Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Sonoma County authorizes up to $1 million to shore up food supply after CalFresh disruption
Summary
After a federal shutdown halted SNAP/CalFresh payments, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors unanimously authorized the county executive to spend up to $1,000,000 to partner with the Redwood Empire Food Bank and local groups to provide emergency food assistance and to return Dec. 9 with emergency‑declaration options.
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Nov. 4 to give the county executive authority to spend up to $1 million to help residents affected by an interruption in federal SNAP/CalFresh payments.
Human Services Director Angela Strachman told the board that the federal shutdown, which began Oct. 1, stopped SNAP benefit disbursements and left about 43,000 county residents (roughly 27,000 households) at risk of losing an average of about $300 per household per month — a countywide monthly total the department estimated at about $8.2 million. "Because this shutdown has now stretched into November, the federal supplemental nutrition assistance program . . . have stopped," Strachman said, describing coordination with the Redwood Empire Food Bank and other community partners to respond immediately.
Allison Goodwin, president and CEO of the Redwood Empire Food Bank, told supervisors the food…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
