San Francisco leaders announced Friday that $1.65 million raised by the city's tax on sugary beverages will be used to help fund food distribution to communities hit especially hard by COVID-19.
The program will provide funds for the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market to purchase food for community organizations that have been distributing meals, including the Bayview Senior Center and the San Francisco African American Faith-Based Coalition. Funds will also go to the San Francisco Unified School District, which has been distributing meals to students' families.
"The SF Soda Tax was designed to make San Francisco a healthier place for everyone," said Joi Jackson-Morgan and Dr. Jonathan Butler, co-chairs of the advisory committee that makes funding recommendations, in a press release. "We know that the measures we are taking to combat COVID-19, such as sheltering-in-place, mean that many of our neighbors are losing their income and ability to purchase food. We need to bridge this gap immediately."
City officials, including Mayor London Breed, Supervisor Shamann Walton and Malia Cohen, a former supervisor and chair of the state's Board of Equalization, said the program is specifically aimed to support the city's vulnerable low-income residents, seniors and undocumented immigrants, with a focus on the Bayview and Mission neighborhoods. This use of soda tax funds began in May.
The soda tax, approved by voters in 2016, levies a one cent per ounce fee on merchants who sell soda and other drinks that have added sugar. The tax also supports fresh food vouchers, school nutrition programs and physical activity programs.
— Monica Lam (@monicazlam)