Take Direct Action on AB 1321 - Nutrition Incentives

Assembly Bill 1321 has passed the legislature and needs calls to the Governor's office to encourage him to sign it into law! AB 1321 would create a matching program to draw down money from a federal program that provides bonus dollars if benefits from CalFresh and similar programs are spent on Californian grown fruits, vegetables or nuts at farmers markets or small retail outlets.

Our partners at Hunger Advocacy Network have put out the following call to action!:

These bills now go to the Governor’s desk for signature. Even though both of these bills benefited from strong bipartisan support in both houses and no opposition, we still want to ensure that Gov. Brown hears from constituents up and down California to highlight their significance to Gov. Brown and push for his signature. Please take the following action by this Friday, September 11th:

Make calls – either as an individual or on behalf of your organization – and encourage your clients, colleagues, board, and others in your network to do the same!

Call (916) 445-2841 (an intern or aide will take your call) an use the following scripts:

 AB 1321: Hello, my name is __________ and I live in/work at __________. I am calling to urge Governor Brown to sign AB 1321: CA Nutrition Incentives Act. B 1321 is a step in the right direction in order to end food insecurity and keep our families and local economies healthy. It would also leverage federal matching dollars. The Legislature gave strong bipartisan support for this bill and I hope Governor Brown will support it too by signing this bill into law.

Thank you for your support on this vital issue!

A History of the San Diego Hunger Coalition

The San Diego Hunger Coalition was founded on Thanksgiving Day in 1974, when a group of caring San Diegans banded together to address local concern over hunger. The Coalition’s first advocacy campaign was in 1975 with the support of SB 530, proposed legislation that would enable local stores to donate their damaged food for anti-hunger efforts.

For the first three years of program operation, the Hunger Coalition existed as a project of the San Diego Ecumenical Conference. In order to obtain more independence, in 1977, the Hunger Coalition developed by-laws and applied for 501(c)3 tax exempt status as an association. Throughout its initial 15 years of service, the SDHC recognized the larger political and environmental impacts of poverty and their connection to food insecurity. Based upon this world view, the Coalition focused on additional advocacy efforts, including issues such as: campaigning for general welfare reform and peace in Central America, supporting farm worker movements and boycotts, and registering their opposition to nuclear facilities and CalFresh/SNAP cuts. This underlying foundation guided much of the Coalition’s work including its commitment to advocacy, education and direct service.

 In the early years of the new millennium, the SDHC turned its attention towards federal programs including CalFresh/SNAP and School Meals Programs.

 The SDHC began providing training and support to community based organizations contracted to conduct CalFresh/SNAP outreach, build relationships with County staff, and open up dialog and feedback loops in order to identify barriers to federal benefits and improve access for low income people. Through these partnerships the Food Stamp Task Force (now called the CalFresh Task Force) was developed in 2005, when San Diego County utilization rates ranked among the worst in the nation at 26%. 2006 was momentous as it saw the SDHC hire its first paid staff member through a grant from MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. Today the Task Force boasts more than 40 member organizations and has monthly meetings in each region of the county.  San Diego’s CalFresh participation rate has increased to 64%, but this is still far below the 80-90% typical in other metropolitan areas of the U.S. 

Today, SDHC continues to operate as a lean but high-powered organization with a staff of six, located in the City Heights area of San Diego. In 2015, SDHC hired a full time staff person to focus on school meals, and we have become the designated facilitator for the Summer Lunch Task Force, which is a working group of the County’s Community Nutrition Action Partnership (CNAP). We anticipate this program area growing in scale and impact similar to our CalFresh Outreach program, and we are also actively aligning outreach between the two program areas. Our legislative and systems change advocacy efforts are focused on CalFresh and School Meals, and how we can best interconnect federal food assistance programs with other community-based efforts to end hunger.

SDHC Receives Grant to Increase Access to Healthy Food for Head Start Families

The San Diego Hunger Coalition (SDHC) works to identify and address systemic barriers to participation in CalFresh, and we have a special focus on vulnerable populations not being successfully reached through existing outreach efforts. Though Head Start families are almost 100% eligible for CalFresh, only 40% are enrolled countywide.

With a $10,000 grant from Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, San Diego, SDHC is launching a new program to connect Head Start families to CalFresh benefits and nutrition education. We are developing a new outreach program tailored for Head Start providers, and our partners on this initial pilot will be Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Head Start and 2-1-1 San Diego.  AKA Head Start serves over 1,500 very low-income three- to five-year-olds at 13 centers in East San Diego County. 

When asked why they have not applied for CalFresh benefits, AKA Head Start families have reported they do not understand eligibility guidelines, need help applying, and/or fear cultural stigma or adverse effects on family immigration status.  Our program will: (1) train Head Start staff on CalFresh application assistance; (2) pair AKA with 2-1-1 for the final stages of CalFresh enrollment through their telephone service; and (3) match the Head Start provider with one or more agencies providing nutrition education. 

We anticipate this will increase the food purchasing power of at least 350 AKA Head Start families by an average of $150 per month through CalFresh enrollment. Other expected outcomes are increased knowledge and motivation to purchase and prepare healthy foods and a decrease in the overall rate of overweight or obesity among AKA Head Start children by 5% during the 2015/2016 school year. 

This pilot project will be self-sustaining, because we are increasing the capacity of AKA Head Start through training, arranging what will be ongoing partnerships, and working with AKA to incorporate the program into organizational protocols.  AKA, 2-1-1, and nutrition educators are all funded by federal, state, and county programs for their elements of the program. The long-term strategy is to scale up the program model developed through this pilot with Head Start providers countywide.