Building CalFresh Capacity across San Diego County
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Over the past two months, our CalFresh Team has been busy training more than 65 CalFresh application assisters across San Diego County. As a part of the Hunger Coalition’s work to increase CalFresh enrollment, we provide a variety of trainings for nonprofit staff and volunteers. Our workshops range from monthly “CalFresh 101” trainings on eligibility screening and effective application assistance to specialized presentations on topics such as working with Legal Permanent Residents or senior CalFresh outreach. Recognized for our expertise and high quality trainings, the Hunger Coalition is regularly invited to provide our workshops across the state via webinars, conference calls and in person visits.
One organization we have had the pleasure of working more closely with this year is 2-1-1 San Diego. Over the past year, the Hunger Coalition provided training to more than 45 staff from 2-1-1 San Diego. Claire Oksayan, Director of Programs at 2-1-1 San Diego recently shared that, “The support provided through the years by Hunger Coalition has allowed us to build a highly successful program providing over-the-phone enrollment in programs such as CalFresh, Medi-Cal and Covered California. This program has more than quadrupled in size since inception in 2009, and a key partner in helping us be successful is the Hunger Coalition.”
The Hunger Coalition has trained more than 180 people this year, and we still have one month to go! Each full time CalFresh application assister can enroll 300 households per year. In San Diego County, the average household award is $274 per month. If the 180 people we’ve trained so far this year enrolled 300 households per year, that would provide more than $96 million in grocery dollars for low-income families. We are proud to work with our partners to ensure that individuals across San Diego County can apply for and receive the food benefits they need, during the holidays and beyond.
