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As it does every June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) this month will calculate the cost of a bare-bones market basket (the Thrifty Food Plan), which will serve as the basis for setting the maximum Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit allotment for the fiscal year starting in October 2019. Because of flawed assumptions behind the plan, the USDA’s pricing will leave SNAP households without enough benefits to afford a month’s worth of nutritious food.

Across the nation, final exams were not the only thing causing stress for college students as the academic year came to an end: too many college students faced food insecurity. Mounting research demonstrates that the lack of resources to meet basic needs, including food, remains far too prevalent among college students, disrupting their ability to succeed.

FRAC offered a look at the report during a webinar on May 6. The webinar featured Jamie Bussel, M.P.H, Senior Program Officer for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Lanre Falusi, MD, FAAP, Pediatrician for Children’s National Health System and former President of the D.C. Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Ginger Farineau, Nutrition Initiatives Manager of Hunger Free Vermont; Geri Henchy, FRAC’s Director of Nutrition Policy and Early Childhood Programs; Jim Weill, FRAC’s President; and Beverley Wheeler, Director of D.C. Hunger Solutions.

To help you join the fight against senior hunger this Older Americans Month, below are five ways you can help address food insecurity among seniors.

Spring is in full bloom in Washington, D.C., and so are key pieces of legislation that FRAC is monitoring and weighing in on. Below is an overview of legislative proposals in the 116th Congress to look out for that would impact critical anti-hunger and anti-poverty programs.