We are determined to safeguard equality in California. All government agencies, public schools included, must observe the constitutional principle of equal protection and refrain from using taxpayer funds to discriminate on the basis of race. Sadly, in the state’s capital, the Sacramento County Department of Child, Family and Adult Services is blatantly engaging in unconstitutional government discrimination in a parent/child welfare program that excludes parents of White, Asian, Hispanic and Pacific Islander children!

CFER sent Sacramento County and the California Department of Social Services an intent to sue letter last week, urging them to stop the offending Family First Economic Support Pilot (FFESP). Will you help us strengthen our case by identifying low-income parents in eligible areas in Sacramento and asking them to join CFER’s pursuit? Under the FFESP, only low-income “parents/legal guardians caring for Black/African American, American Indian & Alaska Native (Native American) children ages 0-5​” can receive $725 a month for a year.

That is wrong! Non-Black or non-Native-American parents who are struggling financially to raise a young family are excluded from a government welfare project funded by Sacramento taxpayers.

We are serious about challenging this discriminatory program. To be specific, we are looking for parents and legal guardians who:

• Live in these Zip Codes in Sacramento: 95815, 95821, 95823, 95828, 95825 and 965838. They include neighborhoods such as College-Glen, Hagginwood, Old North Sacramento, River Park, Swanston Estates, Sierra Oaks, Ben Ali, Pleasant Grove, Freeport, Vineyard, Florin, Stonehaven, Del Paso Heights, and Robla.
• At the household level, make less than $40,880 (2 people), $51,640 (3 people), $62,400 (4 people), $73,160 (5 people), $83,920 (6 people), $94,680 (7 people), $105,440 (8 people).
• Don’t self-identify as Black/African American, American Indian or Alaska Native.

While we are confident our claim on the FFESP program’s unconstitutionality is meritorious, we must make our case stronger, given a state court system that is not particularly sympathetic to our cause. So, please help CFER fight for equal justice by helping us find those who are being discriminated against by Sacramento County. If you have any lead, let us know promptly by writing to me at wenyuan.wu@cferfoundation.org.

If you don’t have any direct lead, you can still help CFER expand our legal advocacy operations with a generous donation today. With your kind support, we will be able to proactively research and identify more discriminatory programs throughout the state. We can also identify victims of those bad policies whose stories will help strengthen our cases and help us launch legal challenges to defend equality in collaboration with our public interest law partners.

Thank you always!