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A team of DSS employees has been working hard to reduce hunger in our community by removing unintended obstacles to CalFresh participation. This summer, we celebrated the team and reviewed their successes with an event at the WRC.
Each year, the California Food Policy Advocates ranks counties by how well they are doing with CalFresh participation. If a large percentage of those estimated to be eligible for CalFresh in a given county are receiving CalFresh, then that county ranks high...and if not, then that county ranks low.
In 2014, Santa Barbara County ranked 56th out of the 58 counties in California.
Not to be disillusioned by this ranking, DSS staff across branches set out to change things by forming the CalFresh Utilization Workgroup. This project was lead by the Operations & Special Projects Unit and subcommittees consisted of management and DBS leads. Over the past two years, participating staff analyzed the problems and implemented a number of solutions aimed at improving access, reducing churn, and improving retention.
In 2015, even before most of those changes had taken hold, Santa Barbara County moved up a couple of notches to 54th place. We are anxiously awaiting this year’s updated ranking. and expect there will be further improvement, as our NA CalFresh caseload has grown strongly in the last year even as overall statewide caseloads are flat.
Regardless of the number, our foundation for increased CalFresh participation has been strengthened thanks to the work of these committed individuals. Over the next year, we will be evaluating the effectiveness of the changes and we will refine and reassess along the way.
On June 28, 2016, dozens of staff, joined by our lead CalFresh Outreach Community Partner, Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, came together in Santa Maria to celebrate what two years of detailed work has achieved.
You can learn more about the Project by viewing this infographic about the Project and its impact so far. You can also view a slideshow of pictures from the celebration.
I’d like to thank all staff who have participated in our project so far. The project continues on now to Phase 3...more updates to follow!
Members pictured in photo above:
Bottom row from left to right: Heather Gardner, Raina Osterbauer, Julisa Sahagun, Margery Gallegos, Martha Pulido
Back rows from left to right: Eva Ochoa,
Patty Teniente, Eloise Aguillon, Brenda Finnerty, Dennis Tivey, Jose Clemente,
Pam Powers, Diana Aguirre, Esmeralda Corona,
Paul Mills, Mario Velasco, Leticia Gamboa, Leticia Estrada, Veronica
Alvarez, Rosa Gonzalez, Maria Dwyer, Sandra Ayala, Lina Bickel, Oscar
Palma-Ornelas, Marian Acosta, Christina Groppetti, Maria Lopez (from the Food
Bank), Diana Diaz, Lea Patague, and Guillermo Garcia
Members Not Pictured:
Araceli Camarena,Margie
Cuellar, Elizabeth Eulloqui, Ruben Fuentes, Susie Gomez, Sheila Goodman, Janet
Harrison, Monique Iriarte, Mitch Kawatachi , Farrell Kisio, Lourdes Kraft,
Jessica Lemus, Patricia Manriquez, Alejandra Navarro, Ariana Ochoa, Inez Ortiz,
Patricia Salcedo, Lupe Salinas, Martha Sanchez, Maidet Saucedo, and Claudia Velazquez