FRAC Chat

May is Older Americans Month. So many of us are worried about the older adults in our lives, and one thing that tops the list of concerns is thinking about how our loved ones can access food. Across the nation, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the first line of defense for older adults experiencing food insecurity each day, and that is especially the case during the COVID-19 pandemic. For millions of older adults in the U.S., the basis of concerns about accessing food is a lack of resources to afford enough food.

Food insecurity, and its root cause, poverty, do not discriminate: they harm individuals, families, and communities across the U.S., regardless of demographics. One group that rarely receives attention for its alarmingly high levels of food insecurity and poverty is APA. This oversight is detrimental for APA people and the nation as a whole. In a deep dive into the divide between APA and the U.S. overall, Prosperity Now, with the help of Pew Research Center’s data, found that APA is the fastest-growing racial group in the U.S., with the fastest-growing — and widest — wealth gap, making APA the most economically divided racial group.

In this #FRACTurns50 blog, FRAC’s Founding Executive Director, Ron Pollack, shares the organization’s critical role in the expansion of the Food Stamp Program, known today as the Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP). Millions of households rely on SNAP as the first line of defense against hunger. As the fallout of COVID continues to deepen, the number of SNAP applications is skyrocketing. It is crucial to protect and strengthen SNAP during this time.

The Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program, authorized through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, provides states a critical opportunity to provide support, efficiently and comprehensively, to families relying on free or reduced-price school meals when school is open. Through P-EBT, states can issue eligible households an EBT card with the value of the free school breakfast and lunch reimbursement rates for the number of weekdays that schools are closed due to COVID-19 (estimated to be around $5.70 per day).

A new research brief from Healthy Eating Research (HER), A National Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, underscores why it is urgent for policymakers to enact SNAP benefit increases in the next COVID-19 emergency relief package. Steps taken in prior packages are providing a modest measure of help, but, given the magnitude of the crisis, are insufficient to provide adequate nutrition assistance to meet overall need and to spur economic recovery. Now is the time to strengthen SNAP benefits.