The California Healthy Food Financing Initiative would create an exciting and important opportunity for California to leverage funding from federal and philanthropic efforts, as well as from financial institutions, to support a range of healthy food retail development, and simultaneously create and retain jobs and help improve neighborhood economic conditions

California: SB 194 addresses the inequities in "entitlement communities" by ensuring that low-income residents have a meaningful role in the process of determining how CDBG dollars are spent, ensuring that outreach is done to solicit applications from disadvantaged communities, and by instructing entitlement communities to consider and prioritize the needs of disadvantaged communities when distributing their CDBG technical assistance resources.

California: Disadvantaged communities, particularly those in unincorporated areas and rural areas, frequently lack even the most basic infrastructure. Sidewalks, storm drains, stoplights and other similar infrastructure may be missing or in disrepair. Safe Routes to School is a successful statewide program for improving the infrastructure, outreach, and education necessary to get more children walking and biking safely to and from school.

California: Assembly Bill 853 (Sponsored by Assembly Member Arambula) would help residents of disadvantaged, unincorporated island and fringe communities that lack basic infrastructure, petition their Board of Supervisors to initiate an application for annexation on behalf of their community.

For decades, too many low-income communities of color have lacked a local grocery store or other healthy food outlet. Some of these communities instead have been plagued by an overabundance of fast food restaurants and convenience stores, while others have had no nearby food outlets at all. The results of this lack of healthy food options are grim, both economically and nutritionally.

The Promise Neighborhoods program is one of the most innovative and exciting federal efforts to combat poverty and lift up millions of poor children. But it won’t succeed without your help. Tell Senate leaders to fully fund the Promise Neighborhoods program.