FRAC Chat

After the terrible December 2021 tornadoes ripped through communities in states, including Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee,, the Biden administration has pledged to get help to those affected by the disaster.
The FRAC Advocate’s Guide to Disaster SNAP and our disaster page provide stakeholders with information on identifying how federal nutrition programs can assist in recovery. A new resource page provides updates on developments for aid to the communities hit hard by the December 2021 tornadoes.

The responses of Propel SNAP customers surveyed in November 2021 and recent data analyses reported by The New York Times underscore the precarious financial situation many low-income households face. This is even as temporary SNAP benefit boosts, monthly advance Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments, and other federal initiatives have helped mitigate household hardship and stimulate the economy during COVID-19. With some federal aid payments slated to sunset, the implications for policymakers are significant.

Households with low incomes face hard choices between paying for food and paying for other basics such as shelter and medicine. Those choices will get even harder for participants when the COVID-19 health emergency ends and, with it, the SNAP Emergency Allotments that have boosted benefits temporarily. Most SNAP participants will lose an average of $82 a month.

A SNAP deductions strategy should be an important part of addressing that looming “hunger cliff.”

In less than a month, COVID-19 shifted the economic stability of millions of people in America through health emergencies, job loss, restaurant sector disruptions, and school closures. The federal government’s expansions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), child nutrition programs, and other federal safety net programs, such as Child Tax Credits and Unemployment Insurance boosts, prevented a catastrophic increase in hunger and poverty. 

Widespread exposure to hardship during the COVID-19 crisis also has made a dent in the negative judgments between who is “deserving” and “undeserving” of government aid. Our nation needs to build on this renewed support for public assistance that any of us might need to access. We must redouble our efforts to erase the stigmatization of the federal nutrition programs, and instead promote their role in enhancing food security, well-being, health, and dignity.

As the year comes to a close, we would like to shine a light on the top eight ways FRAC and its network of anti-hunger advocates once again led the fight to eradicate poverty-related hunger and undernutrition in the United States during this unprecedented time.