Food4All advocates continue their fight to secure equitable access to affordable food for all Californians
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated hunger and hardship for many Californians, particularly immigrant families who are essential to the economy.
However, because of lack of legal status, many of those immigrants are excluded from programs that address food disparities in the state.
The Food4All Campaign, with the nonpartisan, statewide nonprofit organization Nourish California and community partners like Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative (CVIIC) in Clovis, is advocating to secure equitable access to nutritious, affordable food for all Californians regardless of immigration status.
While the state has proposed expanding California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) benefits to California immigrants ages 55 and older, Betzabel Estudillo, senior advocate at Nourish California, said Food4All is advocating “to expand who benefits to all immigrants of all ages, regardless of immigration status.”
“We know that a lot of immigrants are really struggling to feed themselves and their families and are struggling with food insecurity,” Estudillo said.
Vivian Petrucci, special projects coordinator at CVIIC, said CVIIC did a lot of community outreach by taking part in food distribution events throughout the Central Valley.
Petrucci said the number of people who attended food distribution events to receive food boxes since the pandemic started increased quite a bit.
Petrucci said her organization saw food insecurity in the Valley, where many immigrant families live and family members who work on the fields lack legal status.
“We arrived at events that started at 8 or 9 in the morning, in places like Mendota, and there were people there since 6 in the morning,” Petrucci said of families facing food insecurity.
Estudillo said the California Food Assistance Program currently serves about 35,000 qualified immigrants, like residency card holders, who are excluded from the federal SNAP program, and can’t receive Cal Fresh because they are excluded at the federal level.
California created the state funded program CFAP to cover the population that was excluded from Cal Fresh due to immigration status.
“But we think that the program can serve many more people, and some of those people that don’t have any access are mostly undocumented, but it also includes DACA recipients and TPS recipients,” Estudillo said, adding that the Food4All Campaign is trying to expand CFAP to undocumented immigrants, DACA recipients and Temporary Protected Status recipients who are income eligible.
In February, Estudillo testified before the State Assembly about food assistance for all Californians without exclusions, something crucial as grocery and gas prices continue to go up, and thousands of Californians are struggling to put food on their table while remaining left out of program like CFAP.
While the Food4All Campaign has a bill – SB 464 California Food Assistance Program: eligibility and benefits by Senator Melisa Hurtado, D-Sanger, Estudillo said they also have a budget proposal that is being championed by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, D-Los Ángeles.
“Our energy and our efforts are on that budget proposal, because a lot of the movement and advocacy we’ve seen have been on the state budget process,” Estudillo said. “So, we’re making a request to provide CFAP food benefits to California immigrants of all ages, regardless of their immigration status, so having no exceptions, no exclusions.”
Estudillo said the campaign is pressuring the governor’s office and waiting for his May revise to see what is included and if it will continue to put pressure to ultimately see it included in the state budget in June.
“One in 10 Californians experienced food insecurity prior to the pandemic, and many more remain at risk due to drought,” said Hurtado. “Everyone has the right to food – regardless of immigration status – and we can and must do more to address this crisis, ensuring California becomes a state where there is food for all.”
Esta historia fue publicada originalmente el 15 de abril de 2022 a las 5:53 p. m..
