This spring, the California Reinvestment Coalition reported that Californians that participate in CalWorks, the state’s welfare program for families and children, and other public assistance programs lose about $19 million a year to fees charged when they use their state issued EBT cards at most ATMs. The report received a lot of media attention, was shared or recommended on Facebook over 12,000 times, generated 1,000 comments on blogs and news sites and was tweeted over 1,000 times. A petition launched by online activists at DailyKos.Org calling on banks to waive ATM fees for welfare recipients garnered over 40,000 signatures, of which 25,000 were from California residents.
CRC is now working to make sure that the state’s next EBT contract has more free ATM access and helps recipients sign up for direct deposit more easily. The state’s current EBT contract with Xerox is set to expire next year. The California Department of Social Services is beginning the process of identifying the components of a new contract that will be bid out for proposals.
Please join CRC’s EBT Contract Work Group to support this effort. By joining, you will receive our analysis of the current contract and be invited to help us prioritize features that should be included in the new contract and be part of developing a strategy to make these a reality.
