Post-Election: Organizing for the California Dream - Be There!

Press Release -- Poor and working class Californians and their allies are convening with elected officials to oppose the budget cuts, share stories about their impacts, and offer solutions to the State’s budget problems. Be There!

Press Contacts:
Nancy Berlin, The California Partnership, 415-314-8013
Kim Kruckel, Parent Voices, 510-717-6287

For Immediate Release:

Policy Advisor Ann O’Leary, Along With Working Class and Low Income Parents Challenge Elected Officials to Improve Health and Human Services Programs and Restore Cuts

What: Post-Election: Organizing for the California Dream

When: Friday, December 10, 2010 @ 10 to 11:30 a.m.

Where: St. Mary’s Center, 925 Brookhurst Street, Oakland

Oakland, CA - Poor and working class Californians and their allies are convening with elected officials to oppose the budget cuts, share stories about their impacts, and offer solutions to the State’s budget problems. The poor have become sacrificial lambs for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and many legislators as the State faces budget deficits. Advocates fear that more cuts are yet to come causing even greater harm and hope that newly elected Governor Jerry Brown will change the tide.

Elected officials or their representatives will be given an opportunity to respond to community speakers who have been impacted by the cuts, including people using the Alameda County Food Bank, members of LIFETIME – an organization that assist mothers on welfare who are obtaining an education, and parents with children.
In October, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger passed an $86.6 billion budget with shocking line item veto cuts that included:

• $256 million to Stage 3 Childcare, a program that helps working parents cover the cost of childcare
• $80 million to Child Welfare Services
• $70 million to Mental Health Services for children
• $52 million to the Office of Aids
• $18 million to the Department of Alcohol and Drug Services Program
• $10 million to clinics that serve people in rural area, Native Americans, and migrants
• $5 million to the Maternal Child and Adolescent Health Program

These cuts targeted at low income Californians are compounded by 2009’s budget cuts including:

• $375 million to counties for CalWORKs program operations
• Up to 50% for innocent children when their parents do not participate in welfare to work activities effective January 2012. Currently, the average CalWORKs family receives about $504 in benefits a month to cover rent, utilities, and basic necessities like diapers.
• $53 million to needy people with disabilities in In Home Supportive Services by increasing the threshold to obtain services
• Reduction of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) grant to $845. SSI was cut 3 years in a row. The SSI COLA will be eliminated effective January 2011.
• 10% reduction to grants for Foster Care children and their providers
• $50 million to the Regional Center for children up to age 5 who have developmental disabilities
• $60.6 million to counties for operation of the Medical Program
• $4 million to the Domestic Violence Shelter Programs

“Some of my public benefits clients cannot get the support they need to achieve in school because of these cuts, including cuts to the CARE/EOPS program at the community colleges. They cannot concentrate in class because their teeth are rotting and they cannot afford a dentist because Medi-Cal no longer covers dental work for adults,” said Luan Huynh, Supervising Attorney at the East Bay Community Law Center. “I have clients with such bad teeth that I know that employers will likely not hire them.”

“Current economic times make the work we do at the Food Bank more important than ever,” said Allison Pratt, Alameda County Community Food Bank Director of Policy and Services and one of the Forum’s co-sponsors. “When the legislature cuts and eliminates important safety net programs for California’s neediest families we see the direct negative impact as more hungry people fill our lines. We need to reverse this trend because safety net programs are one of our community’s first defenses against hunger.”

“Cutting child care subsidies for parents who have successfully transitioned off of welfare is a perfect example of a short-sighted plan,” said Anne O’Leary, Director of Berkeley Center for Health, Economics, Family Security (“CHEF”). “Working parents who receive these subsidies have no other family member who can provide care and many are unable to take time off from work to provide care themselves without getting fired. A reduction in child care subsidies will directly lead to more unemployed parents. We need a budget blueprint for California that accounts for the reality of today’s workers who combine work with care and need support to stay in the labor force, actively infusing our economy with their hard earned wages.

Ms. O’Leary develops solutions to address economic risks faced by working Americans as the Executive Director of CHEF. Ms. O’Leary focuses on increasing access to health care and providing support to working parents. She was Hilary Clinton’s senior policy advisor and legislative director from 1999 to 2005.

The California Partnership consist of organizations working together to advance the well being of poor and working class people. It includes Parent Voices, LIFETIME, Health Access, the Alameda County Food Bank, the St. Mary’s Center, the St. Anthony’s Foundation, the East Bay Community Law Center and more organizations advocating for policies to end poverty.

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