Working to End Hunger in America
FRAC improves the nutrition, health, and well-being of people struggling against poverty-related hunger in the United States through advocacy, partnerships, and by advancing bold and equitable policy solutions.
Resources for COVID-19
Hunger & Poverty in America
Explore the Data
Food Insufficiency during COVID-19
Explore the Data
Budget Reconciliation 101
Explore our report
Omnibus and Coronavirus Response Package
Read our summary
Ask the Biden Administration to Implement Universal School Meals
Read our Sign On Letter
COVID-19 Updates
FRAC posts all the latest on this page!
FRAC's 2020 Report on Federal Nutrition Programs in the Southern Region
Learn more
How does P-EBT work in your state?
P-EBT Updates
How has the latest bill in congress affected Child Nutrition Programs?
Nationwide Child Nutrition Waivers
USDA Guidelines on Using Existing Authority to Implement SFSP and SSO Meal Delivery
Q&As from the USDA on the logistics of delivering meals through the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) while using existing authority.
News
FRAC Chat
Under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), set in the 1970s, customers are prohibited from purchasing hot or prepared foods at the grocery store. This creates the counterintuitive experience in which consumers can purchase food items like chicken that is raw or frozen, but not a rotisserie chicken.
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), a member of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight, and Departmental Operations, has introduced legislation that would address this issue. With co-sponsors, Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), the SNAP Plus Act of 2021 (H.R. 6338) would permanently end the prohibition on hot prepared foods in SNAP.
With summer fast approaching, and Congress’s failure to extend the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) child nutrition waiver authority –which will significantly limit access to summer meals—, Pandemic EBT (P-EBT ) will be even more important this summer to both school-age and young children.
Children can utilize both the Pandemic EBT program as well as visit meal sites this summer. Summer P-EBT provides benefits to families on an EBT card to purchase food to replace the school meals they lost access to during the summer months. These complimentary programs can help ensure that children have access to healthy, nutritious meals throughout the summer. In the summer of 2021, 47 states, 3 territories, and the District of Columbia distributed an estimated $10.9 billion to families in Summer P-EBT benefits.
On May 9, USDA released its summer 2022 P-EBT guidance, which includes a Q&A, State Plan Template, and Policy Memo
In recognition of Older Americans Month, FRAC is releasing a two-part blog series on food insecurity among older adults.
Part 1 focuses on food insecurity’s prevalence among older adults as well as its disproportionate rates among Black and Latinx households and examines risk factors that make older adults more likely to experience food insecurity.
Recent Publications & Data
See More Resources- Fact Sheet
Since the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved the Colorado and Vermont
Read the Fact Sheet
Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) child care plans for school year 2021–2022 in April, a growing number
of states have been approved. So far, all of the approved plans have used the simple approach to
calculate the percentage decrease in lunch participation in the Child and Adult Care Food
Program compared to pre-pandemic levels to set a monthly benefit amount for children younger
than 6 participating in SNAP. - Interactive Data Tool
New Jersey has a strong existing network of anti-hunger programs and coalitions, each with their own experts, best practices, and lessons learned. A primary goal of a statewide effort to end hunger is to leverage the skills and expertise of the individuals involved in these initiatives and increase coordination among programs. This assets-based approach aims to validate past and
Explore the Asset Map!
ongoing work and create a broad base of community and institutional involvement. This publicly accessible catalog will allow communities and institutions to make connections across topic area and place. - Report
Leveraging the federal nutrition programs is a key strategy to help reduce and prevent food insecurity effectively and equitably. In this brief, a supplement to Hunger and Its Solutions in New Jersey: Landscape Analysis of Current Initiatives, Recommended Action, and Emerging Opportunities for Further Investment, FRAC provides further information on the landscape of the federal nutrition programs in New Jersey.
Read the brief - Advocacy Tool
The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act
Explored the Advocacy Tool
authorizes all of the federal child nutrition programs.
The child nutrition programs reach millions of
children each day and improve educational achievement,
economic security, nutrition, and health. Although most of
the programs are permanently authorized, about every
five years, Congress reviews the laws governing these
programs through the reauthorization process.