Fact Sheet California’s Health Care Safety Net By Shannon McConville, Shalini Mustala May 26, 2023 Millions of low-income Californians rely on the health care safety net. More than 15 million are enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program; about 3 million are uninsured. Core providers—including county hospitals, health clinics, and emergency departments—treat patients regardless of their ability to pay or their immigration status.
blog post California’s Farmworkers and Their Children Are Vulnerable to Food Insecurity By Paulette Cha Apr 25, 2023 Farmworkers—90% of whom are immigrants—have access to a patchwork of food assistance programs. For many, this patchwork does not include all of the nutritional safety net programs that help reduce poverty across the state.
Report Land Transitions and Dust in the San Joaquin Valley By Andrew Ayres, Jaymin Kwon, Joy Collins Jul 20, 2022 Agricultural operations and wind erosion are two of the largest sources of dust in the San Joaquin Valley, and the valley’s air quality may decline with increased farmland fallowing and a warmer, drier climate. This will impact low-income, rural communities first and foremost, but proactive management can help identify high-risk areas and direct funding to cost-effective interventions.
Report Health Care Access among California’s Farmworkers By Paulette Cha Apr 25, 2022 Farmworkers are a key link in the food supply chain and important contributors to California’s economy. As farmworkers age, their health care needs are changing—and cost and lack of insurance are often barriers to care. While recent state and federal policies have made insurance more accessible, not all policies improved coverage among farmworkers.
page COVID-19 Mar 1, 2020 The coronavirus outbreak poses a tremendous challenge to California, the nation, and the global community. PPIC’s analyses examine the impacts of COVID-19 and how policy choices and other actions can help address them.
Fact Sheet Public Preschools in California By Caroline Danielson, Tess Thorman Apr 22, 2019 Most parents of young children work, but public preschool programs are fragmented and currently unable to serve all who are eligible. Improvements will require a multipronged approach.
blog post Improving Special Education in California By Paul Warren, Laura Hill Sep 25, 2018 More accountability could improve inequities in special education funding in California.
blog post Debate over How Special Education Is Funded By Laura Hill, Patrick Murphy, Paul Warren Apr 18, 2017 A series of meetings demonstrated the difficulty of improving special education in this large and diverse state.
Report Improving California Children’s Participation in Nutrition Programs By Caroline Danielson, Sarah Bohn Dec 12, 2016 Food and nutrition assistance programs help children gain access to adequate amounts of nutritious food—reducing child hunger and food insecurity as well as promoting healthy development. Yet in California, enrollment varies widely across counties and across the main nutrition programs that serve children: CalFresh, popularly known as food stamps; the WIC program, which serves infants and preschool-age children; and school meals, which include lunch and often other meals. Increasing children’s enrollment in CalFresh and achieving healthier outcomes for Californians are priorities for the state. The governor’s January 2016 budget set a goal of enrolling 400,000 more eligible children in CalFresh over two years. This report assesses children’s eligibility for CalFresh and eligible children’s participation in the three main nutrition programs to explore opportunities for improving enrollment and the benefits of higher enrollment. Key findings include: CalFresh has lower enrollment than free school meals and WIC. In 2015, 24 percent of all California children participated in CalFresh, while more than twice as many age-eligible children (51%) were enrolled in free school meals; 44 percent of infants and 34 percent of young children were enrolled in WIC. There is substantial potential to expand the impact of nutrition programs. We estimate that if all CalFresh-eligible children were fully enrolled in both CalFresh and either free school meals or WIC, these programs would reach 1.6 million more children. Infants and young children are better connected to nutrition programs. Among CalFresh-eligible children, we find that 12 percent of public school students participate in neither CalFresh nor free school meals—more than a quarter million school children (331,000). In contrast, only 4 percent of infants (21,000) and 9 percent of young children (87,000) are disconnected from both CalFresh and WIC. Higher participation in nutrition programs would lower child poverty. Among public school students living in poverty, we project that full participation in nutrition programs would increase family resources by 15 percent. Among infants and young children living in poverty, we project that family resources would increase by 9 percent following full participation in nutrition programs. To some extent, lower CalFresh enrollment reflects more restrictive eligibility requirements. However, there is good reason to believe that more children participating in free school meals and WIC could be connected to CalFresh. Currently, most policies designed to integrate nutrition programs run from CalFresh to school meals. Building robust, two-way connections could help counties and the state better achieve the goals of these programs so more children have access to adequate, nutritious food.
Report Special Education Finance in California By Laura Hill, Patrick Murphy, Paul Warren, Iwunze Ugo Nov 28, 2016 California's extensive special education system is costly and complex. By giving districts greater flexibility over special education funding, the state can strengthen transparency, accountability, and local control. This research was supported with funding from the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation and the Stuart Foundation.
