COVID-19: Food Insecurity
Food Research & Action Center’s Transition Recommendations: “This is the Time to Heal in America,” and It Begins With Addressing Hunger, FRAC, December 7, 2020
FRAC’s transition recommendations provide a roadmap for the Biden-Harris Administration to address hunger in America. It sets forth the harms of food insecurity, summarizes the strengths of the federal nutrition programs, and includes high-priority recommendations for administrative and legislative asks that need to be taken to reduce hunger and poverty.
Families Need More ‘Food Assistance’ to Help Them Prepare for the Next COVID Wave: FRAC President on Food insecurity, Yahoo Finance Live, December 2, 2020
According to Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) President Luis Guardia, “One of the things that we’ve been calling for quite some time throughout the summer has been a boost — a boost in the SNAP maximum benefit by 15 percent. This is in line with what we saw during the last Great Recession in 2008 [and] 2009 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”
How to Save 100,000 Lives, Sojourners, December 3, 2020
Over Thanksgiving Day, news of record lines at food pantries and feeding centers across the country brought even greater urgency to the need for immediate political action. FRAC estimates that some 26–29 million (11 percent) of U.S. adults suffer from very low food security, meaning they sometimes or often do not have enough to eat. This is nearly three times the number of adults who didn’t have enough to eat in 2018.
Census survey reveals COVID-19’s devastating impact in Missouri, Missouri Independent, December 4, 2020
In this opinion piece, Empower Missouri’s Director of Policy & Organizing Jeanette Mott Oxford, points to the latest Census survey that finds 40.8 percent of Missouri households report losing income since March and families with children under 18 have been especially impacted, with 51.4 percent reporting income loss. The House of Representatives has risen to the occasion, passing a robust package of aid in the HEROES Act way back in May. But the U.S. Senate has not shown a similar appreciation for the urgent nature of our national public health emergency. Mott Oxford calls on Senators Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley to convey Missouri’s needs to Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and the president and to insist that sufficient federal relief be immediately passed. COVID-19: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
9 Ways to Help People Facing Hunger in Your Community, SELF, December 1, 2020
“The work of the charitable sector can’t match the scale of what a strong federal investment in the country’s largest food program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), could do,” said Ellen Teller, director of government affairs for FRAC.
Safeway & Albertsons Join Other Chains to Allow Online SNAP EBT Use, North Forty News, November 30, 2020
Safeway and Albertsons have launched SNAP Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) for online grocery curbside pick up through their Drive Up and Go service at select stores. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service enabled the Colorado Department of Human Services to launch a program in May that allows SNAP recipients to purchase grocery and food delivery online through approved retailers, such as Amazon and Walmart. Contactless curbside grocery pick-up purchases made with EBT cards were also made available at King Soopers statewide. “As Colorado continues to battle the COVID-19 crisis, safe access to food is more important than ever,” said Food and Energy Assistance Director Karla Maraccini. COVID-19: Afterschool Meals
Report Shows Maine After-School Meal Programs Saw An 89 Percent Bump in Use Between 2018 And 2019, Maine Public Radio, December 3, 2020
Use of Maine’s after-school meals program increased 89 percent between Oct. 2018 and Oct. 2019. That’s according to a new report from FRAC, Maine’s percentage increase was the second-highest in the nation, after Wyoming. Anna Korsen, with the child nutrition organization Full Plates, Full Potential, says one big reason for the increase is a new law that mandated communities start an afterschool meal program if 50 percent or more kids are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals. COVID-19: School Meals
Don’t throw away empty pandemic EBT cards, Boston warns families, WCVB Boston, November 30, 2020
Families participating in the Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) program should keep their P-EBT cards, even after they use all of the money, Boston officials said on Monday. The cards provided food support to families with children who could no longer receive free or reduced-price meals in schools because of closures prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and were part of a federal program administered by the Massachusetts Departments of Transitional Assistance and Elementary and Secondary Education. “As (Boston Schools) continue to adapt their learning model, more funds may be added to your card,” officials wrote. COVID-19: Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
Sen. Gillibrand urges Congress to maintain WIC funding in 2021 appropriations bill, North Country Radio, December 2, 2020
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is urging Congress to maintain $6 billion in the next appropriations bill for WIC, which provides food, healthcare, and breastfeeding support for young mothers and their children. One in 5 mothers with young kids don’t have enough food for their kids. Gillibrand calls WIC “a lifeline,” as the number of families needing support has increased during the pandemic. “State funding has depleted over the past few months as WIC programs worked to meet both rising demand and the rising cost of operating during a pandemic,” said Gillibrand. |
