#cabudget

♥️Advocate Passionately.  💡Inspire Hope.  🚸Trust our Leaders  To lead & do what is best for kids.  #CaAfterschoolWorks #SaveAfterschool #CALeg #CABudget #MayRevise #Education #ASES #ExpandedLearning #Afterschool #Childcare #CaliforniaForAll @EndChildPovCA @FightCrimeCA https://www.instagram.com/p/CAgSsrgAi1K78vQktDMDjFt-sJBDM_r7GoK1PA0/?igshid=16tntq89uxpj6

Cal's budget problems are pretty bad if they think a brand logo justifies 80% mark up #cabudget #ucberkeley #typical

Koch Brothers sue California ​to keep campaign donations secret.  

2014 was the state’s hottest year on record. 

Unfortunately...we don't know either...so I guess we will just have to wait and see...

The United States is the wealthiest nation in the world, with more than enough food for everyone. Then why do millions of children, seniors and working families worry about their next meal? Why does the Alameda County Community Food Bank provide food to 49,000 people each week? The simplest reason is poverty -- and how hard it often is to climb out of it. In the Bay Area, even two full-time jobs can be less than you need to make ends meet. Take Evangeline and Sean. They’re both working full-time, living modestly in a one-bedroom apartment with their two young children. They’ve applied for CalFresh benefits (aka food stamps), but sometimes, just an hour of overtime will mean their income is too high to qualify. They have to pay the rent. They have to keep their car in working order to get to their jobs. By then, their paychecks are gone. And yet, their children still need to eat. So they visit a food pantry in their neighborhood in Alameda. Evangeline is taking night classes, hoping to move up in her workplace and no longer rely on the food bank – something she couldn’t do if she had to worry about feeding her kids. Food banks are performing triage – helping people meet immediate nutritional needs. Government programs such as CalFresh (more commonly known as food stamps), WIC and school meals support working families, lessen poverty, and relieve pressure on food banks like ours facing unprecedented demand. During the long and deep recession, with millions still unemployed or underemployed, food banks have grown tremendously. Our Emergency Food Helpline call volume has grown 145% since the start of the recession in 2007. Yet the same forces that have so impacted our clients have also put our nutrition and safety-net programs under attack. Food banks and their donors and volunteers are often expected to fill the gap, while leaving an uncertain future for the programs meeting people’s most basic needs and helping them lift themselves out of poverty. Budgets balanced on the backs of working families, seniors and children will ensure that our communities struggle to thrive and grow. We can do better. That’s why the Alameda County Community Food Bank has taken the lead among food banks nationally in advocating for policies that will one day put us out of business. Our Community Advocates Against Hunger are volunteers, member agencies and clients on the front lines of hunger in our community. They bring real stories of people struggling with hunger to elected officials with legislative visits and direct action. Last year, the legislature passed and Gov. Brown signed every one of the bills we supported to strengthen our nutrition safety net. Access to healthy food is a basic human right – and all of us benefit when we work together for viable solutions. Yet vital programs are under attack. Right now, the House version of the Farm Bill – which would cut $90 a month from 500,000 households' emergency food budget, kick 3 million people off nutrition assistance entirely, and take free lunches away from 300,000 kids from low-income families. We'll provide the tools and resources. You provide the passion. Learn more about our advocacy work and join our team of advocates with updates on our Facebook page or at accfb.org.

On May 17, 400 people gathered at the Capitol in Sacramento for Hunger Action Day, demanding that our legislators answer just one question: What’s our (safety) net worth? Hunger Action Day is the only day when California’s capital is filled with people from grassroots groups fighting for an end to poverty and hunger. Gov. Jerry Brown proposes drastic cuts to our safety-net programs, trying again to balance the California budget without revenues. And just hours before Hunger Action Day, the newly revised budget was released, including $2 billion in cuts to health and human services. At a February hearing in Sacramento, mothers and fathers, voices shaking, publicly contemplated the meaning of these cuts for their children — often, their next and only option is homelessness and hunger. On Hunger Action Day, we stood with them again. Our advocates were the first in Sacramento to show up and stand against this budget, sharing stories face-to-face with 17 legislators from up and down the state — and on both sides of the aisle. This year, more than 100 people came with the Alameda County Communtiy Food Bank, representing more than a quarter of all who attended. "I’m here because I want Californians to be able to build themselves a future,” said Celeste Grainger, an advocate from Fremont. “I want legislators to know that Californians matter.” Our clients, staff, volunteers and advocates surrounded the Capitol at noon to show we won’t stand for these cuts. Legislators don’t have to either. They now have until June 15 to pass a balanced budget — or lose pay for each day it’s late. After three years and $15 billion in cuts to vital social programs, it is unconscionable to shred the safety net even further. In November, Californians will consider new revenues that will help shore up our social safety net, put Californians back to work, keep us healthy, and turn our economy around. The Food Bank fights to protect all parts of the safety net, which so many of our clients rely on. While rent can’t wait, an empty stomach can — for a little while. Cuts to the safety net mean more hunger, and more demand. Join our Online Advocacy Team. Make your voice heard: no one should go hungry!