For Immediate Release:
July 1, 2022
Contact:
Marwa Abdelghani
Communications Manager
213-341-0603
CA’s 2022-23 State Budget: A Commitment to Better Serve Children and Families
Yesterday evening, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the final 2022-23 Budget Act, a historic opportunity for the well-being of all Californians. The Children’s Partnership (TCP) is especially grateful that the signed budget includes a number of policies and investments that advance TCP’s child health equity agenda focused on healthy children; strong, economically stable, and well-connected families; and safe and welcoming communities.
“We applaud this state budget and its commitment to supporting our most marginalized families,” said TCP President, Mayra E. Alvarez. “Through critical systemic reforms that make public programs work better for more Californians, families and their children can more easily access the supports they need to be healthy – today and in the future. A healthier California is a stronger one.”
TCP especially celebrates the inclusion of a groundbreaking provision that will secure multi-year continuous health coverage for children in Medi-Cal, ages 0 to 5. Keeping children enrolled in coverage helps ensure critical, early well-child care is undisrupted, especially during a period of major brain development. By removing administrative hurdles for families, the continuous coverage provision chips away at the systemic racism embedded in the Medi-Cal program and increases access to coverage and care for millions of children in California, especially children of color.
Additional whole-child, whole-family investments included in the state budget that are part of our policy agenda include:
- Expansion of Medi-Cal to all income-eligible people regardless of their immigration status (Health4All);
- Recruitment and training for community health workers and promotores to provide preventive services in Medi-Cal;
- Financial supports for children who have lost family members due to COVID-19;
- Increases in funding to support children’s mental health, including the establishment of a peer-to-peer mental health support program in high schools;
- Funding to support and expand Accountable Communities for Health;
- Ongoing additional resources to expand the Black Infant Health program;
- Continuation of the Medi-Cal Health Enrollment Navigators Project;
- Expansion of the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to Californians regardless of immigration status for people 55 and above; and
- Adoption of the Young Child Tax Credit to zero income filers and creation of the Foster Youth Tax Credit.
While there is much to applaud in this budget, more needs to be done to further support the health and well-being of children across our state at each stage of their development. Supporting the mental health of our youngest Californians requires additional dedicated resources to respond to the ongoing detrimental health and economic impacts of the pandemic on families of young children. Additionally, ensuring everyone, no matter their age or immigration status, can access the food supports they need to be healthy remains an essential component of our recovery.
TCP welcomes this year’s budget and the necessary investments and policy changes to improve the health and well-being of children and families. We look forward to continuing to work with the administration and the legislature to further advance our collective vision for a California for all.
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The Children’s Partnership (TCP)
TCP envisions a California where all children—regardless of their race, ethnicity or place of birth—have the resources and opportunities they need to grow up healthy and thrive, and its mission is to advance this vision of child health equity through research, policy and community engagement. Learn more at www.childrenspartnership.org.
