A new analysis from Diane Schanzenbach and Northwestern University shows that 13.5 percent of older adults (60+) face food insecurity, a dramatic increase of nearly 60 percent from pre-COVID-19 levels. Food insecurity rates are especially high among Black and Hispanic older adults.
Even as we struggle with the health and economic impacts of COVID-19, our nation could face additional challenges from hurricanes that typically arise in the Atlantic Ocean during late summer and early fall. Federal action now to boost SNAP benefits and to allow for administrative flexibilities can address hardships due to potential hurricanes as well as those hardships caused by COVID-19.
Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) took to the Senate floor yesterday, July 1, to lead speeches on the urgency for the Senate to take up a COVID-19 recovery package that must include boosts to SNAP. Watch the speeches starting at the 10:27:42 mark. Senator Stabenow was joined by Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Bob Casey (D-PA) in amplifying the urgent need to boost SNAP in the next COVID-19 recovery package. Other senators joined in on social media.
Community eligibility allows school districts to offer free school meals to all students. Here are five reasons to take a fresh look at community eligibility now.
Pride month (June) can be an important time for anti-hunger and anti-poverty advocates to reflect on the disparate rates of poverty and food insecurity among LGBTQ people, and think about work that can be done to address these disparities.
FRAC’s Senior Special Projects & Initiatives Associate, Susan Beaudoin, spoke with Tyrone Hanley, Esq., Senior Policy Counsel at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), to learn about the progress that has been made for the LGBTQ community and the challenges that remain. Tyrone co-convenes the National LGBTQ Anti-Poverty Action Network, of which FRAC is a member.
