Schwarzenegger’s Raw Deal for California Families

Governor Schwarzenegger released his budget proposal on Friday, and it’s really ugly.  Knowledge is power, and though it sucks to have to relate this bad news to supporters of HAMO, I am heartened by the fact that once people understand how bad this budget proposal is, they’ll mobilize to fight against it.

Image from http://www.imdb.com/

“Regular cuts”  and “trigger cuts” One of the first things to understand about Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal is that it contains two levels of cuts.  The first level contains the regular cuts that would take place regardless of how much money California gets from the Feds.  The second level includes more drastic “trigger cuts”, cuts that will only take place if “triggered” by the Federal government giving California less than $6.9 billion by July 2010, and “Regular Cuts”  affecting children and families:

• Cutting CalWORKs (California’s welfare program) grant levels by 15%. (This is on top of last year’s 4% CalWORKs grant cut).  This cut will cost the typical CalWORKs family of three $109/month.
• Elimination of the CalWORKs recent non-citizen entrants program (for legal immigrants who have been in the US less than 5 years).
• Elimination of the California Food Assistance Program (provides nutrition assistance to legal immigrants who are ineligible for Food Stamps solely because of their immigration status.)
• Reducing the level at which the state reimburses CalWORKs child care providers.
• Reduction of SSI/SSP grants by $15/month (this would be the fourth cut in 12 months for low-income disabled and/or elderly folks on SSI/SSP.)
• Reduction of family planning reimbursement rates.
• Limiting eligibility for Healthy Families as well as increasing premiums and decreasing benefits for some children in the program.
• Asking voters to approve raiding “First 5” funds to pay for programs usually funded through the General Fund.  (“First 5” programs help kids aged 0-5 and is funded through a 50 cent per pack tobacco tax.)

Trigger cuts

• Complete elimination of the CalWORKs program.
• Complete elimination of the Healthy Families program.
• Complete elimination of the In Home Supportive Services program.
• $36 million in cuts to Transitional Housing Plus Program for foster youth.
• Elimination of “federally optional” Medi-Cal benefits like durable medical equipment and physical therapy.
• Asking voters to allow the state to raid Prop 63 funds to pay for existing mental health programs (Prop 63 levies a tax on millionaires. Funds are used for new — not existing– mental health treatment programs.)

So, what are we going to do about this?

The worst thing we can do right now is stay silent! Tell your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers about the Governor’s proposed cuts and encourage them to speak out against the cuts.

Contact your California Legislators and the Governor and tell them what YOUR budget priorities are! Contact the Governor here. Not sure who your California legislator is?    Search by zip code here.

Keep up with the latest developments.

• Check the Western Center on Law and Poverty’s blog here
• Check California Budget Project for excellent budget analysis and information.
• Check Health Access California’s blog for updates about health programs and opportunities for advocacy.

Happy New Year!

What a year!

When we started HAMO in the spring of this year we thought we were going to do a health and hygiene drive, maybe collect extra hotel soaps and a thousand diapers and wipes – mostly from our immediate network of friends, colleagues, and neighborhood list servs. We set up shop, invested a little money and a whole lot of sweat equity. We recruited a handful of friends in other cities to take part in our little experiment. Everything on the fly, everything not by the book, all in between life.  At the end of the month, together with our enlisted friends, we collected 15,000 diapers. I originally bought the donation bins and planned to re-appropriate them as rain barrels once the drive was over. I still don’t have rain barrels.

We joked about getting on Twitter.

We called in A LOT of favors.

We discovered diaper banks existed. We found out the Bay Area’s only diaper bank closed it’s doorsright before Mother’s Day (HAMO alumni, Sarah, is currently working to revive it – stay tuned!)

A world of family homelessness and poverty in our own backyards revealed itself.

We met some amazing new friends and advocates who pushed us to think beyond our immediate lives in order to connect the dots.

We called in MORE favors.

As of this writing, HAMO has collected a little over 135,000 diapers, plus countless wipes and other basic supplies. It’s an awesome number to look at isn’t it?

That number doesn’t just represent the number of times a baby gets changed into a clean diaper. It doesn’t represent the actions of one individual, or even a handful of individuals. The thing is, this number is just a small part of the story.

Lives have been made easier by that number. Families were able to pay their utility bill. Women fleeing domestic violence did not have to take a bus across town just to get emergency diapers. Their shelter had diapers to give them. Social workers brought diapers to isolated single mothers with limited resources and no family support. Families facing dire situations and crisis were able to concentrate on more pressing matters, instead of worrying whether or not they would run out of clean diapers for their baby before payday. Mothers could stay in school or go to work. Food was put on tables. Babies went to bed at night with a clean diaper. They didn’t get painful diaper rash. Their parents could afford medicine. We created a little safety net in our immediate communities. Our babies were kept safe and healthy.

But that isn’t the whole story.

We are all part of the story too. To our immediate friends and family – thank you. To all who collected and donated diapers, to all who came forward and asked how you could help by lending your expertise, spreading the word, writing about us, telling your friends and colleagues, tweeting, retweeting and facebooking us, to the women (and men!) who donated their valuable time – thank you. To the COUNTLESS friends, new and old, who gave a little (or a lot) of their time, to making this number a reality – thank you. To our diaper bank friends from around the country – thank you for sharing your knowledge and vision. To the moms who donated their open packs of diapers your baby outgrew – thank you. To our friends at our favorite mom run businesses, who agreed to be a donation location and spread the word to your network – thank you. To all the companies and individuals who donated diapers, money, and supplies for our special events – thank you. To all the mommy bloggers and non-mom bloggers who took the time to click, listen and helped spread the word (in some cases – host diaper drives!)- thank you. To the handful of journalists who discovered our blog or took the time to read our scrappy excuse for a press release – thank you. To our partners, who work quietly everyday to help struggling families – thank you for your inspiration and for doing the important work you do. You are all part of this story.

All of us at HAMO wish you a happy and safe new year. We are working hard to continue the campaign next year. We are going to need a lot more help. Thank you for being part of this experiment.

NPR Reports: Homeless Families on the Rise

NPR’s Weekend Edition today reports on the rising population of homeless families. Listen to the story here.

Between rising rates in unemployment and foreclosures, it’s no wonder that families are now the country’s fastest growing homeless population. In Arizona, the number of families experiencing first-time homelessness jumped by more than 10 percent last year. That’s created a big challenge for homeless children, trying to balance both school and survival.

While the holidays are a wonderful time to be generous, it is important to note struggling families need our help year round. Churches and non profit agencies can only do so much with the growing number of families experiencing homelessness, many for the first time in their lives. Everyone has something to contribute – time, money, or expertise. Please consider helping out in your own community in 2010.

Shout out to Mark Horvath of Invisible People for forwarding this news story.

Nearly 1 out of 5 California Children Live in Poverty

Yesterday the U.S. Census Bureau released their 2008 poverty estimates. Their report estimates 1.7 million children living in poverty, or 18.5% of all CA residents 18 years or younger.

The report also estimates there are 534,254 children under 4 years old living in poverty in California, or 20.2% of all CA residents 4 years or younger.

Here is how select counties faired with childhood poverty rates:

NamePoverty%Estimate #

 0-18 Years0-18 Years

United States18.213,240,870

California18.51,702,065

Alameda County12.944,060

Contra Costa County12.430,485

Fresno County31.383,435

Kern County26.662,540

Los Angeles County21.8548,487

Marin County8.43,958

Merced County28.821,790

Monterey County18.119,867

Orange County13.4101,146

Riverside County17.097,440

Sacramento County19.067,561

San Bernardino County20.6119,707

San Diego County16.6121,555

San Francisco County13.615,848

San Joaquin County22.041,994

San Mateo County8.012,584

Santa Barbara County15.714,733

Santa Clara County9.439,650

Santa Cruz County16.99,035

Solano County12.012,134

Sonoma County12.812,898

Stanislaus County19.628,010

Tulare County30.741,040

Ventura County11.623,649

For some reason, they do not breakdown the data for the 0-4 year old residents by county.

You can download the national report here.

Hungry Kids Are Perfectly Healthy, So Let Them Eat Cake

A couple of recent studies about hunger in America have put hunger issues in the spotlight.  Onestudy in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine shows that nearly half of all U.S. children, and 90% of black children, will receive Food Stamps at some point during their childhood.   A November 16, 2009 report from the USDA showed that the number of Americans experiencing hunger is at the highest rate in 14 years.

The most shocking thing that I read about hunger this week was not the statistics in these reports: it was this comment made by Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation in this USA Today article about childhood hunger.

“There’s no evidence that even consistent poverty in the U.S. produces a nutritional risk,” he says, noting that rich and poor children tend to have about the same intake of protein, vitamins and minerals.

It is shocking to know that there are people who believe that there is no link between poverty and nutrition.   Studies from the Food Research and Action Center, Zero to Three, the Tufts University Center on Hunger, Poverty and Nutrition Policy, and the Centers for Disease Control have shown that childhood hunger leads to health problems, school absenteeism, stunted growth, reduced ability to learn, cognitive deficits, and emotional problems.

Anti-hunger programs that promote nutrition — the School Breakfast and School Lunch programs, the WIC program, the Summer Food Service program, the After-school Snack and Meal Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program — must be strengthened.   Child nutrition programs are being reauthorized by congress.  The re-authorization process allows Congress to strengthen these programs so that they can help all hungry children in the U.S.

If you’d like to learn more about what’s at stake for Californians in the child nutrition re-authorization process, check out this fact sheet from California Food Policy Advocates. If you would like to contact President Obama, your Senator, or your Congressional Representative about child nutrition re-authorization, visit Feeding America’s Hunger Action Center.

Calling All San Francisco Mothers: Start Celebrating Mother’s Day Early

We’ll be getting a jump-start on our Mother’s Day celebrations this Friday at San Francisco City Hall. We’re not affiliated with these folks, but we’ll be there to lend our support. Please join us to show some solidarity and send Mayor Newsom the message that his lack of response to the homeless crisis is not okay.

MEDIA ADVISORY

MOTHER’S HOLD MOTHER’S DAY PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE ECONOMICAL DOWN TURN

Where: Steps of City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton Goodlett Place, San Francisco

When: Friday, May 8, 2009, 11:00

What: Homeless mothers are holding a press conference to decry the lack of response from the Mayor’s office on the doubling of homeless families in San Francisco since the recession.

San Francisco—San Francisco, like cities across the nation, is seeing a dramatic spike in the number of families requesting emergency shelter. The city of San Francisco has enough homeless families to fill a small, rapidly growing town. Yet, this issue has received very loud silence coming out of the Mayor’s office.

According to Connecting Point, in the summer of 2007, the average number of homeless families waiting to be placed into shelters was 75. In the summer of 2008, that average doubled to 150 families. Since then, there have been anywhere from 150 to 190 families waiting to be placed into shelters. The recession has taken a tremendous toll on our low-income families, and homeless families are calling on the Mayor’s office to respond.

Studies have show that homelessness has negative impacts on our youth’s health, development and education. Mother’s are becoming more and more concerned for their children’s well being.. They are in awe at the fact that the city has not responded to the tragic outcome of our recession. Homeless parents will be presenting their solutions and will be asking for a meeting with the Mayor. Homeless parents active with the Coalition on Homelessness have been calling for a meeting with the Mayor for the past two years, and have not been granted one.

For Mother’s Day, the mothers of the homeless community would like to spend their day securing their children’s future. Homeless parents will be calling for additional affordable housing units, a lifting of the time limit on a locally funded housing subsidy, and increased homeless prevention funding. San Francisco has adopted the “Housing First” policy which was created to swiftly house homeless single adults. The mother’s are fed up with the lack of action from City Hall, and are demanding that the “Housing First” policy that was adopted by San Francisco be implemented for families in their time of need.

According to Jenise Standfield of SRO Families United, “Our families need real “rapid housing”not “rapid homelessness”!

Swine Flu in Marin Upstages Homeless Single Mom

This in from Tangobaby:  San Francisco ABC affiliate KGO 7 was slated to air Mama K’s story tonight on the 6 O’clock news. Unfortunately, the swine flu in Marin County upstaged her story. Please keep Mama K in your thoughts tonight and remember that it takes a village to raise a child.

Hopefully, her story will air tomorrow night, Wednesday, April 29, 2009, at 6pm on ABC channel 7news. Please tune in or set the DVR. The segment should be able to stream after it airs.

We’ve been in contact with Tangobaby asking if we can help Kelaya with essential supplies she may need for 2 month old Baby M. The good news is that she now has a refrigerator(donated by an East Bay blogger) to store breastmilk in her motel room. Can you imagine, being homeless with 2 older children and a 2 month old baby?

What is unique about Mama K’s story is that a perfect stranger, Tangobaby, decided to take it upon herself to help this mother of three on the streets. She passed her on the streets, and then turned back around to help. How many of us can say that we would do that?

Thank you, Tangobaby. You are our hero.

The perfect storm for child abuse

What happens when you have a family that is financially strapped and unable to meet the basic necessities of a child? Since the recession hit, there is an uptick of reported child abuse cases.

Reuters reports on what doctors at Boston’s Children’s Hospital see:

“We’re finding that it is directly attributable to what is happening economically,” she said. “Many of the hospitals around here report an increase of 20 to 30 percent of requests for consultation regarding suspected child maltreatment.”

Many cases bear the imprint of economic troubles, like a 9-year-old diabetic boy hospitalized after his mother, a single parent, could no longer afford insurance co-payments needed to treat his disease. She left him home alone for long stretches on days when he required medical attention.

“She had difficulty with the bare bone things that would keep this child healthy,” said Scobie.

Add to the mix overwhelmed social service agencies and we have the perfect storm for prolonged child abuse.