California releases over 35,000 individuals from prison, and over 900,000 from jails every year. Each and every one of these individuals should experience a Thriving Transition:

A Thriving Transition includes access to food and other supportive services - and these services must be readied prior to release. 

We applaud the initiative taken by leaders in Orange County.  They have successfully pilot-tested a pre-release process to enroll those transitioning from jails and prisons into CalFresh. CalFresh is the state's largest food program and provides resources for eligible households and individuals to support their nutritional needs, 

We believe that every community should have similar access to CalFresh - the success should be equitably spread beyond Orange County. We believe that everyone transitioning from jails and prisons in California should have access to food.

We, therefore, call on policymakers to support Thriving Transitions across the state. A key first step is extending the pre-release CalFresh pilot statewide by seeking available federal waivers and permissions. Such waivers and permission have already been received in one county - policymakers can direct that they be requested to include all 58 counties in California.

Transitions are hard. Food Helps.