COVID-19

We recognize that COVID-19 requires a comprehensive, short- and long-term response. The policy priorities below reflect pressing issues but are not meant to represent the totality of such a response.

Equitable & Inclusive Solutions

COVID-19 affects us all. Policy responses to this crisis should be equitable and inclusive.

What types of solutions are needed?

• Enact COVID-19 relief policies, such as direct payments and health care for individuals and families, that are inclusive of immigrant households.
• Extend Pandemic EBT to include young children who are eligible for meals under the Child and Adult Care Food Program and have been negatively impacted by site closures and reduced class sizes.
• Ensure that newly issued forms of support can reach all Californians experiencing need, including those experiencing homelessness and living without consistent access to a mailing address.

Maximize Access to Food

From school closures to layoffs, COVID-19 is driving changes that dramatically decrease the resources Californians have available for food. New policies should mitigate the scope and scale of harm by creating new food resources, increasing existing sources, and minimizing barriers to both.

What types of solutions are needed?

• Expand financial relief for low- and moderate-income households.
• Increase the minimum and maximum amount of CalFresh/SNAP benefits available to all participating households.
• Suspend all federal rulemaking, including changes to CalFresh eligibility and benefit calculations, that would decrease access to nutrition resources or diminish benefit levels for low-income Californians.
• Extend WIC waivers that have enabled local agencies to remotely respond to the COVID-19 crisis, onboard new families by phone, and expand allowable WIC food items.
• Quickly implement Pandemic EBT without requiring eligible families to proactively apply and by using a phased-in approach that allows benefits to reach children in the shortest amount of time.
• Sustain non-congregate meal sites and Pandemic EBT through next school year and implement flexibilities that give ready access to all children and adults impacted by the closures of schools, child care, or adult care.
• Align food access with public health orders and protect the safety of program participants by allowing and expanding online and curbside food purchases through WIC, as is now being planned for CalFresh.
• Proactively communicate with individuals and families about available resources, including targeted, cross-program outreach to those who are newly eligible for WIC, SNAP/CalFresh, Pandemic-EBT, and non-congregate meals.

Prepare for Long-Term Effects

Californians will feel the effects of the COVID-19 crisis long after the immediate emergency has passed. And this crisis highlights the long-standing need to fight hunger and poverty across our state. Protecting the health and wellbeing of Californians in the wake of COVID-19 must be a priority.

What types of solutions are needed?

• Provide state fiscal relief. Without more funding from Congress, California will be forced to cut critical health and social services at the worst possible time. Congress must temporarily increase the Medicaid matching payment to 14%, and provide direct, flexible grants to states.
• Target State investments to give more students access to universally free breakfast and lunch.
• Establish options to give our youngest children access to universally free meals in preschools and child care settings.
• Provide nutrition assistance to all immigrant Californians who are struggling to make ends meet.
• Build on what works: effective solutions harnessed during the COVID-19 crisis should continue as long-term efforts to mitigate hunger and poverty across California. For instance, permanently remove unnecessary CalFresh reporting requirements and streamline the application process to be fully completed online or over the phone.

In solidarity, we hope you are safe and well during these turbulent times.