Inland Empire Residents Rally Against Poverty

A crowd of about 30 residents, service recipients and service providers gathered on the steps of San Bernardino City Hall on Friday, Jan. 9 advocating against poverty as part of a five-city rally effort throughout the state that day. The rallies followed Governor Jerry Brown’s proposal of a $113 million budget that will include a surplus in the general fund, announced Friday. “This carefully balanced budget builds for the future by saving money, paying down debt and investing in our state’s core needs,” Gov. Brown said in a release. But advocates in San Bernardino shouted for "a fair budget now" and called on Brown to support a state budget that would help seniors, people with disabilities and low-income families out of poverty through restoring the Cost of Living Adjustment to the State Supplemental Payment Program (SSP), passing a Senate bill that would repeal the CalWORKs Maximum Family Grant rule and increasing funding for subsidized childcare. A U.S. census report, The Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2013, published in October 2014, shows that under an alternative method calculated by the Census Bureau which takes into account broader measures of income and the cost of living, 8.9 million of California's 38 million residents live in poverty. In San Bernardino County, per capita income for 2012 through 2013 was $21,332 compared to the state average of $29,527, with the median household income between 2009 and 2013 being $54,090 - below the state average of $61,094. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau also shows in San Bernardino County 18.7 percent of people were below the poverty level between 2009 and 2013, a higher rate from the state average for those years of 15.9 percent. "I don't have child care for my son," said Rosie Flores, a member of California Partnership who spoke at the rally. "I go to school full time. I work. I still don't have enough help to take care of my son." Having been formerly incarcerated and a member of All of Us or None, a grassroots civil-rights organization that advocates for the rights of currently and formerly incarcerated people, Flores said she knows firsthand the struggles families with jailed parents face. "So many people are getting out of jail and they have children, and they're trying to be better parents for their children and give them better opportunities for life," Flores said. She advocated for the passage of Senate Bill 23, which would repeal the maximum family grant rule in the CalWORKs program - which provides cash aid and services to needy California families who meet certain eligibility requirements. Currently, the number of needy persons in the same family is not increased for any child born into a family that has received continuous aid from CalWORKs for 10 months prior to the child's birth. Ruthee Goldkorn, a Moreno Valley resident and the chair of the California Democratic Party's Disabilities Caucus, said the group was speaking up on behalf of what she called "the zero percent." "'Occupy' spoke of the one percent. No one speaks of the zero percent: the under-served, the under-represented, the under-housed, the under-fed, the under bridges," Goldkorn said. She said state cuts to social security and the State Supplemental Payment Program (SSP) were "narrow-minded and heartless." "Taking away the financial floor that gives food, clothing and services is narrow-minded and heartless," Goldkorn said, eliciting shouts from the crowd in agreement. Dianey Murillo of the Inland Empire Immigrant Youth Coalition urged the governor to pass the Health for All Act and expand health insurance coverage to those denied Medi-Cal. "There is a high need for Health for All," Murillo said, citing a survey done by the IEIYC over the summer that aimed to gauge how many residents who don't qualify for Medi-Cal are in need of health coverage. "This needs to be put back on the desk and pushed." Goldkorn also pushed for the governor to fulfill promises he made to restore service cuts to residents. "In elementary school, we learned a golden rule: a promise is a promise, and it must be kept."