The CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT program is a great success – but was forced to end because its funding ran out ahead of schedule.

This program provides 75,000 CalFresh participants with up to $60/month in rebates when they buy fresh fruits and vegetables with their CalFresh benefits. The program provides a total of $2 million in food assistance across the state each month. These benefits have been so popular that the funding for it has run out far faster than anticipated.

We need the legislature and governor to include at least $30M in the state budget to keep the program going and help more California families. That’s only 0.015% of the overall state budget.

This program is cost-effective, efficient, and critical. At a time of tight budgets – for both the state and millions of Californians – it’s an investment that is absolutely worth continuing.