California Church IMPACT
empowering & mobilizing people of faith to be effective advocates in public policy
  • Home Page
  • IMPACT Blog
  • About & Contact
    • Contact Us
  • Key Issues
    • Human RIghts
    • LGBTQ Rights
    • Health Care
    • Economic Justice
  • Take Action
    • Resources
  • DONATE
  • CCC
  • Prop 64 Faith Livestream

Guard our people against poverty - days of action this week!

4/23/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
Dear Friends,

As part of the California Interfaith Coalition, California Church IMPACT is supporting Senator Holly Mitchell's pathbreaking bill, SP 982.  

This would insist that when people receive Temporary Aid to Needy Families (CalWORKs here), their cash grant, whatever the source,  would have to provide enough money itself to lift them to at least 50% of the federal poverty level (FPL).  Cash grants go for rent, utilities,  non-food necessities such as soap, toilet paper, and school clothes for kids.  It has become the budget target over past years to help balance the budget by cutting that resource leaving current average grants at a scant 44% FPL.  With the cost of living, especially rents, skyrocketing, people are being forced into substandard accommodations or into the streets unable to keep up with costs..

Since CalWORKs families also get Medi-Cal and nutrition help (used to be food stamps), raising the cash grant gives them a fighting chance of finally renting an apartment vs. being homeless and of bringing in enough resources to BE statistically even with the federal poverty designation. Now they don't even have that much overall income. That is something we have not faced squarely over the past years - how can one of the richest states in the union allow so many people to live in dire poverty?

By linking the cash grant to the FPL, it will not have to be revisited yearly.  This bill, SB 982, sets the policy for the future.  We will have to fight this out with the annual budget, but the directive is quite clear. 

From tomorrow through Friday, please call your state Senators urging support for SB 982.  We cannot leave families without adequate resources while their expenses rise and the overall cost of living soars.  This is a small but essential step, one that will not harm the budget that is, at minimum, our declaration of how we treat our most imperiled citizens.  We need to make them whole.  They cannot get out of poverty if they're mired in it even further by bad policy values.

To be taken to your Senator's web page, please go here:  http://www.churchimpact.org/take-action.html  You may FAX, call, email - but please take action this week.  

Remember "Faithful Fridays" as a way of contacting your Senator when he or she is back in the district.  Calls, visits, email are very effective when they are from you or a group who are all constituents!

Thank you!

1 Comment
Pennsylvania Spankees link
10/30/2022 11:09:59 pm

Great blog yyou have

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    The Rev Dr Rick Schlosser

    Archives

    September 2022
    May 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    January 2014
    September 2013
    February 2013
    October 2012

    Categories

    All
    Civil Rights
    Economic Justice
    Elections
    Environmental Justice
    Faithful Fridays
    Health Care
    Racism
    Reproductive Rights
    Women's Rights

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from ProComKelly