Jamestown, CA — Tuolumne County has finalized an agreement to provide $150,000 in CalRecycle grant funding to the ATCAA Food Bank.
This funding supports California Senate Bill 1383, which mandates a 20% reduction in edible food waste sent to landfills.
California Senate Bill 1383 requires jurisdictions to reduce organic waste disposal and rescue surplus edible food. It was also recently brought up at a Tuolumne County Business Council meeting, as reported here. While the new requirements have been implemented in many parts of California, Tuolumne County, like many other rural areas, currently has a waiver through the end of the year.
To help local jurisdictions comply, the State offers funding through its CalRecycle grant program. According to CalRecycle, “Feeding hungry people through food recovery is the best use for surplus food and a vital way for California to conserve resources and reduce waste thrown in landfills.”
Public Works Assistant Director Deborah Reagan oversees the County’s jurisdictional requirements under Senate Bill 1383. The Solid Waste Division has an on-going relationship with the ATCAA Food Bank and already had several small infrastructure improvement projects in the planning phase to increase capacity at the facility. Following a presentation to the Board of Supervisors at a January meeting by ATCAA Executive Director Joseph Bors, Reagan sought and received approval from CalRecycle to allocate existing grant funds to support ATCAA Food Bank personnel costs.
“ATCAA is a vital partner in recovering edible food in Tuolumne County,” said Reagan. “The County’s compliance requirements changed after we were awarded this grant in 2024, and I saw an opportunity to redirect funds to this urgent need.”
“This could not have come at a better time,” said Bors. “These funds will go directly toward labor costs for the Food Bank.” He noted that the Food Bank has been operating under significant financial strain. While it awaits its anticipated 2025 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocation, staff hours have been reduced despite spending down reserves and receiving strong support from the community, Adventist Health, and the Sonora Area Foundation last fall.
While the financial situation is improving over the short-term horizon, there are still long-term uncertainties. “The federal government has recently stated that it will not be supporting social services like Food Banks in CDBG award years 2026 and 2027,” said Bors—a resource the Food Bank has relied upon for many years. “That is going to be a challenge for us and for food banks throughout the nation, and we’re working diligently to fill an otherwise reliable funding gap for 2027 and possibly beyond.”
