Food insecurity has remained stubbornly high post-COVID, aggravated by high inflation. Housing costs increasingly demand a growing percent of the household income of Orange County families and the inflationary costs of food are trending higher than the increase in the cost of other consumer goods. H.R. 1 (aka the One Big Beautiful Bill) also contained the largest cuts to federal nutrition programs in a generation. As a result, food insecurity has begun to skyrocket and will continue to climb for the next 18 months as the H.R. 1-related cuts are fully implemented.
OC HUNGER ALLIANCE
The Orange County Hunger Alliance (OCHA) was established seven years ago to optimize the emergency food system and leverage food assistance to address the root causes of poverty. The founding members include Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, Community Action Partnership’s OC Food Bank, and Abound Food Care, which also serves as the Alliance backbone agency. Since then, the OCHA Steering Committee has been expanded to include CalOptima, Orange County Social Services Agency, United Way/211, Meals on Wheels Orange County, and Orange County Grantmakers, and eleven other leading service agencies in the County contribute to at least one of OCHA’s six working groups. The OCHA has collaborated on issues such as CalFresh access, enhanced services provision for food insecure community members, food waste recovery, leveraging purchasing power, coordinated logistics, and advocacy — all with shared data tracking and reporting in mind.
The importance of Federal benefits to the Orange County community, as well as across the country, cannot be overstated. Approximately 90% of all subsidized meals consumed by vulnerable Americans come from federal nutrition programs. Only 10% of that food comes from the charitable non-profit emergency food system. It is critical, therefore, that our federal food programs are adequately funded and efficiently managed.
Although the County of Orange does not regularly budget to support the work of local emergency feeding organizations, they have done so during times of extraordinary need, and the County also makes a major investment in administering federal nutrition programs such as CalFresh and WIC. The OCHA advocacy efforts engage local, state, and federal elected officials to advocate for public policies that combat food insecurity.
Credit: Courtesy of Abound Food Care
PREVALANCE OF HUNGER
Approximately 359,000 Orange County residents are at risk of hunger. One-half of all school children qualify for free and reduced-price school meals. Just six months ago, 318,000 Orange County residents were enrolled in the CalFresh (aka SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) program. Within that number, there are an estimated 79,000 individuals, across three populations whose eligibility will be impacted by elements of H.R. 1. CalFresh enrollment has already decreased by 30,000 during the past six months. This represents the loss of approximately $83,000,000 in federal food benefits each year. The local charitable food system is not resourced to backfill these lost federal benefits, and the worst is yet to come.
The OCHA is enlisting support from the State of California to mitigate some of the economic and political dynamics that are making it increasingly challenging for families and individuals to make ends meet. These issues are adequate funding for the CalFood program, passage of AB 1832 which provides funding for 211, and passage of AB 2299.
CALFOOD
For 15 years, the State of California has provided funding for Food Banks. CalFood funds may only be used to purchase California produced goods that will be provided to vulnerable families. CalFood supports California agriculture and families in need. In recent years, California Food Banks have shared $60 million. Last year, the legislature provided $80 million. The Orange County share this past year was in excess of $5,000,000 split between the County’s two food banks.
For the 2026/27 State fiscal year, the California Association of Food Banks (CAFB) is advocating for $60 million on-going and an additional $50 million one-time, for a total of $110 million. The additional $30 million above the amount appropriated last year is intended to address the additional needs that are resulting from the H.R. 1 initiated cuts to CalFresh.
211 FUNDING
Much like 911 was established for emergency services, 211 was established for information and social service referrals. Although 211 was established by the FCC, no accompanying funding was provided for the operation of 211. In Orange County, 211 is administered by United Way. Orange County’s 211 received 500,000 calls last year from families seeking relief from domestic violence, immigration issues, reporting incidents of hate, seeking assistance with health care, housing, utilities, and food.
As many more Orange County families are removed from CalFresh during the next 18 months, as a result of H.R. 1, people will phone 211 to be connected with a community-based organization that may be able to feed their families. 211’s state-wide, may not be resourced to respond constructively to that increase in call volume. Assembly Bill 1832 (AB 1832) requests $20 million in one-time State funding to support this critical community resource at a time when it is needed most.
REPLACEMENT FOOD PROGRAM
As previously stated, there are 30,000 fewer people enrolled in CalFresh in Orange County today than were enrolled six months ago, and the biggest cuts are yet to come. Few proposals are right sized to address the size and scope of the growing situation. AB 2299 proposes to create a new state-funded food assistance program that will continue to provide nutrition assistance for many of the people who have been or will be removed from CalFresh. Also referred to the California Anti-Hunger Response and Employment Training (CARET), the proposed program would serve an estimated one-half million Californians.
CALL TO ACTION
Orange County families are experiencing a generational change to nutrition programs. A hungry child cannot learn, and a hungry employee cannot be productive. If we care about the most vulnerable people in our community, this moment is a Call to Action for our state, county, cities, business community, charitable foundations, and each of us. The OCHA Advocacy Committee urges support for $60 million on-going and $50 million one-time funding for CalFood. We also support AB 1832, which provides $20 million to support the operation of 211, and passage of the very important AB 2299.
The Legislature must agree to a combined Budget by June 15, and they must negotiate a final Budget with the Governor by June 30. If you agree that these initiatives reflect your values, you are encouraged to contact your state Assembly representative, your state Senator, and the Governor, and urge support of CalFood at $110M in the state budget, AB 1832 (funding for 211), and AB 2299 (CARET).
Mark Lowry is Director of the OC Food Bank. During his tenure, the quantity of food distributed by the Food Bank has grown from two million pounds per year to nearly 30 million pounds annually. Over 300,000 vulnerable people now receive food from the OC Food Bank each month. As an advocate, Mark works closely with elected officials on the local, state and federal levels, on issues related to social and economic justice.
Hallie Stohler-Plaza is the OC Hunger Alliance Director at Abound Food Care. In this role, she facilitates and manages the collaborative strategy and guides the implementation of collective initiatives across the six pillars, leading the partners in their goal of systems change within the food and other inter-connected systems.
The OC Hunger Alliance Advocacy Working Group engages in legislative advocacy and awareness campaigns related to the Alliance’s vision of a healthy Orange County community with equitable access to nutritious food.
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