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Despite years of economic recovery, with our extraordinary cost of living California leads the nation in poverty, with more than one in five living below the Supplemental Poverty Measure1. Hunger still above the levels seen before the Great Recession, with one in eight Californians suffering the devastating consequences of food insecurity2. California is home to the hungriest city in America, Bakersfield, as well as the fifth hungriest, Fresno.
Clearly, CalFresh is more vital than ever. The following resources are available to help CalFresh achieve its mission and prevent any attempts to cut the program:
The Economic Value of CalFresh. Key stat: Every $1 billion in CalFresh benefits supports at least 10,000 jobs, especially in rural areas for farmers to have markets for their products and customers for retailers – CAFB
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State & county-level CalFresh economic data. Key stat: CalFresh sent $7.1B in 100% federally-funded benefits in our 2016-17 budget year, supporting some 71,000 jobs statewide – CA Budget & Policy Center
Summary of SNAP’s economic benefits nationwide – USDA
CalFresh lifts nearly a million Californians out of poverty, the most of any safety net program – Public Policy Institute of CA
http://www.ppic.org/main/publication_show.asp?i=870
Public nutrition programs provide 19 of every 20 emergency meals – private charities like food banks could never meet the need – Bread for the World
http://bread.org/sites/default/files/downloads/2014_churches_hunger_fact_sheet.pdf
SNAP provides incredible anti-hunger & health benefits, but benefits are too low – White House
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/documents/SNAP_report_final_nonembargo.pdf
Block grants would destroy CalFresh & lead to devastating hunger – Center on Budget & Policy Priorities
http://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/3-21-16snap.pdf
CalFresh only reaches about 2/3 of eligible Californians, and only half of working families – USDA
https://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/ops/Reaching2014.pdf
If CalFresh reached everyone, California would see an additional $2.5 billion in benefits and $4.5 billion in economic activity every year – CA Food Policy Advocates
http://cfpa.net/CalFresh/CFPAPublications/LDEP-FullReport-2016.pdf
1http://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/new-census-figures-show-many-californians-struggling-get/
2 https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/err215/err-215.pdf
(Photo by Matt Preston/Flickr Creative Commons)
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