Marin activists fighting hunger fear effect of Trump initiative

Sept. 25--Activists battling hunger in Marin held a strategy session Monday in San Rafael, just two days after the Trump administration announced a new immigration policy likely to discourage many Latinos from seeking all types of governmental assistance, including food aid.

About 150 people from the private and government sectors turned out for the community forum on hunger hosted by the First 5 Marin Children and Families Commission at the Embassy Suites Hotel.

Katy McKnight, community engagement director for the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, kicked off the meeting by decrying the Trump administration's announcement on Saturday that it might begin denying green cards to immigrants who legally use public benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly referred to as food stamps; the Section 8 housing voucher program and the Medicare prescription drug program for older adults.

"We believe this is just another attempt to harm our immigrant population," McKnight said. "We think it is mean-spirited. We think it is unfair. It is something that we will continue to fight vigorously."

Contacted following the meeting, Paul Ash, the food bank's executive director, said, "This proposed rule change -- if enacted -- will make it harder for immigrant households to get fresh, healthy food from the CalFresh program and other public services, which are essential to keeping families healthy.

"This will also put more pressure on the food bank to fill the need," Ash said. "Unfortunately, the food bank wouldn't be able to absorb a huge influx of people who will need our services if these changes are allowed to move forward."

Omar Carrera, executive director of Canal Alliance in San Rafael, noted that the proposed changes won't take effect immediately; there will be at least a 60-day review period.

"This policy is just an extension of Trump's larger effort to tear families apart," Carrera said. "Now is the time for all of us to unite to fight back against this nonsense."

Amy Reisch, executive director of First 5 Marin, said, "According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, there are 20 million children living in immigrant families; 90 percent of those children are United States citizens. Those children who qualify for nutrition assistance and other public benefits are legally entitled to them."

McKnight provided some numbers to illustrate that hunger exists in Marin despite the county's vaunted affluence.

"We know that hunger is a problem," McKnight said, "to the tune of one in five are at risk of hunger in Marin County."

McKnight said 46,000 Marin residents qualify to receive federal food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as CalFresh. To qualify, a household may earn no more than $48,000 a year, or 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

But McKnight said according to the California Budget and Policy Center, a family of four in Marin requires an annual income of $110,000 to meet its most basic needs.

Reba Meigs, public health program manager with the county's health and human services department, said about 26 percent of the Marin residents at risk for hunger are older adults while 24 percent are children and 19 percent are adults.

"We also know that race matters," Meigs said.

She said that approximately half of all Marin's Latino and African-American residents are at risk of hunger while only one in every seven white residents face the same peril.

Meigs said over the last several years Marin supervisors have allocated $55,000 annually out of the county's general fund to battle hunger in Marin.

Speakers from the food bank and Marin County Health and Human Services provided some information on efforts to boost CalFresh enrollment in Marin. These included more dual enrollment opportunities with other assistance programs and reminders to recipients about deadlines for submitting required informational updates.

One of the handouts supplied at the forum noted, however, that "Marin's CalFresh participation is one of the lowest in California."

"If fully utilized," the handout stated, "CalFresh would generate an additional $45 million in local economic activity."

In 2017, Marin ranked 53rd among the state's 58 counties in its utilization of CalFresh funding, up from 55th the year before.

Following the meeting, Dr. Grant Colfax, the director of the county's Department of Health and Human Services, said his department has also made it easier for people to sign up for CalFresh in their local communities, allowed them to make on-demand appointments to enroll and provided a computer enrollment app.

"On the other side of the equation," Colfax said, "more people are being scared away from government programs, and fewer people are eligible due to the improving economy."

Andy Naja-Riese, CEO of the Agricultural Institute of Marin, said the institute matches the first $10 spent by CalFresh enrollees at any of its markets. The institute manages seven farmers markets in the Bay Area, including the popular markets at the Marin Civic Center on Thursdays and Sundays.

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