Copyright Los Angeles Times
As the federal shutdown marches along into its fourth week with no foreseeable end in sight, November’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits will be delayed for some 5.5 million Californians. Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed President Trump for the shutdown and the disruption of SNAP, noting that the timing seems especially cruel as Thanksgiving creeps up. “Trump’s failure to open the federal government is now endangering people’s lives and making basic needs like food more expensive — just as the holidays arrive,” Newsom said last week. “It is long past time for Republicans in Congress to grow a spine, stand up to Trump and deliver for the American people.” Furthermore, Newsom and state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Tuesday that California is joining other Democrat-led states in suing the Trump administration to force SNAP payments through the use of contingency funds. But the litigation — even if successful — won’t prevent all the disruptions. To combat the losses that many Californians will feel, the governor is attempting to fast-track $80 million in state funds to aid in food bank resources. Newsom has also mobilized the California National Guard and California Volunteers to provide support to food banks throughout the state. This delay will be heavily felt by California’s Latinx population. According to a recent study by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute, Latinos make up 55% of CalFresh — California’s state-specific name for its SNAP program — participants statewide. In L.A. County, the data show that of the over 1.5 million SNAP beneficiaries, Latinx people make up 62% of CalFresh enrollees. Additionally, the institute’s research showed that children account for 40% of the Latinx population enrolled in CalFresh. The LPPI’s work showed that programs such as CalFresh and California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, helped mitigate the impact on the 48% of low-income California Latino adults experiencing food insecurity. “Given the situation right now of how expensive it is to afford the cost of living, one of the areas where people start to spend less in order to afford things like transportation, is food,” UCLA professor and co-author of the CalFresh study Arturo Vargas Bustamante told The Times. “When income goes down, food is something families adjust their spending to. So it’s important for them to receive support to be able to feed themselves and their children.” Bustamante believes that the CalFresh cuts will lead many Latinx households to choose between paying utilities and feeding their families. “They will have to make retail decisions,” he said. “They’ll debate: ‘Should we pay rent or should we eat breakfast or should we put gas in the car? What are we going to be doing in order for us to be able to afford food and the three meals a day for all the household members?’” The situation provides a particular sting as studies show Latinx workers comprise upwards of 95% of California’s farm workers. “There is a paradox. Farm workers are overwhelmingly Latino and they produce a lot of the food that the state consumes. This food is also exported across the country and world,” Bustamante said. “It’s ironic that in many cases these same households do not have enough income to eat properly and they have to rely on these types of programs in order for them to have food on the table.” As many Latinx families prepare for an insecure food situation over the next few weeks, many organizations are providing meals and ingredients to alleviate some of the pain. Latinx With Plants Founded by Northeast L.A. native Andi Xoch, Latinx With Plants is a plant shop and community center in Boyle Heights. As Halloween rolls around and local families face increased food insecurity, Xoch announced last week on Instagram that Latinx With Plants would be giving out more than just candy this year. “We also want our neighborhood know that we will be giving out candy y mas this Halloween,” she wrote. “Our heart breaks seeing crucial funding for families get cut and tho we wish we could do more we will be giving out ramen and other non-perishable foods plus the candy.” Operation Healthy Hearts Started in 2012, Operation Healthy Hearts was launched by community organizer and advocate Jackie Villalta to help unhoused and underserved communities in the San Gabriel Valley. Every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Whittier at 7639 Painter Ave., the organization hands out food supplies, offers free haircuts and provides pet care assistance. “We usually have on average about 100 people who are representing their families who have the average family size of five. Being that SNAP benefits are being cut on Saturday. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling a certain type of way,” Villalta said in an Instagram story on Wednesday. “I am becoming progressively more worried that I will not have enough stuff for the amount of people who may show up to our event.” The organizer also put out a call for additional volunteers to aid in her program’s distribution as demand for supplies continues to soar. “Food will always be a human right and people deserve to eat,” she said. “We see tons of families and just thinking of the devastation that the pause in SNAP benefits is going to create and then the “Big Beautiful Bill” slashing billions of dollars from funding — this isn’t a short-term emergency. We have to really come together as a community to figure out how we can help.” Lopez Urban Farm Located in Pomona and run in conjunction with Pomona Unified School District, Lopez Urban Farm looks to combat food insecurity by growing and distributing fresh produce. The collective at 1034 W. Mission Blvd. is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with Sundays serving as the organization’s main distribution day. On Saturday, Nov. 1, Lopez Urban Farm will celebrate Día de los Muertos with a community harvest in which volunteers will pick and distribute free produce to local families. San Gabriel Valley Family Center The San Gabriel Valley Family Center serves low-income neighborhoods in the cities of El Monte and South El Monte by operating two community food pantries. Every Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m., one of their pantries is open at the Community Presbyterian Church of El Monte located at 4602 Peck Road. Every Friday from 10 a.m. to noon, the organization operates a food pantry in South El Monte’s Faith Tabernacle Church at 2144 Tyler Ave. Harmony Bites Operated in the largely Latinx and Black neighborhood of South Central, Harmony Bites first opened as a response to increased food insecurity among Southern California families during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The nonprofit looks to fight food insecurity “through food distribution events and building partnerships with organizations that give and receive food” and currently gives away around 100,000 pounds of food weekly. Harmony Bites’ weekly Saturday food distribution takes place from 8 a.m. to noon at 5850 Avalon Blvd. Long Beach Community Table Founded as a mutual aid cooperative in 2018, the Long Beach Community Table provides free food and other necessities for over 24,000 people monthly in an effort to help enable self-sustainability. The organization runs a free open pantry at 3311 E. 59th St. four times a week: Mondays and Tuesdays from 5:30 to 7 p.m.; Fridays noon to 4 p.m.; and Saturdays from noon to 2 p.m. Every LBCT conducts park distributions at several public parks throughout Long Beach with the following schedule:
