SNAP payments resume, but Alameda County households struggle with shutdown's lingering effects

"With the government shutdown over, school communities will grapple in the coming weeks with the upheaval and uncertainty the 43-day shutdown caused. Students from preschool to college were affected by the loss of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the federal program that helps feed low-income families. In addition, schools were left without guidance for helping students with disabilities, homeless students, and children of migrant farmworkers after many U.S. Department of Education employees were laid off."

"Even as the shutdown ends, it is unclear how long it will take for funding to flow and for employees to resume their usual activities. I don't think anything goes back to normal after such a long shutdown, said Barbara Duffield, executive director of SchoolHouse Connection, a national homeless advocacy organization. You can imagine if you were out of work for many days, you wouldn't just come back in and everything would be just as you left it."

"There was so much need during the shutdown that pantries and food distribution sites ran out of food at some community colleges and school districts. Andrew Crispin, executive director of the Berkeley Food Network, told Berkeleyside that there was a noticeable surge in requests for food assistance toward the end of October. They served over 700 Alameda County households or about 3,000 people at the pantry in one day during the shutdown, he said."

The 43-day federal government shutdown halted SNAP benefits, affecting students from preschool to college and nearly 2 million children statewide who rely on CalFresh. Many U.S. Department of Education employees were laid off, leaving schools without guidance for students with disabilities, homeless students, and children of migrant farmworkers. Funding flow and employee resumption remain uncertain. School communities scrambled to get food to families as pantries and distribution sites ran out at some community colleges and districts. Community food programs experienced surges in demand, with one pantry serving over 700 households—about 3,000 people—in a single day.

Read at www.berkeleyside.org