Amid a federal government shutdown that threatens food assistance benefits, the San Mateo Board of Supervisors approved nearly $900,000 on Tuesday morning to help purchase and distribute food over the next year.
The funds will be disbursed to the county’s eight core service agencies to address a food insecurity crisis in the area that has been exacerbated by federal funding cuts and rising food prices. Funding will be used to purchase food during the holiday season and through next year.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Monday that the federal government shutdown will likely delay November federal food assistance benefits for programs such as CalFresh. County officials said 35,000 San Mateo County residents are recipients of CalFresh, the state’s name for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, sometimes known as food stamps.
County officials and community leaders held a press conference Tuesday afternoon to announce the county’s funding. The funding will use revenue from Measure K, a half-cent sales tax levied by the county to provide limited-term critical service needs.
“As these benefits collapse, the ripple effects will be built across grocery stores, families, children and seniors,” said Claire Cunningham, San Mateo County’s director of the human services agency, at the press conference. Cunningham noted that the federal government distributes around $6.5 million in CalFresh assistance benefits to San Mateo county residents each month.
Leaders at the press conference also issued a call to action for community members to support local food banks and assistance programs to ensure that county residents do not go hungry.
Laura Bent, CEO of the Samaritan House, said that service workers and seniors could be disproportionately affected by the disruptions to CalFresh. Samaritan House is an organization that provides food, housing, and health services in the county.
Bent shared the story of a Samaritan House client named Cynthia Bell Whittle, a county resident who has struggled with homelessness and the death of her son. Bell Whittles stretches the $152 a month she receives in food assistance with support from Samaritan House to feed herself and the two grandchildren she is raising. Bent asked for the support of the community, by either volunteering or donating to Samaritan House or other food banks, to make sure that people like Bell Whittle remain fed and healthy.
Leslie Bacho, CEO of the food bank Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, noted that the organization currently serves 500,000 people per month in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Second Harvest has experienced significant federal funding cuts this year, resulting in a shortage of staples like milk, eggs and chicken. Bacho said that around one in six people in these two counties are making use of Second Harvest.
“Even though we live in this incredibly wealthy community, we actually have a food insecurity crisis here in Silicon Valley,”she said. Bacho said community members can help by donating or volunteering with Second Harvest or urging their congress members to end the federal shutdown.
The One Big Beautiful Bill, passed by the federal government and signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, could also impact CalFresh by increasing work requirements for many recipients and creating eligibility restrictions for some lawfully-present immigrants. These changes could result in thousands of county residents losing food assistance or seeing reduced benefits, which could put further pressure on local food banks, officials at the press conference said.
“It’s easy to feel like [federal policy change] is something that is happening far away in Washington,” Bacho said. “But of course, that is having a tremendous impact on our neighbors right here at home.”
