For Zuri Crawford, the last few weeks have been an emotional whirlwind, going from fear to frustration to now partial relief.
Crawford, a 20-year-old single mother and student at Riverside City College, relies on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to buy food for herself and her young son. Earlier this week, he prepared for the possibility that, due to the federal shutdown, he would not receive the $445 that is normally loaded on his state-issued debit card on the sixth day of each month.
“I really feel like I'm going to burn out. I feel like it's going to be hard for me because I'm a single mom,” she said on a recent afternoon. “I have to keep going, but I'll be overwhelmed.”
On Thursday, however, Crawford was surprised to learn that the $445 payment had appeared on her card. Shortly after, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that, thanks to a court victory, “food benefits are beginning to return to California families,” at least temporarily.
Crawford is one of approximately 5.5 million statewide who rely on this food assistance, known in California as CalFresh, and one of 42 million people nationwide. In recent weeks, this group has been caught in the crosshairs of a political battle that has moved from Congress to the courts amid a federal shutdown that has now lasted more than five weeks.
Early Friday, two federal judges had ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use billions of dollars in contingency funds to continue supporting SNAP, which is why Crawford and many others across the country received their full benefits Thursday. On Friday, the Trump administration asked a federal appeals court to block one of those orders. The appeals court let the order stand, and then on Friday night the Trump administration managed to persuade the Supreme Court to block the court rulings and, at least temporarily, withhold food benefits for millions of Americans.
Many recipients in California are already receiving their payments, but Friday night's legal drama may heighten their anxieties. Many were already improvising and may have to do it again.
Crawford carries food purchased with gift cards provided by Riverside City College.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
In Crawford's case, she's already juggling college studies, working shifts as an UberEats driver, and caring for her 1-year-old son. When she found out her food aid would be delayed this month, she made a plan: She would drop two classes and then work more as a caregiver so she and her son could afford to eat. You would use that money to supplement the support you receive from your school and community.
Even with food assistance, she relies on food pantries for items like canned ravioli, Rice-a-Roni and frozen dinners for the last two weeks of the month.
Single-parent families could be especially affected by delays in maintenance benefits. Nationally, single adults represent nearly two-thirds (62%) of all SNAP households with children, according to the USDA. In California, almost a quarter of working single parents (23.2%) are in poverty, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
Households headed by single mothers are especially vulnerable amid a widening gender wage gap and rising costs of education, housing and child care, said Jesseca Boyer, vice president of policy and strategic initiatives at the Women's Policy Research Institute. “All of those factors require a single mother to stretch her already limited dollars even further,” she said.
In the Bay Area city of Mountain View, Abigail Villavicencio typically receives between $500 and $700 each month loaded onto her CalFresh cards, she said. He relies on his fluctuating income delivering food for apps like Uber Eats. A single mother of three, she first qualified for SNAP in 2021 and was then able to stretch the money to cover food for an entire month.
“But for the last year, it hasn't been enough. I spent $500 in two weeks. I noticed the prices were going up,” she said, and her weekly grocery trip now often costs between $200 and $300. “I have two weeks in which I have to decide what to do.”
Villavicencio said she augments her profits by collecting donated food at her son's school twice a month.
The past few weeks have been particularly painful, he said, as he sees commentators on social media deriding food stamp recipients as “lazy.” He notes that he has to show his bank accounts every six months to qualify for CalFresh. For the past three years, she has been home with her twin daughters while they receive intensive behavioral therapy for autism.
The news of the delay in SNAP benefits destroyed his carefully calibrated eating plan. He dipped into his savings for the last trip to the supermarket and bought enough to prepare meals that he could sell to construction workers to earn a few extra dollars.
Now that her twin daughters are in kindergarten, she has also been looking for a more consistent job, but it has been a challenge, she said, to find one that allows her to drop off and pick up her children from school.
Crawford holds her dog Bear and fears losing her SNAP benefits due to the federal government shutdown. “I really feel like I'm going to burn out. I feel like it's going to be hard for me because I'm a single mom,” she said on a recent afternoon. “I have to keep going, but I'll be overwhelmed.”
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
As for Crawford, he said he experienced “trauma after trauma” while growing up, bouncing between homes in Los Angeles and Riverside counties. She has sought stability since becoming a teenage mother to her son, whom she affectionately calls Baby Z.
She is in her second semester at Riverside City College, where she is taking prerequisite courses to pursue a career in nursing. She earns “little to nothing” driving for Uber Eats, she said, “but it's enough to at least put gas in my tank.”
Without financial support from her family or partner, she relies on a series of government programs.
Two months ago, she, her son and her furry white dog Bear moved into a one-bedroom apartment she obtained through a county housing program for the homeless. She uses the nearly $900 a month she receives through CalWorks, a state welfare program, to cover her rent, utilities and phone bill. Along with CalFresh, you receive a monthly allotment of healthy foods through the Women, Infants and Children program.
She said she is also sustained by her Christian faith. He attends Bible studies regularly and uses a portion of his food budget to prepare meals for the homeless.
On Wednesday afternoon, inside the university's Basic Needs Resource Center, Crawford filled a black basket with peanut butter, jelly, oatmeal, a can of pozole and hygiene products. While students can typically access the pantry every two weeks, they can collect staples once a week during the closure, one volunteer explained.
Crawford is in her second semester at Riverside City College, where she is taking prerequisite courses to pursue a career in nursing.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
like a community college student and single parent receiving public assistanceYou are also eligible for additional support, including food vouchers and grocery gift cards.
Now that SNAP recipients are becoming pawns in the shutdown fight, she said she is grateful for public assistance, which she sees as a “springboard” to a more financially secure life.
“It's not my fault that I was born into the family I was born into,” he said later that day, as he sliced and seasoned chicken and steamed vegetables for an inexpensive meal. “I can't control that. But what I can control is my outcome. And I know that if I keep working hard, if I keep persevering through all the difficulties, I'll be fine.”
Crawford brings groceries to her apartment in Riverside.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Until Thursday, both Villavicencio and Crawford were preparing for tough times. The Mountain View mother was worried about telling her children about a diminished Thanksgiving this year. Crawford was figuring out how to improvise even more and use his food budget wisely.
Both women were relieved that, on the sixth day of the month, their benefits had been fully replenished.
“Now I can breathe,” Villavicencio said Friday.
“I'm very shocked,” Crawford added, laughing. “I feel relieved. I just feel happy.”
This article is part of The Times. equity reporting initiative, financed by the James Irvine Foundationexploring the challenges low-income workers face and the efforts being made to address them. California's economic division.
