An essential question that leaders have been forced to ask since the pandemic’s onset is: How do we feed children and assist their learning when states are forced to close schools, in order to keep children safe?
This project adds a critical dimension to the growing body of P-EBT research by evaluating P-EBT 1.0 through P-EBT recipient’s perspectives. We aim to understand what challenges they may have had, how they used P-EBT, the role of public charge among immigrant and mixed-status households, perceptions of other food programs such as CalFresh, and how P-EBT impacted their families.
Special thanks to The Kroger Co. Foundation for their sponsorship of this placement of Emerson National Hunger Fellows in California.
Download "Pandemic-EBT in California: Lessons and Opportunities to End Childhood Hunger"
Publication tags: Field Reports - COVID-19 Pandemic, Emergency Food Network
Rocio Perez is a first-generation Latina who was born and raised in Downtown Los Angeles. Growing up in a low-income and predominantly undocumented community, Rocio learned how to navigate educational, legal, and health barriers that influenced her public service career. She has staffed a bill aimed at protecting low-income workers under CalFresh and CalWORKs, provided post-release services to Central American unaccompanied minors on behalf of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and contributed to detention research by the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ) to successfully secure $4.7 million in state funding for deportation defense services. In the future, Rocio plans to pursue a Master’s in Public Policy to shape immigration policy that protects immigrant communities in all social, political and economic domains of society.
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California Association of Food Banks is a membership organization of 42 food banks from throughout the state with a shared mission to end hunger in California and a firm commitment to providing cutting-edge leadership in the anti-hunger community.
Its major programs include Farm to Family, which works with growers and packers to provide fresh produce to food banks; statewide programs for food stamp outreach and enrollment; robust state and federal advocacy efforts; produce education; and member services that offer assistance with special projects as well as technical support.
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