CalFresh Utilization for Mendocino County

CalFresh Utilization for Mendocino County

California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA) has published a Program Access Index (PAI) report that estimates CalFresh utilization among low-income individuals in each of California’s 58 counties.  (CFPA is a statewide policy and advocacy organization dedicated to improving the health and well being of low income Californians by increasing their access to nutritious, affordable food.) The county-level PAI is one indicator of how well counties reach individuals with CalFresh. It is not a tool for evaluating the administration of CalFresh. Mendocino County is ranked 19^th out of 58 counties with 66% of eligible individuals enrolled in CalFresh. Great work Mendocino County!

Here are a couple key take-always from the latest data collected in 2014:

• Mendocino County still needs to try and reach 34% of the individuals/families who are eligible for CalFresh, but who aren’t enrolled.
• California as a whole is one of the bottom three states in the US for CalFresh participation. Overall only 66% of eligible poor are enrolled in CalFresh and of the Working Poor, only 52% of those eligible are enrolled in CalFresh.

Questions to be asked about this data are:

• Is it mostly seniors who are eligible, but not enrolled?
• Is it mostly undocumented/migrant workers who have eligible kids, but are not enrolled?
• Is it marijuana growers who look poor on paper (therefore they appear eligible), but are not enrolled?
• Is the gap mostly because of the bureaucracy and paperwork that makes people fed up and not want to participate or do they simply not realize that they qualify?

To read more about CFPA’s report on CalFresh click HERE.