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Kaiser Permanente Support Access to Healthy Food During COVID-19 Pandemic

Published

5 years ago

December 28, 2020

Kiki

Kaiser Permanente is supporting local nonprofits as they seek innovative ways to enroll eligible households in CalFresh, California’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which has seen a surge in applications during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal is to ensure people have access to and can afford nutritious food, to help keep them healthy.

Kaiser Permanente is awarding $95,000 grants to both the Alameda County Community Food Bank (ACCFB) and the Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center (TVHC) to help serve the growing number of people in the community who need food assistance, many of whom have lost their jobs because of COVID-19.

The Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center provides medical, dental, and mental health care services to low-income, uninsured, and publicly insured patients in Central and Southern Alameda County. The Kaiser Permanente funding will enable the clinic to offer enrollment assistance to vulnerable populations through promotoras (community health workers), referrals from partner agencies and outreach to its own clients.

The Alameda County Community Food Bank distributes millions of pounds of food each year to 350 agency and distribution partners like food pantries, hot-meal programs, senior centers, and other nonprofits in Alameda County. With the grant, the organization will pilot new virtual processes to safely provide CalFresh enrollment assistance to eligible clients, with an emphasis on reaching households impacted by COVID-19 who may qualify for CalFresh for the first time. ACCFB expects to enroll 7,000 households in CalFresh this year, up from the 4,500 – 5,000 households it typically assists.

The need for food assistance is on the rise throughout Alameda County, and Juan Francisco Orozco, corporate and foundation relations manager at the Alameda County Community Food Bank said support for CalFresh outreach is critical.

“CalFresh gives people the ability to shop for the food they need most,” Orozco said. “The more people enroll and benefit from CalFresh, the better our food bank can extend our food resources throughout the community.”

The two East Bay grants are among 18 grants Kaiser Permanente is awarding to food banks, community clinics, and family resource centers in Northern California to increase enrollment in CalFresh, with an emphasis on outreach to underserved communities. CalFresh helps low income individuals, families, and households to purchase nutritious food, providing up to $204 a month per household member in food benefits.

“The economic downturn caused by COVID-19 has left an estimated 1 in 6 U.S. households at risk of going hungry,” said Edmund Chan, senior vice president and area manager for Kaiser Permanente East Bay Area. “We are proud to support our community partners in enrolling eligible households in CalFresh. We know that the ability to access and afford nutritious food is critical to maintaining good health.”

This fall, Kaiser Permanente also awarded additional grants to support access to healthy food, including:

$200,000 to the California Association of Food Banks to secure state funding for emergency food disaster assistance, distribute 175 million pounds of fresh produce and proteins through the Farm to Family program and increase the CalFresh enrollment rate statewide from 72% to 75% by the end of 2021.

$100,000 to California WIC (Women, Infants and Children) Association to share and support the adoption of innovative practices to ensure WIC benefits are provided to eligible families throughout California.

Kerri Leedy is the public relations and media relations manager for Kaiser Permanente Northern California.

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#NNPA BlackPress

Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

1 week ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

Published

1 week ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

2 weeks ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke