Central Unified expands pantry, vouchers and community partnerships as federal shutdown affects families
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Summary
Superintendent Dr. Marshall told the Central Unified board the district is expanding food and emergency supports after a federal shutdown, and staff outlined pantries, vouchers and partner services to reach roughly 600 affected students.
Superintendent Dr. Marshall told the Central Unified Board of Trustees on Oct. 28 that the district is stepping up supports for families affected by the federal government shutdown.
"We're all aware that there's a shutdown at the federal level, and it's getting to a point now where a lot of our families [are] gonna be impacted," Dr. Marshall said during the superintendent's report, and he asked Assistant Superintendent Dr. Lopez to review district resources.
Dr. Lopez said Central Unified has updated a resource webpage (with Spanish and work underway on Punjabi translations), maintains a district pantry system and distributes monthly pantry vouchers. "We have a total of 600 right now as of today. A 100 were identified within the last week and a half. Those 600 students are represented by 303 families," she told the board.
The district plans to open an additional pantry at El Capitan as a soft launch this week and to open the Biola pantry in January. Staff also described partnerships that supply turkeys and boxed food (operation "Gobble/Operation Wobble" at Steinbeck Elementary), winter clothing distributions, shoes and socks through the Foundation for Central Schools and Soles for Soles, and hygiene kits funded by the foundation.
Dr. Marshall and Dr. Lopez said family outreach liaisons, site leaders and community school coordinators are actively tracking referrals and that staff will use ParentSquare and other channels to notify families about available resources. They emphasized practices for identifying students who may be affected — for example, appearing sleepy or requesting snacks — and connecting those families to supports.
Why it matters: district leaders said the network of pantries and partner organizations aims to reduce immediate food and basic‑needs insecurity and limit downstream impacts on attendance and learning. Trustees asked questions about translations, pantry locations and coordination with community partners; staff said they would continue to refine outreach and reporting and to document families served.
What's next: Dr. Marshall said particular supports and updated resource links will be shared through the district communications office and on ParentSquare; trustees and staff indicated additional operational and translation work will continue in the coming weeks.