SNAP is already known to be effective at achieving its goals of reducing food insecurity and poverty. Now, new research suggests that the program is also bringing down healthcare costs — reducing Medicaid fees by as much as $2,360 per person. The new study, published in the Annals of Internal…
Posts published in “SNAP+”
Not many food banks actively promote nutrition incentive programs that make fresh produce more accessible to low-income families. But the ones that do are seeing results that go well beyond increased produce consumption in their communities. These “Double Up Food Bucks” programs, which originated at farmers markets over 15 years…
Making good on its plan to shut down the Farmers to Families Food Box program and instead focus on existing distribution channels for charitable food, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would invest $1 billion to support food banks. The aid, announced June 4, includes $500 million to purchase…
The newly named head of the USDA, Tom Vilsack, has introduced a new way of framing the issue of hunger relief in America: it’s about nutrition security, not just food security. Inadequate nutrition is leading to high rates of chronic disease including obesity, presenting nothing less than a potential national…
The last time a U.S. president convened a serious examination of food insecurity was in 1978 under President Jimmy Carter. If Paule Pachter, the CEO of Long Island Cares, has any say, the next one will happen under the watch of President-Elect Joe Biden. Pachter sent a proposal letter to…
This summer, the government has taken steps to make it easier than ever for kids to participate in summer meals. At the same time, closures of libraries, summer camps and community centers because of the coronavirus have created additional challenges in finding places to distribute the meals. Food banks are…
The coronavirus crisis has put added pressure on SNAP, but there is some good news: greater attention is being paid to the need to make it easier for people to apply for and receive the benefit. The notoriously difficult process of applying for SNAP — involving pages of documentation and…
As the nation’s most important mechanism for getting people food, SNAP provides access to about ten times the amount of food as all the nation’s food banks. Here are the ways SNAP has expanded during the pandemic, and how advocates would like to see its reach go even further: Emergency…
At the same time that food banks are mobilizing to feed the millions impacted by the economic devastation caused by Covid-19, many are also ramping up to respond to a flood of calls from people needing assistance enrolling in SNAP. “We typically get about 100 calls a day regarding SNAP,”…