IMAGINE: 2023 Policy Priorities to End Child Poverty

Our 170+ End Child Poverty CA partners and allies continue to unite in 2023! We IMAGINE a future where all our children are nourished, respected, secure, valued & FREE. In a state as rich and abundant as California, we can use our wealth to back up our values… and end child poverty: #ForwardTogether.

• POLICY INFORMATION and communications tools below.
• Download IMAGINE one-pager as a printable PDF: CLICK HERE.

Hunger – We are nourished

SB 245 (Hurtado):California Food Assistance Program: Eligibility and Benefits, AB 311 (Santiago): The Food For ALL Act

• Purpose:
  • Provide #Food4All Californians

• Press conference and press release with quotes (Hurtado)
• Press conference and press release with quotes (Santiago)

SB 600 (Menjivar):California CalFresh Minimum Benefit Adequacy Act of 2023

• Purpose:
  • Create a CalFresh minimum of $50 a month
  • Support food banks through CalFood
  • Fight the 500M monthly federal hunger cliff

• Press conference and press release with quotes

SB 348 (Skinner): Expanding California School Meals for All Legislation

• Purpose:
  • Build on historic school & summer meals for all

• Press conference and press release with quotes

Child Care – We are respected

AB 596 (Reyes), SB 380 (Limón): Early Learning and Care: Rate Reform

• Purpose:
  • Provide livable wages and rates for child care based on true costs that eliminate fees.
  • Support equitable access to all ECE options that meet families needs
  • Ensure the rollout of all 200 slots

• Press conference and press release with quotes
• Social media toolkit

CA Budget: Support Equitable Access to All ECE options that meet families’ needs

Safety Net – We are secure

SB 227 (Durazo): Unemployment: Excluded Workers Program

• Purpose:
  • Create a Safety Net for All: wage replacement for undocumented workers
• Press conference and press release with quotes
• Social media toolkit

AB 608 (Schiavo): Medi-Cal: Comprehensive Perinatal Services

• Purpose: Ensure a whole child approach to coordinated services and a “no wrong door” for families
• Press conference press release with quotes

CA Budget: Ensure kids, seniors, and persons with disabilities do not lose Medi-Cal when the public health emergency unwinds in April

Strong Communities & Tax Credits – We are valued

AB 1321 (Bonta): California Coordinated Neighborhood and Community Services Grant Program

• Purpose: bolster Cradle-to-Career networks to ensure equitable state investments in community

AB 1498 (Gipson): Personal Income Tax: Earned Income Tax Credit

• Purpose: Lift the minimum CalEITC credit to $300

AB 1128 (Santiago): Young Child Tax Credit Expansion

• Purpose: Make the Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC) for all CalEITC-eligible families
• Press conference press release with quotes
• Social media toolkit

Keeping Families Whole – We are free

SB 274 (Skinner): Suspensions and Expulsions: Willful Defiance, AB 1323 (Kalra): School Safety: Mandatory Notifications

• Purpose: Disrupt the School to Prison Pipeline
• Press conference press release with quotes (Skinner)

CA Budget: Keep Families Whole

• Purpose: Address child support disparities that disrupt families

CA Budget: End Poverty in CalWORKs & SSI/SSP

AB 310 (Arambula): CalWORKs

• Purpose: Reimagine CalWORKs to make it family-centered & anti-racist