Government Benefits Available to California Citizens

CalFresh (formerly known as Food Stamps) is an entitlement program that provides monthly benefits to assist low-income households in purchasing the food they need to maintain adequate nutritional levels. In general, these benefits are for any food or...

CalWORKs is a welfare program that gives cash aid and services to eligible needy California families. The program serves all 58 counties in the state and is operated locally by county welfare departments. If a family has little or no cash and needs h...

Head Start is a Federal program that promotes the school readiness of children from birth to age five from low-income families by enhancing their cognitive, social, and emotional development. Head Start programs provide a learning environment that su...

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Block Grant is funded by the Federal Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and provides two basic types of services. Eligible low-income persons, via local governmental and nonprofit org...

Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid health care program. This program pays for a variety of medical services for children and adults with limited income and resources. Medi-Cal is supported by Federal and state taxes. Medi-Cal is a large program made u...

The United States Department of Agriculture provides funding to support five school meal and milk programs to assist schools, districts, and other non-profit agencies in providing nutritious meals and milk to children at reasonable prices or free to ...

The California Special Milk Program is a Federally funded program which assists schools and other agencies in providing milk to children at reasonable prices. For children, the Special Milk Program provides a nutritious beverage, rich in calcium and ...

The California Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides supplemental foods, nutrition education and referrals to health care, at no cost, to low-income pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum women, infant...

The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is a Federally-funded program that reimburses sponsors for administrative and operational costs for providing meals to children 18 years of age and younger during periods when they are out of school for fifteen ...

Unemployment insurance benefits provide temporary financial assistance to workers unemployed through no fault of their own who meet California's eligibility requirements....

The Department of Energy, Weatherization Assistance Program (DOE WAP) has long served as the core program for delivering energy conservation services to low-income Californians. The Weatherization Assistance Program reduces the heating and cooling co...