SF-Marin Food Bank Preparing for Sharp Reduction in Federal Support

The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, which has provided food insecure communities with access to nutrition for more than three decades, is facing new challenges amidst severe federal cuts to SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as CalFresh in California. 

The SF-Marin Food Bank, previously a project of the San Francisco Council of Churches, began independent operation in 1987, moving to its Potrero Hill location at 900 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1997. In 2011, the San Francisco Food Bank merged with the Marin Community Food Bank, which significantly increased the amount of food distributed in Marin communities. 

In 2024, the food bank dispersed 67 million pounds of food – upwards of 17 million meals – and served 53,000 households weekly. The nonprofit works with more than 300 partners and 215 pantries in San Francisco and Marin. 

In addition to food distribution, the SF-Marin Food Bank places pantries at schools, community centers, and colleges; offers nutrition education, teaching participants how to prepare low-cost healthy meals and snacks; assists participants with CalFresh enrollment; delivers food to seniors and adults with disabilities; and collaborates with health clinics to connect patients to free food and education. 

According to Governor Gavin Newsom, federal cuts to SNAP, expected to begin in 2028, after U.S. Congressional elections scheduled to take place midway through the Trump Administration, will reduce funding to California by between $2.8 to $5.4 billion annually. This, in turn, could trigger the need for the state to tighten SNAP eligibility and/or reduce SNAP benefits for seniors, people with disabilities, and children. Simultaneously, federal support for Medicaid – known as Medi-Cal – will be reduced by roughly $28 billion. 

“We are very concerned about the impact of cuts to SNAP/CalFresh recipients in San Francisco and Marin,” said Marchon Tatmon, SF-Marin Food Bank Associate Director of Policy and Advocacy. “There are 25,000 households – 14,000 families with children and 11,000 households with older adults – that are at risk to lose benefits as a result of new guidelines for work requirements, time limits on food assistance, paperwork requirements impacting adults 55 to 64, and parents with school-aged children 14 and older… These federal cuts will worsen food insecurity rates that are already at record high levels.”

According to Tatmon, volunteers are critical to the nonprofit’s operations: sorting produce and packing boxes, providing food to participants at food pantries, and delivering groceries to homebound neighbors.