Contra Costa County Agrees to Issue Grocery Debit Cards for 107,000 CalFresh Recipients

On Tuesday, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to declare a local emergency and issued grocery debit cards.

With the 5-0 vote, the county will allocate up to $21 million from the general fund in order to purchase debit cards for distribution to CalFresh eligible households for the month of November 2025 .

The move will assist 65,318 Contra Costa County households, including 107,020 individuals, 55% (58,861) of whom are children and seniors, who are going to be impacted by the Federal Shutdown and Federal government declining to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during the shutdown. SNAP is a 100% federally funded benefit for households with incomes below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). Benefit amounts are based on income and household size. In California, SNAP is called CalFresh.  This program was once known as “Food Stamps.”

Supervisor Shanelle Scales-Preston called it $21 million of one-time money going into the economy and it will have a trickle down effect – it would hurt people who could not only eat, but that was $21 million not going into the economy.

Supervisor Diane Burgis called it a “band aid” for four-weeks because it is not sustainable for the county to fund it at $21 million a month. She said she wanted the community to understand they are trying to do the best they can given their limitations and it’s not something they can do long-term.

“I think this is also a time for us to think about how we can make things spread out,” said Burgis noting she was a single mom with 3-boys.

She called it important to have reserves in the future, but pointed out people needed to eat.

“This is not supplemental food, this is their budget for food,” said Burgis noting a cascading effect as this was the firs symptom was trouble getting fed, then housing and healthcare, safety and getting along.

Supervisor John Goia said it was shameful they were having this conversation but the silver lining was not that they were going to do this, but rather how to fund it and execute it.

“We built up these rainy day reserves and if we are not using them for this than what are they for?” asked Gioia. “We have this sizable reserves and we are telling our residents and we are going to use them to provide dignity and sustainability to your family.”

He added that he hoped this $21 million will help the food banks not get overloaded and intense—if they didn’t provide this funding, more people would be in line at food banks and food distribution facilities around. He was happy to hear funders in the private sector will leaning in, including Chevron who was going to provide $50k in Richmond to purchase food.

The Board of supervisors also pointed out the gift cards will help not only recipients of the funding, but local businesses and help save jobs because folks will be able to continue to go to local stores and shop for food.

According to data in the county presentation, CalFresh Utilization by City in September hit $16.29 million at 705 in-county retailers with another $4.1 million out of county spending and nearly $600k unspent.

Data also shows cities with the most spending include:

• $2.73 million – City of Concord (96 stores)
• $2.18 million – City of Pittsburg (68 stores)
• $2.01 million – City of Richmond (91 stores)
• $1.91 million – City of Brentwood (48 stores)
• $1.26 million – City of San Pablo (46 stores)
• $1.25 million – City of Antioch (43 stores)

The county said the approval will support CalFresh Households by providing services, supports grocery outlets by maintaining sales and supports food collaborative by reducing traffic.

More information will be released, however, the Employment and Human Services Department (EHSD) has developed a plan to distribute debit cards to CalFresh enrollees who live in our County. These debit cards, whose value will be similar to a family’s existing benefit amount, will be distributed soon at a date to be announced at our busiest EHSD lobbies at:

• 1305 MacDonald Ave., City of Richmond
• 151 Linus Pauling Dr., City of Hercules
• 400 Ellinwood Way, City of Pleasant Hill
• 4545 Delta Fair Blvd., City of Antioch

EHSD and the County Sheriff’s Office are partnering to ensure security of debit cards and safety at these locations.

Food boxes for needy families, even those who are not CalFresh enrollees, will be available starting Monday, November 3rd, at these same four locations. Needy families, regardless of immigration status, are welcome to come by. If you need immediate food assistance, visit CAFoodBanks.org. to locate a nearby food bank.

Congressman Mark DeSaulnier Speaks

At the meeting, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier spoke during public comments and was given approximately 16 minutes (see video) to provide an update of what was going on in Washington — and at one point called the people making the decisions “sociopaths” while dropping a Soprano’s reference.

He noted that his District is the 5th wealthiest in the Country but with 700,000 residents, 100,000 people are on SNAP benefits and said they were shifting revenues from “prevention” to “crisis” and its not a good fiscal model and will cause more strain on the health system in the future.

When asked by Supervisor Ken Carlson if the county could potentially be reimbursed through congressional action, DeSaulnier said he couldn’t guarantee it, but said he believed at some point the county could be reimbursed.

Meanwhile, Supervisor Diane Burgis asked DeSaulnier about other crisis such as Covered California and healthcare and what else could come and what they should consider given today’s action was only a band aid for the next 4-weeks.

He urged Contra Costa County to keep what services it has in place for as long as possible and allow congress to fix the issues, but noted “you are on your own with this administration and current leadership”.

County Board of Supervisor Documents:

• Staff Report + Footnotes
• Resolution
• Federal Shutdown CalFresh Impacts (powerpoint)

Previous Stories:

• Nov 3 – $21 Million: Contra Costa County Could Issue Grocery Debit Cards to 107,000 CalFresh Recipients
• Nov 1 – Contra Costa County Set to Support Residents Whose Food Benefits are Being Cut