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| New logo for CalFresh food aid |
by Dennis Tivey, Communication & Outreach Coordinator
The CalFresh program helps reduce hunger and poverty and improve health by providing food aid to millions of low-income households statewide. Let’s look at the impact of CalFresh in our County...and the latest news about changes coming to the program, including expansion to SSI recipients, new branding, new websites, and more.
Local impact of CalFresh
Hunger hurts us all:
- One in five Santa Barbara County kids lives in a household that can’t always put food on the table.
- Researchers call this “food insecurity," and have linked it to physical and mental health problems, and reduced performance at school and work.
CalFresh is here to help:
- CalFresh provides eligible low-income households with monthly benefits on an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card that works like a debit card to buy food at participating supermarkets, convenience stores, and farmers markets.
- CalFresh serves about 20,000 households in our County. The majority of recipients are children, working adults, disabled, or elderly.
- The amount of benefits depends on factors such as household size, income and expenses. An average CalFresh one-person household has an income of 40% of the poverty level and receives $157 a month in benefits.
CalFresh helps us all:
- CalFresh makes a difference. Researchers have linked the program to reductions in hunger, child poverty, and health problems; and improvements in high school graduation rates and lifetime earnings.
- CalFresh boosts the local economy. Benefits are spent at local grocery stores and farmer’s markets, generating $1.79 in local economic activity for every dollar of benefits. The federal government pays 100% of the benefits.
Latest CalFresh News
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| Header image from new CDSS CalFresh SSI flyer |
CalFresh SSI expansion
Historic news! Effective June 1, 2019, California recipients of SSI/SSP may be eligible for CalFresh food assistance.- If you haven’t already, have your supervisor enroll you in SPOT for one of the CalFresh Expansion trainings.
- We developed three informative flyers last month: one for SSI recipients, one for IHSS recipients who receive SSI, and one for CalFresh workers. (You’ll also find these posted on the DSS Intranet’s CalFresh Outreach webpage.)
- On April 25, the state began releasing materials of its own (to include flyers, brochures, and posters). You can find them on this CDSS webpage.
- If you have further questions, email the program inbox.
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| New logo for CalFresh food aid |
New CalFresh branding
At the end of April, CDSS rolled out new CalFresh branding. There's now a distinct brand identity for each of the four components of CalFresh, each with its own version of the logo:
- "CalFresh Food" for regular CalFresh food aid.
- "CalFresh Healthy Living"for the nutrition education program.
- "CalFresh Employment & Training" for the E&T program.
- "CalFresh Disaster Response" for disaster CalFresh.
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| Screen grab of the new CalFresh Healthy Living website |
New CalFresh websites
The state launched two public-facing websites at the end of April:
- For CalFresh food aid, there's CalFreshFood.org. Right now it only has content about the SSI expansion, but more content is expected to be added over time.
- For CalFresh nutrition education, there's CalFreshHealthyLiving.org. It features fast, healthy, affordable recipes for foods and beverages.
Market Match is a big success
Did you know? Many Farmers Markets in our County accept the CalFresh EBT card—and offer the Market Match program that can double the value of CalFresh benefits spent there (up to $10 a day).- See and share this printable brochure for more information, including a list of participating markets. (The South County markets and Solvang participate; the North County markets and Lompoc do not.)
- Studies show that fresh, locally grown produce from the farmers market has better taste and nutrition, returns more money to the local economy, and has a lower environmental impact than national supermarket produce. But it tends to cost more, and that's where Market Match comes in, so low-income people don't have to choose between good food and cheap food.
- Recent figures suggest that the participating market association has quadrupled its CalFresh business since introducing Market Match. That's great news, because it's funded by a competitive annual grant, and funders want to see that it's being used in order to continue funding it.