By Kelly Waldron : Missionlocal – excerpt
On a typical Thursday, Katy Alaniz Barnhill goes to the Mission Community Market on 22nd Street to get her week’s worth of produce. These days, she fills her basket with greens, mushrooms and plums — but soon, her weekly market budget may be slashed.
Alaniz Barnhill, like some other 500,000 Californians, uses Market Match, a program that allows shoppers enrolled in CalFresh benefits, the state’s food-assistance program for low-income individuals, to double a portion of their allowance to spend on produce at farmer’s markets.
For $15 of her CalFresh dollars spent, Alaniz Barnhill gets $30 worth of food. But come later this year, she may have to pay from a shallower pocket, without the extra $15.
In January, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed state budget cuts that would virtually eliminate the funding for the California Nutrition Incentive Program, which funds Market Match. It may also leave additional funds on the table: The program has drawn in over $30 million in matching federal funds since 2017…(more)
Grassroots Actions 