California’s $24 billion budget deficit and the cuts being proposed in by Governor Schwarzenegger are of much concern to the folks at St. Anthony’s. While St. Anthony’s does not accept any government funding for it’s programs and services the impact will be felt hard here. Our guests will have less support in their communities and our programs and their staff will serve even more people to make up for the closure of near by services.

One program we’re already seeing a demand for is Father Alfred Center, our year-long drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. Many of the men who come to Father Alfred Center for help are participating in Proposition 36, the 2001 California voter approved law that defers first time drug offenders to substance abuse treatment instead of prison.

Yesterday the Budget Conference Committee in Sacramento voted to stop funding Prop 36 entirely. If approved by the Assembly and State Senate many programs that are qualified to provide treatment will close.

This does not mean that those first time offenders would go to prison instead as Prop 36 is not a program, but a California law. This prevents judges from placing first time offenders in prison as they must defer to treatment.  If this cut is approved it would mean they would neither receive treatment or prison.

Those unable to pay for treatment themselves will have to wait in even longer lines, longer than the three months many are waiting now. Many will die of addictive illness while waiting to get help.

We’ve recently added more beds to Father Alfred Center in preparation, but it won’t make up for all the other beds in programs that could possibly close.

Mark Leno took advantage of his place on the budget conference committee to propose eliminating the costly finger imaging system through the budget process rather than through the legislative process. The removal of the finger imaging system will take place if Governer Shwartzenegger signs off on the budget in the next few weeks.

It seems that two solid weeks of hearings about devistating cuts to health and human services prepared the Budget Conference Committee to make the decision it made today – to get rid of the costly and inefficient finger imaging system as a way to help balance the budget without restricting Californians’ access to the social service programs they need now more than ever!

Mandatory finger imaging for food stamp recipants was put in place by legislation in 1996 but did not get implemented statewide until 2000. Even though the legislation did not include it, SFIS takes a photograph in addition to a finger image. The process, designed to deter welfare fraud, created detering barriers to many low-income Californians who qualified for food stamps.

If you tell Barbara Coleman that there is a bill coming up in Congress that relates to poverty or hunger, her first response is, “When do we go? I need to talk to those people.”

As a formerly homeless woman who has fought many battles with poverty, hunger, and homelessness, Barbara felt that the story of her survival fell on deaf ears at many of the places she turned to for help. But she knew that her story was representative of so many around her — people who were struggling to piece together enough food to eat for a day, a safe place to sleep for the night, or medical care when they become ill. In working with St. Anthony’s Advocacy Program, Barbara has learned that her story is important for policy makers and other advocates to hear.

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