The County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA) requests consideration and support for funding to automate Disaster CalFresh eligibility determinations and add related forms and notices and required state reports in the CalACES systems, which will ultimately become the CalSAWS system that will be used by all counties, as part of the 2019-20 budget.

Currently, the Disaster CalFresh process is largely not automated, and counties must manually track applications and outcomes. Automation would eliminate this unfunded workload and also support faster issuance of mass replacement benefits and provide support for cross-county access to enable other counties to more readily assist those impacted by a disaster. As California has faced numerous recent disasters and we unfortunately anticipate will face more in the future, the need for automation improvements has become critical, as manual processes delay and divert county staff who could otherwise be providing direct services to disaster victims.

Download the Disaster CalFresh Automation budget memo – February 21, 2019