers do not face similar burdens for other tax credits and that the process will undoubtedly make it harder for eligible families to receive the EITC, the IRS appears intent on moving forward.  There are two ways you can get your comments to the IRS.  First, we encourage you to develop your own comments; however they are due Monday, July 14^th.  The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has some very useful tips and instructions for developing your comments.  If pressed for time and you agree with the comments prepared by CFPA, contact george@cfpa.net and we can sign your organization onto our comments. We need to hear from you by   11 : 30 AM on Monday to be included.

 

Soda Ban SB677 (Ortiz), the bill to ban the sale of soda during the school day in elementary, middle and junior high schools, passed the Assembly Education Committee on July 9, after being amended and passed by the Assembly Health Committee a week earlier. Elsewhere in the nation, the recognition that sodas detract from a healthy school environment—and particularly the nutritional model provided by the National School Lunch Program—has led to even stronger action. In Philadelphia , for example, the schools are renegotiating their soda contracts to include only fruit juice and water.

 

We’ll keep you posted on the next steps for SB677. In the meantime, here’s an article about Philadelphia to inspire our state to take even stronger action to protect kids’ health and promote the school meal programs in years to come!

 

 

Hearing on Child Nutrition Reauthorization  The House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Education Reform will hold a hearing on “Food for Thought: How to Improve Child Nutrition Programs,” on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 at 10:00 a.m. EST. Click here to view the Webcast.

 

 

 

Sonia Panigrahy
Information/Communications Coordinator
California Food Policy Advocates
116 New Montgomery St., Suite 633
San Francisco, CA  94105
T: (415) 777.4422 x115
F: (415) 777.4466
E: sonia@cfpa.net
W: www.cfpa.net 
*Ask me to send you our weekly Action Alerts