The past year we have seen unprecedented fiscal hardships for individuals, organizations and the State of California. Legislators have made numerous attempts to balance the budget with significantly less revenues, various constituencies requesting that programs are not cut, and taxes are not increased. What a dilemma!

In February, the Legislature proposed a budget that California voters defeated in a special election. As of the date of this writing, a budget deal is close, and it is unclear what the outcome will be. We can assume that many families will be affected in some way by the decisions reached. As of the date of this writing, the California Legislature has reached a budget deal to close the state’s $26 billion budget shortfall. Of the $15 billion in cuts, $9 billion would come from education, $1.3 billion from state-worker furlough’s, and $1.2 billion from the prison system. The state will take away $4.3 billion from local governments by borrowing from them or redirecting funds that had been earmarked for them.

It is the hope of  UACF that this global economic recession will turn around soon, and that families will once again receive the support they need. In the meantime, we can all lean on each other and provide to each other the emotional support to get through these challenging times.