Over the past couple weeks, the Stand with Women campaign and our allies have been sending letters to California’s legislators. As a result, we are thrilled that that more than 7,000 letters were sent calling for legislators to reject cuts and restructuring to CalWORKS, childcare and cuts to Cal Grants. Over the past week, the Assembly and the Senate have come to agreement about the budget they want to pass. It rejects most cuts and restructuring to CalWORKS and childcare, as well as rejecting cuts to Cal Grants.
Now we need Governor Brown to pass the Legislature’s budget. Time is of the essence. Please send a letter to the Governor calling on him to pass the Legislature’s budget.
He needs to hear from us because recent articles and statements from Governor Brown show that he is pushing for further cuts and restructuring to CalWORKS. For example, he is pushing to reduce the amount of time that people can stay on CalWORKS from 4 years to 2. The problem is that in a tough economy with high unemployment already, it is unlikely that many of the people who transitioning off CalWORKS will be able to find work. Now is not the time to make any more cuts to CalWORKS.
“We have 2 million people out of work in California, we don’t have 2 million jobs available,” Speaker John Pérez said in the article you can find below. “It is inefficient and quite frankly foolish to invest in training for jobs that don’t exist.” See California Democrats ready to send Gov. Jerry Brown a budget that rejects $1 billion cuts for more insight into what’s happening now with the budget.
For related articles on how CalWorks, childcare and Cal Grants makes a difference for Californians, see below:
Hearing on Innovative Revenue Options
Former Marine Testifies About CalWorks and Childcare
CalWORKS and Childcare – a Hand Up, Not a Hand Out
CalWORKS and Childcare — A road out of poverty
Stand with women like Magali Sanchez Hall