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What Does California Value?

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The first in a planned monthly column from GRACE & ECPCA’s President & CEO, Shimica Gaskins

June 7, 2024

During tough times, families have choices to make. Two big questions loom: where might we cut back, and what can we do to get more income? Importantly, they ask those questions through the lens of what they value.

In the midst of California’s budget season, the way the state raises and spends money naturally draws comparisons to household budgets and the choices families face. Unfortunately, how those questions are answered in our state budget don’t always reflect our highest values.

For families, the “values” lens that always rises to the top is about the next generation. Any necessary belt-tightening avoids cutting off opportunities for their children. They know that all their hard work doesn’t mean much if their kids don’t have what they need. So they prioritize, for them.

Initial plans to address the state’s budget shortfalls missed the mark in a values-forward approach. In fact, the Governor’s recent plan would push more Californians into hunger and poverty by stripping vital supports away from families, foster youth, fragile seniors, and people with disabilities. Deeply troubling, these cuts would disproportionately impact Black and Brown communities and immigrants.

The successes of these programs are what Joy Perrin, a California mom of two precious kids, wrote about in the Sacramento Bee last month. She shared how the CalWORKs Family Stabilization Program—a program that’s been on the chopping block—was the key support that led to getting housed, attaining her degree, and providing for her family. Her story reminds us that it’s reckless to try to solve a short-term budget problem by abandoning families in situations it will take a generation to climb out of.

For months, the End Child Poverty California Coalition has been imploring the administration and legislature to lead with California’s values. We have pushed for alternatives to cutting programs that are life sustaining for our most vulnerable children and families. The problem with only trying to cut your way out of budget issues is that cuts leave wounds with lasting and devastating impacts.

But what we choose to spend money on is only one of the key questions. The stubborn refusal to address revenue is simply not an option that struggling families have, so why should the government? With the 5th largest economy in the world that’s still benefiting wealthy corporations and the top sliver of our state, it’s foolhardy and shameful to not even ask how we enlarge the pie, rather than just cutting out chunks of it.

This past week the California Legislature unveiled its proposal, which thankfully prevents the deepest cuts while raising some new revenue. It’s a strong foundation, but still misses opportunities for bolder reforms to advance a more equitable California that lifts all children and families out of poverty.

We were in Sacramento over the past few weeks with hundreds of impacted community members and workers, and armed with emails from 765 parents experiencing poverty telling their stories—not just about the real choices they face, but also how critical programs make all the difference to their families. These Californians uniquely understand tough choices, but they also know how to hold tight to what they value—their kids and their futures—and are willing to do what it takes to set them up for success. GRACE and our coalition partners will continue to remind our elected officials to follow their lead.

RELEASE: GRACE & End Child Poverty California Applauds Legislature’s Budget Agreement

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GRACE/End Child Poverty CA Urges Adoption of Legislature’s Budget Which Protects Progress in Core Safety Net Programs and Services

[PASADENA, CALIF., UNITED STATES, May 30, 2024] — Statement attributable to Shimica Gaskins, President & CEO, GRACE & End Child Poverty California (ECPCA):

Yesterday, California legislative leaders announced their joint Legislative budget agreement, marking a crucial step forward in our collective efforts to combat poverty in our communities. 

The agreement reflects a commitment to reject failed austerity and prioritize proven anti-poverty programs. The safety net is even more important during challenging economic times, safeguarding families who are hit hardest by rising costs of basic needs and who, unlike their wealthier peers, rely more – not less – on public programs as a result. 

We extend our gratitude to Senate President Pro Tem McGuire, Assembly Speaker Rivas, Budget Chairs Gabriel and Wiener, and Subcommittee Chairs, Alvarez, Jackson, Laird, Menjivar Padilla, Quirk-Silva, and Weber, for the agreement that prevents permanent and irreversible harm to children living in poverty.

“This joint Legislative budget agreement reflects putting our values first – ensuring every Californian has the resources and opportunities to thrive,” said Shimica Gaskins, President & CEO. “We applaud the Legislature for prioritizing our most vulnerable children and families. Preserving vital safety net programs that provide cash, childcare, food, healthcare, and other supportive services while retaining key investments from the Governor’s budget, will keep us moving forward in the fight to end child and family poverty. It is critical that these are included in the final budget.”  

Key actions outlined in the agreement prevent cuts that would worsen already deep, unjust inequities of poverty for communities of color, including: 

  • Restoring life-saving programs across CalWORKs, child care, IHSS, CalFresh, and other vital anti-poverty programs, and
  • Preservation and equitable treatment of the Safety Net Reserve.

We are also excited to see actions taken, even amid the deficit problem, that advance timely and important steps to ending child poverty, including:

We applaud and urge additional action to find savings from smart solutions to public safety through closing empty prisons and permanently making California’s revenue system more equitable by ensuring wealthy corporations pay their fair share. 

We urge continued action to restore and advance IMAGINE priorities, including: 

  • Cut of Free Tax Preparation & Outreach to $12 million, from $20 million,
  • Delay of Food For All older adults regardless of immigration status,
  • Pass-through of child support to current CalWORKs families, and
  • Continuous Medi-Cal coverage to young children. 

Finally we are concerned, based on the information released so far, that in constructing a multi-year agreement, freezing program funding at prior utilization could: 

  • Lead to funding levels insufficient to meet real program needs given rising caseloads, especially in 2025-26, and
  • Be used to establish lower baselines that make it more challenging to readjust funding levels to true community needs – as happened following the Great Recession. 

We recognize and celebrate the shared values of the Administration and Legislature to address the root causes of poverty and systemic racism. The significant actions taken during this Administration toward the Governor’s North Star to end child poverty underscore that the constraints faced this year have been due to limited resources, not a lack of commitment. 

While we’re disappointed that this budget hasn’t provided the opportunity to do even more to achieve that goal, we express our full support for the Legislature’s proposal to preserve progress and prevent what would be irreversible harm from child poverty. 

We are eager to work with all stakeholders to ensure that these actions are solidified in the final budget agreement. Together, we can build a California where every child is valued and free.

End Child Poverty in California (ECPCA) is a campaign jointly sponsored by GRACE End Child Poverty Institute and GRACE (Gather, Respect, Advocate, Change, Engage).

GRACE End Child Poverty Institute is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that uses advocacy, legislative advocacy and mobilization programs to achieve its mission.  The mission of GRACE End Child Poverty is to make a positive difference in the lives of low-income families and their children through value-based collaborations and by formulating, implementing, and expanding measures to reduce barriers to full personal development and economic stability.

RELEASE: Chairs Thompson and Stabenow Introduce Farm Bill Frameworks

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[PASADENA, CALIF., UNITED STATES, May 2, 2024] — CAFB and GRACE/End Child Poverty Urge California Members to reject cuts and Instead Strengthen SNAP

This week, House and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairs Rep. Thompson and Sen. Stabenow released starkly different frameworks outlining their vision for the next Farm Bill. While Sen. Stabenow’s plan lays out a promising plan to protect and strengthen our country’s most important anti-hunger program — SNAP, or CalFresh in California – Rep. Thompson’s plan proposes deep, shortsighted, and harmful cuts to SNAP that will worsen hunger for the more than 5 million Californians who rely on the program today. 

Specifically, Chair Thompson’s proposal includes forcing cost neutral reevaluations which will prevent the USDA from being able to make much needed periodic updates to the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), which is the basis for SNAP and other nutrition programs like The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and Summer EBT. In no uncertain terms, this would cut SNAP by about $30 billion over the next decade by restricting future updates to only count for inflation, ignoring science-based changes to dietary guidelines.

Hungry Californians would be harmed the most: Approximately $3.6 billion, or 12% of the $30 billion cut to SNAP would be taken from the 5 million Californians who spend SNAP benefits at 23,874 authorized EBT retailers across our state. This represents a loss of as much as $6.46 billion in total economic activity, hurting farmers, farmworkers, truckers, grocers, and others across our critical food sector.

Even after the recent TFP reevaluation, SNAP benefits still only average $6 per person per day – barely more than a cup of coffee, and still fall short of the cost of low-income meals in 98% of California counties. 

Forcing cost neutral Thrifty Food Plan reevaluations is not only a SNAP cut but will also impact other critical nutrition programs like the TEFAP and Summer EBT. These simultaneous cuts will hamper the ability of food banks to serve their communities, and will increase hunger for children during summer months when school is out. 

In sharp contrast to Chair Thompson’s proposal, Chair Stabenow lays out a forward-looking framework that builds on several of SNAP’s strengths to prevent hunger, fundamentally by preserving future Thrifty Food Plan re-evaluations, in addition to:

  • Removing the punitive drug felon ban and better supporting people coming home from incarceration to apply for SNAP, proven to support a healing re-entry to community.
  • Permanently ensuring that SNAP recipients who are victims of benefit theft such as “skimming” that has ravaged Californains can have their benefits replaced. 
  • Exploring pathways for SNAP recipients to purchase hot and prepared foods. 
  • Finally securing a pathway to SNAP for Puerto Rico.

At a time when 1 in 5 households in California are experiencing hunger with deep disparities for communities of color, we call on the California Congressional Delegation to prioritize bold policy solutions through:

  • The Closing the Meal Gap Act (H.R. 3037 Adams / S. 1336 Gillibrand) which would move SNAP benefit calculations to the more realistic Low Cost Food Plan
  • The Improving Access to Nutrition Act (H.R. 1510 Lee / S. 2435 Welch) which would repeals SNAP’s harsh and counterproductive three-month time limit for out-of-work Americans and improves SNAP access for families working their way up the economic ladder
  • The Enhance Access To SNAP Act (H.R. 3183 Gomez / S. 1488 Gillibrand) which would eliminate the outdated and unfair SNAP restrictions for college students

SNAP Emergency Allotments (EAs) allowed Californians to buy more and a greater variety of food, helped families weather income fluctuations, and stabilized households. Now that EAs have ended, food insecurity has intensified, households are making tradeoffs between food and other expenses, physical and mental health have declined, and local economies have suffered. 

We urge all California Members of Congress to reject any cuts to SNAP, including to the Thrifty Food Plan, and to build on the Senate framework to strengthen SNAP and the emergency feeding programs as our nation’s proven anti-hunger safety net. 

End Child Poverty in California (ECPCA) is a campaign jointly sponsored by GRACE End Child Poverty Institute and GRACE (Gather, Respect, Advocate, Change, Engage).

GRACE End Child Poverty Institute is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that uses advocacy, legislative advocacy and mobilization programs to achieve its mission.  The mission of GRACE End Child Poverty is to make a positive difference in the lives of low-income families and their children through value-based collaborations and by formulating, implementing, and expanding measures to reduce barriers to full personal development and economic stability.

RELEASE: GRACE & End Child Poverty CA Joint Statement with CalWIC Association on Opposing SNAP Restrictions and Supporting Fully Funding WIC

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[PASADENA, CALIF., UNITED STATES, February 28, 2024] — Statement attributable to Karen Farley, Executive Director of the California WIC Association, and Shimica Gaskins, President and CEO of GRACE/End Child Poverty California, regarding the Fiscal Year 2024 bill for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration:

We urge Congress to both fully fund the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and reject any efforts promoting a policy of limiting food choice in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).  

SNAP is the country’s most important anti-hunger program and the nutritional benefits of this program have been well documented. It has also been well documented that the best way to improve the nutrition of low-income households is to reduce stigma in the current program and to increase the benefits provided in the program. The proposal to pilot restricting food purchases endeavors to do neither. 

WIC served nearly a million Californians in 2023, and more than half (54%) of all infants born in California were certified by WIC in 2018. Full funding for WIC is urgently needed to ensure continuity of the nutrition, breastfeeding, and other critical supports that pregnant and parenting adults, and babies, rely upon every day.

Funding for WIC is in no way related to funding for SNAP, and the programs should not be pitted against one another. 

Policymakers have a responsibility to keep America’s children fed and ensure their long-term health and success. WIC must be fully funded, and SNAP recipients must be allowed to continue make their food purchasing decisions based on the needs of their family.

End Child Poverty in California (ECPCA) is a campaign jointly sponsored by GRACE End Child Poverty Institute and GRACE (Gather, Respect, Advocate, Change, Engage).

GRACE End Child Poverty Institute is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that uses advocacy, legislative advocacy and mobilization programs to achieve its mission.  The mission of GRACE End Child Poverty is to make a positive difference in the lives of low-income families and their children through value-based collaborations and by formulating, implementing, and expanding measures to reduce barriers to full personal development and economic stability.

RELEASE: GRACE & End Child Poverty CA Statement on Proposed Federal Tax Deal

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ECPCA & GRACE urge Congress to improve the poverty-fighting potential of this package and to adopt proposal, benefitting more than 2 million children in California left out of the CTC under current law

[PASADENA, CALIF., UNITED STATES, January 16, 2024] — Statement attributable to Shimica Gaskins, President & CEO, GRACE & End Child Poverty California (ECPCA):

Today, chairs of the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee announced a deal that would be transformative to roughly 77% of the children nationwide whose families have been unable to claim the federal Child Tax Credit (CTC) since the pandemic-era expansion expired in 2021. Biden expanded the CTC under the American Rescue Plan Act, giving cash to families who needed it most and directly benefiting over 8 million children in California alone. This version of the CTC – one that offered larger credit amounts, was inclusive of children regardless of immigration status, fully refundable, and without an earnings requirement – remains our North Star. We remind stakeholders of the historic rise in poverty after its expiration and that ending poverty is a policy choice. 

The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 has meaningful restorations that make the refundable portion of the credit larger for families, especially those with multiple children. Initial estimates are that once the deal takes full effect, over half a million children would be lifted out of poverty, likely including tens of thousands of California children.  

Given the proven record of the enhanced CTC, this deal falls short of what our families need and deserve – including children with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs), full refundability, especially for low-income families, removing the arbitrary $2,500 earnings requirement, and increasing the overall size of the credit. Under current law, 98% of children in families in the lowest 20% tax bracket do not receive the full CTC, and the Wyden-Smith proposal only brings that figure down to 93%. 

Ultimately, this means that more unrestricted cash will largely not flow to the lowest-income families. Our families deserve more, and we know Congress is up to the task – we proved as much in 2021. These important, yet modest, improvements in the CTC are also paired with tax breaks to corporations which are projected to balloon in cost over time and threaten the parity of this package.

We therefore urge members of Congress to improve the poverty-fighting potential of this package and quickly take action to pass this proposal, benefitting more than 2 million children in California left out of the CTC under current law. This deal is an important step towards ending poverty nationwide, and we thank the California members fighting to maximize the poverty-fighting focus of these provisions.

Congress should prioritize investments in our nation’s children on their own, and should not need to be tied to other provisions that do not advance a more redistributive system of revenues and investments. Nevertheless we urge Congress to swiftly enact these provisions in order to ensure children and families benefit in time to file their taxes, then to continue making strides that bring us back to the expanded CTC under ARPA, providing what families truly need and advance an end to child poverty.

Infographic Source:
Hughes, Joe. (2024). Children Not Receiving Full Child Tax Credit Under Current Law vs. Proposal [Infographic]. Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. https://itep.org/congress-tax-deal-child-tax-credit-corporate-tax-breaks/

End Child Poverty in California (ECPCA) is a campaign jointly sponsored by GRACE End Child Poverty Institute and GRACE (Gather, Respect, Advocate, Change, Engage).

GRACE End Child Poverty Institute is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that uses advocacy, legislative advocacy and mobilization programs to achieve its mission.  The mission of GRACE End Child Poverty is to make a positive difference in the lives of low-income families and their children through value-based collaborations and by formulating, implementing, and expanding measures to reduce barriers to full personal development and economic stability.

RELEASE: GRACE & ECPCA Are Pleased Gov. Newsom’s Proposed Budget Protects Anti-Poverty Investments

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Statement on Governor Newsom’s Proposed 2024-25 Budget

ECPCA & GRACE urge adoption of revenues and investments needed to advance a more equitable California

[PASADENA, CALIF., UNITED STATES, January 10, 2024] — Statement attributable to Shimica Gaskins, President & CEO, GRACE & End Child Poverty California (ECPCA):

GRACE and ECPCA dare to dream of a future in which every child is valued and free. We applaud Governor Newsom’s Proposed 2024-25 Budget for protecting important investments for children and families and continuing critical progress toward making our shared vision a reality.

From day one, Governor Newsom has made ending child poverty his north star – and today is no different. We thank Governor Newsom and his Administration for continuing that commitment, again rejecting harmful austerity cuts and recognizing that when the state falls on hard times, the programs that help lift children and families out of poverty are needed more than ever.

In particular, the January budget reaffirms ongoing commitments to community-informed ECPCA IMAGINE priorities, including:

  • Universal School Meals so all our children are nourished
  • The California Earned Income Tax Credit and Young Child Tax Credit so families have much-needed financial security
  • Aligning systems from Cradle to Career to create freedom and opportunity for families as they raise their children 
  • A national pilot opportunity to advance a reimagined CalWORKs program that centers family’s needs and dignity

In the effort to resolve the state’s budget problem, we will be looking closely at the proposed withdrawal from the Safety Net Reserve and the proposed cuts to the CalWORKs Family Stabilization Program (FSP) and Housing Supplement for Foster Youth in Supervised Independent Living Placements. The FSP was created to ensure housing, mental health, safety, and family stability for some of our most vulnerable families with children. It is a program CalWORKs parents and advocates have prioritized for expansion. 

Governor Newsom and legislative leaders have much to be proud of in creating and strengthening programs proven to prevent child poverty and build broad prosperity. These measures, along with federal investments made during the pandemic, drove child poverty to historic lows and closed long-standing racial inequities. As important as those gains are, income inequality in California continues to grow, and California still has the highest poverty rate of any state in the nation.

Our federal and state policymakers must continue to take decisive action. The good news is that the state and federal governments have unequivocally shown that poverty is a policy choice – and the state budget is a fundamental opportunity to advance a poverty-free future. 

We urge the Governor and Legislature to continue to take the actions needed to lift every California child and family out of poverty. This requires a combination of revenues to ensure that wealthy corporations pay their fair share and investments in programs proven to lift children and families out of poverty and reverse long-standing racial inequities.

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

We look forward to engaging with all stakeholders throughout the budget process.

End Child Poverty in California (ECPCA) is a campaign jointly sponsored by GRACE End Child Poverty Institute and GRACE (Gather, Respect, Advocate, Change, Engage).

GRACE End Child Poverty Institute is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that uses advocacy, legislative advocacy and mobilization programs to achieve its mission.  The mission of GRACE End Child Poverty is to make a positive difference in the lives of low-income families and their children through value-based collaborations and by formulating, implementing, and expanding measures to reduce barriers to full personal development and economic stability.

GRACE & End Child Poverty California Oppose Debt Ceiling Agreement That Cuts Critical Cash and Food Aid

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Expanding the SNAP time limit and deepening punitive TANF rules will worsen poverty and hunger

PASADENA, CA // May 31, 2023

The proposed debt ceiling agreement comes at the expense of Californians with the lowest incomes, furthering narratives rooted in racist and sexist stereotypes that stigmatize families experiencing poverty, and perpetuating structural racism by undermining true economic mobility. Expanding cruel, failed barriers and making cuts in TANF, SNAP, and other programs will mean greater hunger and poverty from children to older adults. This is simply unacceptable, especially as we have the tools, including more equitable revenues, to avoid a default.

On TANF (CalWORKs), the agreement defies decades of research that federal policymakers should replace the restrictive, punitive TANF model with a program that empowers families to choose the activities they need to support economic mobility.

Instead, the bill worsens work requirements we know don’t improve employment or income – but are effective at taking away family’s basic income. CalWORKs sanctions already push 60,000 California children – overwhelmingly Black, Latinx, and other communities of color – deeper into poverty, destabilizing families to the point where children are removed and placed into child welfare. The agreement will subject even more families to the narrow, punitive rules that result in life-long consequences for children experiencing poverty.

The agreement also has an historic expansion of the cruel 3-month time SNAP limit, threatening food assistance for older adults who are the most likely to face age discrimination in the labor market or have an undiagnosed disability that takes years for Social Security to determine.

This is the opposite of the policy direction we should pursue: instead of determining who deserves to eat, we should stand firm that food is a human right and should not have a time limit, period. The Congress should pass Rep. Barbara Lee’s H.R. 1510 that would end the time limit for good, and Rep. Jimmy Gomez’s H.R. 3183 that would end the unjust college student rule.

In both TANF and SNAP, the debate was completely divorced from the reality of the brutal conditions of poverty in America, and perpetuated racist and sexist ideas that people living in poverty must be coerced to work.

We will have to turn to our Legislature and Administration, at nearly the end of our budget process, to try and mitigate the harm from these policies. That may or may not be possible, but all of which takes time and resources away from conversations about moving forward to evidence-based models that we must empower families to determine their finding pathways to true economic security outside of the failed, punitive model embodied in work requirements.

The agreement comes during divided government and surely represents important improvements to the House-passed bill. But we must be clear-eyed about the damage this does to our proven anti-poverty programs and the message to the children and families who rely on them. We must never again allow the poorest among us to be held hostage.

GRACE & End Child Poverty CA Statements – April 26, 2023

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Celebrating the CA Senate Budget Plan and Denouncing U.S. House Debt Ceiling Bill

GRACE & End Child Poverty California Celebrate Senate Budget Plan

Urge Adoption of Revenues & Investments Needed for a More Equitable California

April 26, 2023 / / Pasadena, CA

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

“We at GRACE dare to dream of a future in which every child is valued and free, and the Senate Budget Plan released today by Pro Tem Atkins and Budget Chair Skinner would make enormous progress in achieving that goal. We applaud the Senate for embracing a comprehensive approach that would move California forward together toward a more equitable future through a combination of revenues to ensure that wealthy corporations pay their fair share, and investments in programs proven to lift children and families out of poverty and reverse long-standing racial inequities. 

We are thrilled that the Senate Budget Plan would adopt many community-informed IMAGINE priorities, including critical investments to: 

  • CalWORKS: End deep child poverty, remove the WPR penalty, support sanction reform, invest in menstrual equity
  • Increase the minimum CalEITC payment to $275
  • Child care: invest in rates to help stabilize providers and protect families from harmful fees
  • CalFresh: provide a $50 minimum, prevent the 3-month time limit, and achieve Food For All
  • School meals: maximize the new Summer EBT program and support kitchen infrastructure 
  • Homelessness prevention and affordable housing – landmark $1 billion ongoing
  • Support schools, bolster health programs, and much more. 

We again thank the Senate for their continued leadership to put wealth to work and ensure that the values of California’s budget, both revenues and investments, prioritize the future free from poverty we know is possible. We urge the Legislature and Administration to adopt these critical proposals in the 2023-24 Budget, and look forward to engaging with all stakeholders as the budget process continues.”

GRACE & End Child Poverty California Statement on House Debt Ceiling Bill

House bill would worsen poverty for children and families and deepen racial inequities. Urge Senate and President to reject this approach, and invest in programs proven to lift children and families out of poverty.

April 26, 2023 / / Pasadena, CA

Statement attributable to Shimica Gaskins, President and CEO, GRACE/End Child Poverty California:

“The House bill passed today includes unconscionable policies that balance the budget on the backs of the very Califfornians with low-incomes that the federal government should prioritize. It is a shocking, anti-family bill that would reverse the historic gains in reducing child poverty – achieved just two years ago – and deepen already unjust inequities for Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other disenfranchised communities.

The bill would make across the board 22% cuts that harm children and families, and cap annual spending growth at 1% for key domestic federal programs such as WIC, housing, veterans’ health care, child care and preschool, public health, Pell Grants and college work-study, K-12 education, and environmental protection, among many others. 

Perhaps the most odious element is that the bill doubles down on punitive, failed work requirements across the safety net, policies rooted in racist & sexist stereotypes that families with low-incomes need to be coerced to work in order to receive basic assistance: 

We thank the many Members of the California delegation who spoke out against and opposed this legislation. We thank President Biden for issuing his veto message on the bill, which highlights many of the harmful policies that would punish Californians with low-incomes. We urge the Senate and President to reject this approach, and instead build on the proven pathways to lift children and families out of poverty and advance a more equitable future.”

GRACE Welcomes Sam to Start 2023! Plus, a Look Back at 2022.

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The GRACE Team Now Numbers 6!

We’re excited to welcome our newest senior policy associate, Sam Wilkinson, to not just our internal team but the larger GRACE & End Child Poverty CA community!

Sam will work closely with the CalEITC Coalition to drive policy efforts and advocacy campaigns that will uplift the important and effective role tax credits and other cash supports play supporting our families.

Read more about Sam on our About Us page.

2022: A Year in Review

“Service without reflection is just work.”

When our team retreated in January of 2022, we talked about vision and values. Part of that discussion was learning more about the history of GRACE and our Vincentian roots, including values like dignity, compassion, solidarity, and justice.

We also talked about reflection. Our workload keeps us busy, but we all believe strongly in creating pauses, moments of rest, and time to reflect on our work: celebrating wins, big or small; learning from our experiences, good or bad; and finding ways to improve and better serve our communities.

Our 2022 Year in Review is a short publication created in reflection on the past year and highlighting what our team was able to accomplish. We are very proud to share it with you now!

GRACE-2022-Year-in-ReviewDownload

RELEASE: End Child Poverty California Statement on Governor Newsom’s Proposed 2023-24 Budget

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We Commend the Governor for Protecting Progress, and Call For Continued Action to End Poverty

January 10, 2023 / / Pasadena, CA

Statement attributable to Shimica Gaskins, President and CEO of GRACE and End Child Poverty California:

Today, Governor Newsom released his 2023-24 Proposed Budget Summary. We commend Governor Newsom for his clear call to prioritize Californians on the front lines of economic hardship, a theme he echoed throughout his press conference, including protecting vital programs proven to prevent poverty and build prosperity. 

We further applaud the Governor for some of the key decisions made to balance the state’s budget given the fiscal conditions. This includes the prudent choice to withdraw the $750 million payment on the state’s outstanding federal loans for unemployment benefits, which the LAO noted would “provide no near-term economic relief to employers or workers.”

We urge the Governor and Legislature to build on this strong first step to take actions needed to address the moral imperative to lift every California child and family out of poverty. As Langston Hughes reminds us, a dream deferred is a dream denied. 

We must act now to make sure all our children are valued, healthy, secure, and free from poverty.  

The Governor wisely proposes increased support for families experiencing homelessness, to help keep families housed, as well as nation-leading health for all, in this year’s budget. He offers new proposals such as the Health and Human Services Innovation Accelerator Initiative, that if includes CalWORKs and CalFresh, could make bold improvements to access of critical safety net programs.

Those investments build on transformative actions taken during the pandemic including baby bonds, health care, tax credits for families, cradle to career supports, and other End Child Poverty Plan recommendations. 

It is not an overstatement that those gains, and the lives of California’s children living in extreme poverty, are at risk. They are struggling to survive as their families face the toxic stress of inflation, food insecurity, homelessness and other challenges as key federal interventions like the expiration of the expanded Child Tax Credit that brought poverty to historic lows and closed racial inequities.

While we continue to call on Congress and the White House to take continued action, California must continue to lead. Budgets are statements of our values, especially in a challenging year. 

We again commend the Governor for protecting critical progress made, and call on all budget stakeholders to maximize opportunities to advance the future free from poverty we know is possible. GRACE and End Child Poverty California look forward to working with the Governor, Administration, and Legislature to ensure that investments to end poverty are prioritized – our children and families simply cannot wait.

For a summary of California’s latest investment in supporting our low-income children and families, read our recap of the 2022-23 legislative session and ECPCA priorities below.

CA-Legislature-Imagine-Investments-2022Download
IMAGINE: End Child Poverty California's Vision for a Just Future
ECPCA: 2019 Bus Tour
Gov. Newsom Signs Historic Budget
John Lewis, Civil Rights Leader

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