If there is one thing that we have learned because of the pandemic, it’s that we could have been better prepared. That’s true at every level: local, state, federal, and international. But there is something that we can do about it, at least at the state level — we can work to ensure that our food system has the coordination to address the challenges that are likely to emerge, and that includes pandemics.
The American Rescue Plan makes significant advancements to help families struggling with hunger, including expanding the Child Tax Credit. Join this sign-on letter, led by the Children’s Defense Fund and the Center for the Study of Social Policy, to urge the administration to make the Child Tax Credit investments permanent and ensure this benefit would reach all children who need it. State and national organizations can sign on by March 26 to show support for alleviating child poverty and reducing racial inequities.
The Enhanced Access to SNAP Act (EATS Act), introduced by Representatives Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Josh Harder (D-CA), and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), would put college students with lower incomes on an equal footing with other people who would be eligible to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Under H.R. 1919, SNAP would no longer condition eligibility for most people attending college at least half time on performing work study or 20 hours or more per week of outside employment. (Students would still need to meet the income and other qualifications that all SNAP applicants must satisfy.)
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, an untold number of Asian Americans have been living in fear for their lives. On top of worrying about whether they will become infected with the deadly virus, many Asian Americans also are anxious that they will become one of the growing numbers of victims of racially motivated hate crimes that have been perpetrated against them by racist, xenophobic, and otherwise ignorant people who blame Asian Americans for the pandemic. Stop AAPI Hate alone has logged nearly 3,800 hate crimes since last year, but that figure is likely higher, due to unreported cases, and is expected to grow. Anti-Asian American hate crimes existed before the pandemic, but this spike is unprecedented and its origins can be traced all the way up to the White House.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the economic struggles of those living in poverty in Maryland, many of whom were already being forced to make difficult choices between buying food and paying household expenses.
