The Alameda County Community Food Bank uses advocacy to publicize its services and perpetuate awareness about hunger in Alameda county. They formed an advocacy team comprised of Food Bank employees and volunteers to promote changes in legislation to benefit low-income residents in Alameda county.
One of the largest events that the food bank participates in is Hunger Action Day in Sacramento, the food bank sends a busload of employees and volunteers up to talk to lawmakers about important issues in the anti-hunger community. Recently there was also a Stamp Out Hunger event, where mail carriers collected food goods when they were out on their deliveries.
The food bank also employs advocacy committees:
Community Advocates Against Hunger
Join us for our Community Advocates Against hunger monthly meeting. The meetings are held on the second Wednesday of every month.
As the Participant Advocates Committee group has grown; our vision has as well. Now we have a new name, Community Advocates Against Hunger, that better reflects our group's mission to end hunger in our communities near and far. We hope that you will take this chance to join us in the fight against hunger, no matter what your experience with it may be.
The Community Advocates Against Hunger (CAAH) is a group of Food Bank volunteers who experienced hunger at some point in their lives. The committee develops effective strategies for reaching elected officials to improve and expand access to government nutrition programs for all people in need.
As some of my fellow volunteers are in Sacramento today, they are fighting to have a few bills pushed through legislation:
AB 6: This bill adopts simplified, semi-annual reporting for CalWORKs and CalFresh, eliminates finger imaging for those programs, and adopts the “heat and eat” federal option to simplify and expand use of the standard utility allowance in the CalFresh program.
In simpler terms, AB 6 will knock down barriers that keep people who qualify for CalFresh from receiving the nutrition assistance they need. It’s estimated that Alameda County alone misses out on well over
$200 million each year because of low rates of CalFresh participation.
AB 828: This bill would end the lifetime ban on CalFresh benefits for people with prior drug-related offenses. Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia have already restored nutrition benefits to people with former drug offenses.
AB 828 will increase CalFresh participation, bringing much-needed dollars into California’s struggling economy. Eliminating screenings for drug-related felony convictions when processing applications will save time. But perhaps most importantly, AB 828 may reduce recidivism by providing a crucial part of the re-entry safety net.
One of the main issues the food bank deals with is making the public aware of their eligibility for Cal Fresh, formerly the food stamp program. The food bank has an outreach program that aids the public in finding out about their eligibility for the program and their multilingual staff will help one fill out the application and get the ball rolling on receiving food expediently. There are many misconceptions about this program and thousands of residents in Alameda county are not taking advantage of this aid program because they mistakenly think they will not be eligible. During my orientation for the volunteer program this is one of the things the food bank stressed the most, getting awareness out by word of mouth.
One of the ways the food bank collects data and uses that data is the monthly reports due on the fifth of each month from the member agencies. The food bank has 275 member agencies that report back to the food bank each month about their uses and needs. The food bank then uses this information to analyze how to allocate funds, what types of food to buy, and how much food is needed.
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