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RELEASE: End Child Poverty CA Statement on #CABudget 2023-24 May Revision

GRACE & End Child Poverty California Applaud Governor Newsom’s May Revise Budget that Protects and Makes Critical Anti-Poverty Investments

Statement attributable to Shimica Gaskins, President & CEO, GRACE & End Child Poverty California

Today, Governor Newsom released his revised 2023-24 Proposed Budget Summary.

GRACE dares to dream of a future in which every child is valued and free, and the Governor’s May Revision makes important investments and protects critical progress to ensure we continue to make that vision a reality.

We applaud Governor Newsom and his Administration for establishing those priorities while closing a substantially larger budget problem than anticipated in January, given the ongoing uncertainty regarding the final budget condition.

In particular, the May Revise adopts many community-informed End Child Poverty CA IMAGINE priorities, including: 

  • $300 million to reinforce and prioritize California’s historic Universal School Meals program.
  • $23.5 million to ensure timely implementation of the federal Summer EBT program in summer 2024. This is vital to make use of hundreds of millions available in federal food assistance dollars, and ensure eligible children receive this powerful, nourishing benefit.
  • Acceleration of Food 4 All to October 2025 for any Californian aged 55 or older, regardless of immigration status. This is a life-saving change that speeds up implementation by over a year, from the original January 2027.
  • $42.9 million to keep California at the forefront of restoring stolen CalFresh benefits and protecting EBT cardholders from devastating theft targeted at them by sophisticated criminal networks.
  • $200 million to continue waiving outdated, racist child care family fees through September 30, 2023, and stipends to support child care providers.
  • A larger CalWORKs grant increase and sustained support to restore SSI grants.
  • Prevention of delays to student housing investments. 
  • Protection of progress made in a significant number of anti-poverty safety net refundable tax credits and other programs, with–importantly–no new trigger cuts.
  • Leverage of some new revenues, such as $2.5 billion from accelerating the federal MCO tax.

The May Revise proposes a withdrawal of $450 million from the Safety Net Reserve. CalWORks and Medi-Cal investments should instead come from other funds: the purpose of the Safety Net Reserve is for spikes in enrollment, which we do not currently have but may still occur, especially given the projection for a potential recession. 

California also still has the highest poverty rate of any state in the nation. Policymakers must continue to take decisive action.

The good news is that the state and federal government have unequivocally shown that poverty is a policy choice, and the budget is the premier opportunity to advance a poverty-free future. 

We urge the Governor, Administration, and Legislature to embrace a comprehensive approach to the budget, as proposed in the Senate Budget Plan. This plan would move California forward together toward a more equitable future. We especially uplift this plan’s smart and effective combination of both revenues to ensure that wealthy corporations pay their fair share, and new investments in programs proven to lift children and families out of poverty and reverse long-standing racial inequities.

We again thank Governor Newsom for his continued leadership to put wealth to work and ensure that the values of California’s budget, both revenues and investments, prioritize a future free from poverty we know is possible.

Our coalition of over 170 groups of partners and allies looks forward to engaging with all stakeholders as the budget process continues.

click here to view our IMAGINE priorities.


IMAGINE: 2023 Policy Priorities to End Child Poverty

Our 170+ End Child Poverty CA partners and allies continue to unite in 2023! We IMAGINE a future where all our children are nourished, respected, secure, valued & FREE. In a state as rich and abundant as California, we can use our wealth to back up our values… and end child poverty: #ForwardTogether.

  • POLICY INFORMATION and communications tools below.
  • Download IMAGINE one-pager as a printable PDF: CLICK HERE.
Download as a printable PDF: CLICK HERE.

Hunger We are nourished

SB 245 (Hurtado):California Food Assistance Program: Eligibility and Benefits, AB 311 (Santiago): The Food For ALL Act

  • Purpose:
    • Provide #Food4All Californians

SB 600 (Menjivar):California CalFresh Minimum Benefit Adequacy Act of 2023

  • Purpose:
    • Create a CalFresh minimum of $50 a month
    • Support food banks through CalFood
    • Fight the 500M monthly federal hunger cliff

SB 348 (Skinner): Expanding California School Meals for All Legislation

  • Purpose:
    • Build on historic school & summer meals for all

Child Care – We are respected

AB 596 (Reyes), SB 380 (Limón): Early Learning and Care: Rate Reform

  • Purpose:
    • Provide livable wages and rates for child care based on true costs that eliminate fees.
    • Support equitable access to all ECE options that meet families needs
    • Ensure the rollout of all 200 slots

CA Budget: Support Equitable Access to All ECE options that meet families’ needs


Safety Net – We are secure

SB 227 (Durazo): Unemployment: Excluded Workers Program

AB 608 (Schiavo): Medi-Cal: Comprehensive Perinatal Services

CA Budget: Ensure kids, seniors, and persons with disabilities do not lose Medi-Cal when the public health emergency unwinds in April


Strong Communities & Tax CreditsWe are valued

AB 1321 (Bonta): California Coordinated Neighborhood and Community Services Grant Program

  • Purpose: bolster Cradle-to-Career networks to ensure equitable state investments in community

AB 1498 (Gipson): Personal Income Tax: Earned Income Tax Credit

  • Purpose: Lift the minimum CalEITC credit to $300

AB 1128 (Santiago): Young Child Tax Credit Expansion


Keeping Families Whole – We are free

SB 274 (Skinner): Suspensions and Expulsions: Willful Defiance, AB 1323 (Kalra): School Safety: Mandatory Notifications

CA Budget: Keep Families Whole

  • Purpose: Address child support disparities that disrupt families

CA Budget: End Poverty in CalWORKs & SSI/SSP

AB 310 (Arambula): CalWORKs

  • Purpose: Reimagine CalWORKs to make it family-centered & anti-racist

Successful ECPCA Member Briefing! Thank you!

To see highlights from the day: Click here for Twitter, here for Facebook, and here for Instagram!

What a joy and pleasure it was to be joined by our partners, family and community leaders, and our legislators at the Lifting Children & Families Out of Poverty Legislative Briefing! Our community came together in the State Capitol to make our voices heard. We’re ready to take action on the issues facing Californians living in poverty in 2023. 

We know that poverty is a policy choice. We also know the solutions to end it. 

Thank you to Senator Nancy Skinner, Civil Rights Leader Dolores Huerta and all who spoke for your show of support and powerful words. Take a look at the full list of speakers below. We value our leaders who prioritize support for ALL California children!

“People don’t appreciate that families are living on the edge, and the toxic stress that poverty places on them and their children and families. It is imperative we prioritize ending poverty even in a year when we may be in deficit.”

Senator Nancy Skinner

“We cannot continue to brag about what a great state we are, if we don’t share the wealth. We need to bring the money back to the people who create it. My question to you all is, ‘Are you ready to do the work?’”

Dolores Huerta

Our coalition is ready for action in 2023. We will continue to lift each other up and push for policies that lift children and families out of poverty for good!

__________

Thank you to our speakers!

Senator Nancy Skinner

Civil Rights Leader, Dolores Huerta

Gia Mclean, Parent Voices

Maritza De León, Parent Voices

Josefina Ramirez Notsinneh, Children Now

Tiffany Whiten, California State Council of SEIU

Mayra Alvarez, The Children’s Partnership

Itzúl Gutierrez, California Association of Food Banks

Joel Campos, Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County 

Alexis Castro, California Immigrant Policy Center 

Mónica Lazo, Golden State Opportunity

Mandy Nand, United Ways of California

Christopher Sanchez, Western Center on Law & Poverty

Senator Nancy Skinner gives opening remarks during the ECPCA Member Briefing on January 25, 2023.

While we couldn’t live stream the event, the recording is on YouTube and also can be viewed on Senator Skinner’s website.

Lifting Children & Families Out of Poverty Member Briefing

Introductions & Opening Remarks

  • 0:00: Andrew Cheyne, GRACE & ECPCA
  • 2:30: Senator Nancy Skinner
  • 10:29: Gia Jones, Parent Voices CA (Q&A with Gia starts at 14:00)
  • 17:28: Shimica Gaskins, GRACE & ECPCA
  • 21:54: Devon Gray, EPIC
  • 27:06: Chris Hoene, California Budget & Policy Center
  • 34:29: Camila Chavez, Dolores Huerta Foundation
  • 41:15: Dolores Huerta, Dolores Huerta Foundation

Policy Area Presentations

Early Care and Education
46:45: Maritza de León, Parent Voices
50:25: Josefina Ramirez Notsinneh, Children Now

Labor
53:13: Tiffany Whiten, California State Council of SEIU

Health Care and a Whole Child Approach
58:18: Mayra Alvarez, The Children’s Partnership

Hunger Cliff and Anti-Hunger Priorities
1:04:19: Itzúl Gutierrez, California Association of Food Banks
1:07:00: Joel Campos, Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County

Safety Net 4 All
1:11:20: Alexis Castro, California Immigrant Policy Center

Tax Credit Equity
1:15:39: Mandy Nand, United Ways of California
1:18:46: Mónica Lazo, Golden State Opportunity

Access to Justice
1:21:30: Christopher Sanchez, Western Center on Law and Poverty

Reimaging CalWORKs
1:23:48: Andrew Cheyne, GRACE & ECPCA


Bring Back the Expanded Child Tax Credit

Calling all families, allies and advocates! As the new year approaches, we renew our commitment to the Expanded Child Tax Credit. The expanded CTC cut child poverty by 50% in 2021. We need this important resource for our families!

Together we encourage California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla, as well as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy to renew the Expanded Child Tax Credit. Poverty is a policy choice and tax credits liberate families. Let’s choose solutions that lift California kids out of poverty and help families NOW. 

Forward together. No going back!

Take action now with 3 simple clicks on Twitter:

  1. Retweet / click to tweet: CA data urging Sens. Feinstein & Padilla to renew the Expanded CTC
  2. Retweet / click to tweet: Nat’l data urging Speaker Pelosi & GOP Leader McCarthy to renew
  3. Retweet / click to tweet: Shout out the CTC – Tax credits liberate families!

Share and comment on Instagram: click here.

Share and comment on Facebook: click here.


IMAGINE: Forward Together. No Going Back. 2023 ECPCA Campaign Launch

Our End Child Poverty California Coalition vision in 2023 is Forward together. No going back.

We’re ready to work together. We’re ready to get amazing things done. The financial outlook for the year looks tough. But our 170+ organizations are committed to action.

Together, our coalition can

  • Lift all children out of deep poverty
  • Create a more meaningful California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC)
  • Renew the Expanded Child Tax Credit
  • Get rate increases & critical support for child care providers and families
  • Invest in community cradle-to-career networks
  • Implement HOPE Accounts so vulnerable youth have hope for the future
  • End racist and sexist CalWORKs policies
  • …and so much more!

“Forward Together. No Going Back.” is a nod to the fact that in financially tough times, across-the-board cuts to programs (austerity cuts) don’t work. In fact, they’re devastating for families. We’re not going back to the across-the-board cuts of the Great Recession.

We’re charting a new path. In lean times, we can make sure the most vulnerable Californians are protected. This is how we fight racism, xenophobia, and oppression in California. 

We imagine a future where all our children are: Nourished. Respected. Secure. Valued. Free. 

It IS possible. We will achieve this bright future together.

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Look for our simple action emails this legislative season. Get on the list. Email Evelyn@NectarCollaborative.com.


Daughters of Charity Offer Prayer for Those Seeking Peace & Safety

Image: A day after the mass killing of children in Uvalde, and 11 days after the racist killing of 10 Black grocery shoppers in Buffalo, the George Floyd memorial offers a place for collective grief in Minneapolis, two years after his killing

At GRACE and End Child Poverty CA we are mothers, siblings, daughters. We’re hurting. We reached out to our founders, the Daughters of Charity, for a healing prayer. Thoughts and prayers are nothing without action. We’re committed to continued action for justice so that all our children are safe, nourished, valued, healthy, and free.

God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world:
peace in the hearts of all people
and peace among the nations of the earth.
Turn to your way of love
those whose hearts and minds
are consumed with hatred,
and who justify killing.

God of understanding,
overwhelmed by the magnitude
of the tragedies wrought by violence,
we seek your light and guidance
as we confront such terrible events.

We ask you in your goodness
to give eternal light and peace
to the many children and adults
whose lives have been senselessly taken.

Heal, too, the pain of grieving families
and all who have lost loved ones to gun violence
and all violence motivated by racial or religious hatred.
Give them strength to continue their lives
with courage and hope.

Comfort and console us, strengthen us in hope,
and give us the wisdom and courage
to work tirelessly for a world
where true peace and love reign
among nations and in the hearts of all.

            Adapted from a prayer of Pope Francis


IMAGINE: $10 Billion to Fight Poverty

The 170+ End Child Poverty CA Coalition members are united in 2022! Together we’re supporting $10 Billion to Fight Poverty. Our plan is ambitious and absolutely achievable. In a state as rich and abundant as California, every child should be valued and free. Info and tools below.

$10 Billion to Fight Poverty

(Click to retweet)

We are Nourished

  • Click to retweet
  • Fund HOPE accounts to seed kids’ futures. (SB 854 – Skinner, TOOLKIT)
  • Fund Golden State Stimulus 3 so those left out of COVID relief have cash to count on.
  • Fund the Young Child Tax Credit to end poverty for 1.7 million children. (AB 2589 – Santiago)

We are Respected

  • Click to retweet
  • Fund dignified wages for child care providers.
  • Get rid of racist child care family fees (AB 92 – Reyes)
  • Fund enough child care slots for our kids

We are Healthy

  • Click to retweet
  • Fund and create more community networks. We need community-led pandemic recovery, and cradle to career networks empower families through a child’s whole life. (AB 2517 – Bonta, TOOLKIT)

We are Secure

  • Click to retweet
  • Fund wage-replacement for undocumented workers. Immigrants are our essential workers and it’s time to give back. (AB 2847 – Garcia)

We are Valued

  • Make CalWorks fair. Use parent input to fix old rules that hurt families.
  • Ensure ALL child support money goes to families. Child support is for kids, not the state.

Email Evelyn@NectarCollaborative.com to get a background that also includes your organization’s logo.


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It Takes A Village Day Of Action Brings Together Community!

On Friday March 25, the California Cradle to Career Coalition was in Oakland! With our momentum, we are going to pass the It Takes A Village Act (AB 2517, Bonta)! Our bold bill author Assemblymember Mia Bonta gathered Oakland leaders. We turned out community-based organizations, community leaders, families, and promotoras (community outreach workers). The goal: get the community-led recovery the money it needs! Fund Promise Neighborhoods! Fund Cradle to Career Networks! Let our communities lead the way. We can pass the It Takes A Village Act, Assembly Bill 2517!

During the event, the energy was contagious. There wasn’t a frown to be found. The love for our families and communities poured with dedication, laughter, warm hugs of embrace and gratification.

The work that has been done, and the continued work these organizations and community relationships are still doing was coloring the entire space!

 “It Takes A Village” Day of Action just goes to show we aren’t slowing down, we’re just getting started, TOGETHER!

Collaboration and change were brought to the event! 

You can read more about what is being said about the event here!

Note: Assembly Bill 2517, championed by Assemblymember Mia Bonta, will establish a grant program to provide funding to organizations that provide services to children and families from before birth through college and career.


VIDEO: Tax Season Selena-Style Music Video by ECPCA + Mission Promise

End Child Poverty CA has made it our mission to get REAL about taxes this year. Taxes can be overwhelming & scary. But they don’t have to be. There are tons of free resources. Tax credits can get you thousands of dollars back. There are even options for people without social security numbers to file and get money back. Resources below.

Watch our “La Carcacha” tax season music video on Instagram, Twitter, or Tik Tok.

If you miss the deadline of April 18, 2022, it’s okay.

If you don’t owe money in taxes, you can file through October 15, 2022. There’s no penalty. And you can still get your tax credits money.

If you do owe money or think you will owe money, file for a free extension that will give you until October 2022. If you don’t file an extension, you can still file and pay a penalty, but still get your tax credits money.

Tax season is complicated, stressful and overwhelming, but with the help of familiar faces and spaces where the people care about you, it can be easy!

Click here to view on Instagram and TikTok.

Let’s face it, we’ve all gone to those agencies, who really want you in and out and just sign here.

There are agencies who want to educate the community  so we can all rise above the anxieties around taxes! Let’s learn together and share where we have found those amazon agencies this tax year or prior!

Need help with your taxes?


Simple Community Tax Outreach Tools

Download these easy-to-read tax credit outreach tools! We made them for promotoras and community outreach workers. These simple decision trees can help families get over the very real fear and anxiety of filing taxes. Find English, Spanish, and Chinese below. This project is a collaboration with Parent Voices CA.

Let’s get our communities the money they earned and deserve!

Tax Credit Community Outreach Tool – ENGLISH

Tax Credit Community Outreach Tool – SPANISH

Tax Credit Community Outreach Tool – CHINESE


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