Pasadena lawyer praises California budget plan and calls for further action – Pasadena Now

Shimica Gaskins, a Pasadena-based activist fighting child poverty, praised California’s new budget deal while calling for more measures to support vulnerable families.

Gaskins, president and CEO of GRACE & End Child Poverty California (ECPCA), praised the 2024-25 state budget agreement announced by Governor Gavin Newsom and state leaders for preserving key anti-poverty programs despite a significant deficit.

“With this budget, we are putting our values ​​first and making difficult decisions that prioritize the most vulnerable Californians,” Gaskins said in a statement from GRACE headquarters in Pasadena.

The agreement will continue to provide funding for programs that support Californians experiencing poverty, including cash grants, child care, food assistance and medical care.

Gaskins pointed out that these programs disproportionately benefit black and brown populations, as well as immigrant and indigenous communities, who are often hit hardest by rising costs of basic necessities.

She highlighted key provisions in the budget, including protected core cash grants under the CalWORKS and SSI/SSP programs, support for healthy school meals, and implementation of the new federal Summer EBT food assistance program.

The Pasadena attorney emphasized the budget’s role in preventing “permanent and irreversible harm to children living in poverty” and setting a new standard for protecting the social safety net in times of budget deficits.

But Gaskins also pointed to disappointing elements of the agreement, including delaying the expansion of the Food For All program for older adults regardless of immigration status until 2027 and missing an opportunity to continue pilot projects of the federal CalWORKS program with family-focused changes.

Gaskins pushed for further measures to make California’s tax system fairer and called on wealthy corporations to pay their fair share.

While Gaskins acknowledged that the budget was constrained by limited resources, he stressed how important it was to maintaining progress and preventing devastating cuts to anti-poverty initiatives.

As leader of GRACE & ECPCA, Pasadena-based organizations working to end child poverty in California, Gaskins pledged to continue working with stakeholders to build on the budget’s actions.

Her goal, she explained, remains to create a California where every child is valued and free from poverty.