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Counties to Provide Advance Payment of CalFresh During Government Shutdown

Santa Clara County, Alameda County and other counties around the state will advance CalFresh benefits for February starting Tuesday in an effort to ensure that the most vulnerable residents of the county receive the food support they need without interruption during government shutdown.

“CalFresh clients will continue to need food and adequate nutrition, despite the federal government shutdown. This is a basic need,” Santa Clara County Executive Jeffrey V. Smith, M.D. JD, said in a statement.

The department asked households to budget their benefits to ensure they have funds available to buy food in the month of February.

If the government shutdown goes into March, there will be no funding for SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, meaning no food stamp funding, no Women Infants and Children (WIC) assistance. School lunch programs could also be affected.

Anyone who is hungry or food insecure, as a result of a gap in their CalFresh benefits, is encouraged to call the Food Connection hotline at 1-800-984-3663 or text "GETFOOD" to 1-408-455-5181, officials said.

Other public benefits such as CalWORKs, Cash Assistance for Immigrants, General Assistance, Foster Care, and Medi-Cal programs are not impacted, according to Santa County officials.

Some 800,000 federal workers have stopped receiving a paycheck during the longest government shutdown in history. Click here to see an overview of some companies offering relief to workers impacted by the shutdown.

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