FRAC Chat

The Community Eligibility Provision provides schools and districts in low-income communities the opportunity to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students on a four-year cycle. Despite the disruption of school nutrition operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, year-after-year adoption of community eligibility has not slowed among schools and districts across the country, as explored in FRAC’s report on community eligibility in the 2020–2021 school year.

A new Mass INC Polling Group survey sponsored by the Shah Family Foundation, reveals that while Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) benefits helped many Massachusetts families purchase groceries, many others who were likely eligible to receive benefits and were experiencing food insecurity missed out on SNAP and P-EBT during COVID-19.

The Closing the Meal Gap Act of 2021, introduced by Representative Alma Adams (D-NC) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), will boost Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for all participants and make further improvements.

According to the latest monthly figures (from March 2021), on average more than 42.4 million Americans — or approximately 1 in 8 Americans — participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This increased participation reflects the public health and economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. By comparison, in the pre-pandemic month of February 2020, SNAP participants numbered just under 36.9 million. 

Now a new report from the National Grocers Association (NGA) underscores the important economic impact that SNAP has made during COVID-19 at national, state, and congressional district levels.

Part 1 of this series provided an overview of the Thrifty Food Plan and the three other food plans developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

The monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) allotment is based on the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), which was last updated in 2006. Despite that revision, research continues to show that SNAP recipients cannot afford an adequate diet with their SNAP allotment. The inadequacy of SNAP benefits severely limits the program’s ability to have even stronger positive impacts on economic security, food security, health, and well-being. SNAP benefits are inadequate, in part, because they are based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) impractical and flawed TFP.