Full CalFresh benefits have now been issued to all California recipients whose November payments had been delayed by the federal government shutdown, says a press release from Santa Clara County. The payments follow an order by the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island requiring the federal administration to immediately restore full benefits to families.
“We are relieved that families across our county will receive their full amount of CalFresh food assistance for November,” said County Executive James R. Williams. “We will continue to do everything we can to support the needs of our community because no family or child should go hungry in Santa Clara County.”
According to the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), recipients who ordinarily receive their benefits on the 1st through the 7th of each month received their full benefits on their EBT cards on Nov. 7—reaching roughly 60,000 Santa Clara County households.
Those who typically receive benefits on the 8th, 9th, and 10th should receive their November benefits on their scheduled date, representing an additional 25,000 county households, county officials said. No action is required from clients to receive the restored benefits.
The county’s Social Services Agency is directly informing clients of the update regarding November CalFresh benefits through multilingual text messages. Additional information is being shared through social media and on the county’s website at ssa.santaclaracounty.gov.
While November benefits are now secure, the county said it continues to monitor developments closely as uncertainty remains for December benefits.
In Santa Clara County, CalFresh provides about $25.5 million in food assistance each month to about 130,000 residents, including working parents, seniors, college students, and children. Because of the shutdown and the temporary suspension of federal food assistance earlier this month, the county took emergency action last week to amend its contract with Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, allocating up to $4.5 million to help cover increased demand for food assistance.
Fresh and packaged food remains available throughout the community for families in need. There are food banks across California that give free food to people in their communities.
To find a food bank, visit cafoodbanks.org/find-food/.
The Santa Clara County Resource Guide, an online directory of safety net and food resources, is available to the local community as a resource. In addition, the phone number 211 is a resource for finding food available in your community.
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley can also direct callers to food resources close to them through their hotline: 800.984.3663.
CalFresh is California’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), helping low-income households buy nutritious food at participating grocery stores, convenience stores, farmers markets and online retailers.
To qualify, households generally must earn less than 200% of the federal poverty level, currently $64,300 for a family of four. Thus a household that earns less than $128,600 annually would qualify.
