Dear Food Bankers,

Mayor London Breed has just announced her proposed two-year City and County of San
Francisco budget. The Food Bank is profoundly disappointed to learn that Mayor Breed did not
prioritize food security in her proposed budget. For FY24, Mayor Breed has only allotted a total
of $20 million in funding resources for all grocery programs — down from $30 million in FY23.

What this means for us:

Critically important is that our Food Bank's citywide grocery contract

will be reduced to $6 million for FY24 — down from $10 million this year. Mayor Breed has
slashed the City's overall food security program budget even further for FY25 to $10 million.
More deeply concerning, she has recommended zero funding ($0) for our Food Bank in FY25. 

We vehemently disagree with Mayor Breed's budgetary decisions that will exacerbate the
hunger crisis, leave tens of thousands without access to food and will require the Food Bank
and our community partners to drastically reduce the quality and quantity of service for those
who desperately need help.

With the Covid-19 public health emergency being declared to be over, once robust government
resources allocated to address public needs are ending. We recognize the severity of the City's
budget deficit and the tough choices that the Mayor's Office and Board of Supervisors must
make. However, the stark reality is the current hunger crisis will only worsen, if local resources
are not prioritized to prevent the Food Bank and its community partners from having to reduce
critical anti-hunger services that serve thousands of low-income San Franciscans. 

This municipal budget process is far from over. There are months before the City's budget is
finalized. The majority of the public process begins June 1 with the release of Mayor Breed's
proposed budget. Throughout June and July, the Board of Supervisors reviews it, hears public
comments, and has the power to revise the budget. Throughout this period, we will strongly
advocate for the Board of Supervisors to restore these critical resources to ensure stability to
the City's food security safety net. We conducted a similar outreach campaign last year when
Mayor Breed also cut funding for anti-hunger programs. And we will continue to provide updates
on the progress of our advocacy. Last year, the contracting process also went into August
before we knew our budget allocations.   

Because of persistent inflationary costs and donor fatigue, we are again budgeting an $8 million
deficit for FY23. We will begin next fiscal year starting July 1 with $12 million in emergency
reserves, but that will not fill the full gap the Mayor’s budget leaves. We must be strategic in
moving forward. Our private contributions have more than doubled since the pandemic, but we
are spending five times the amount of food compared to before the pandemic. Continued
government support is fundamental to our operations, serving our participants and addressing
the hunger crisis we face. 
What’s Next?

While we won’t know the final city budget allocation for several weeks, our reality is that we are
impacted by forces we cannot control, like inflation or what Mayor Breed chooses to do with San
Francisco's budget. But we can control how we innovate, problem-solve, and transition from
crisis response to financial sustainability and transformation, as outlined in our strategic
roadmap. We can control how we support food access with the best high-quality menu possible
at the lowest cost.

And we can, and we will remain focused on our mission, pursuing it together and always in
alignment with equity, prioritizing our staff and moving forward with the guiding compass of our
values.

Looking ahead, we will continue to provide the community with timely updates on our advocacy
efforts, including how staff who are San Francisco residents may be able to assist our efforts.
Additionally, we’ve created an FAQ document attached to address questions you may have. I
encourage you to share other questions you may have in this anonymous padlet.

Your commitment to our mission is deeply appreciated, and we will have more updates to share
in the coming weeks, with the next one planned for mid-June.

In partnership,

-Tanis

Tanis Crosby
She/Her/Hers
Executive Director
San Francisco-Marin Food Bank
415-282-1900, ext. 229
www.sfmfoodbank.org