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The Summer Nutrition Programs have struggled to meet the need, serving just one child summer lunch for every seven low-income children who participated in school lunch during the regular school year. They are important programs, but their reach is falling far too short of meeting the need.

State agencies should adopt processes to allow for telephonic signatures for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applications and recertifications for use by state agency staff and third-party partners, such as community-based organizations that are contracted to help clients apply or recertify for SNAP.

Work with the state agency to create a standard medical deduction (SMD) to simplify the collection of medical expense information from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants who are elderly (60+) or are non-elderly and living with disabilities. Doing so requires the state SNAP agency to request a demonstration waiver — from U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service (USDA-FNS) — to develop an SMD in lieu of calculating actual medical expenses.

State agencies and their community nonprofit and local government partners can receive matching federal funds to create and implement Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) outreach and application assistance plans. The federal funds cover up to 50 percent of the cost of approved activities. State SNAP agencies must submit plans for U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service’s (USDA-FNS) approval.

From the 2017–2018 school year to the 2018–2019 school year, participation in the Community Eligibility Provision grew by 14 percent. Nearly 13.6 million children in 28,542 schools and 4,633 school districts are participating and have access to breakfast and lunch at no charge each school day through community eligibility. This report provides an analysis of community eligibility implementation – nationally and for each state and the District of Columbia.

Stakeholders can work with the state SNAP agency to ensure that eligible older adults (age 60 and older) and people with disabilities can deduct from income all allowable unreimbursed medical expenses when calculating Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Advocates should educate older adults and people with disabilities — and the families and organizations that support them — about allowable medical expense deductions that can result in a more adequate and accurate SNAP benefit that reflects the real value of out-of-pocket medical expenses.

States can request a SNAP waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to implement the Elderly Simplified Application Project (ESAP) for households with seniors and/or people with disabilities that have no earned income. ESAP allows states to streamline the application and recertification process, helping more seniors (age 60 and older) and people with disabilities benefit from SNAP.

Poverty and food insecurity have detrimental impacts on infant, child, and maternal health and well-being in both the short and long terms. One critical strategy to address these issues is connecting vulnerable families to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Decades of research have demonstrated the effectiveness of WIC in reducing food insecurity, and improving health, nutrition, development, and well-being.

WIC is a Critical Economic, Nutrition, and Health Support for Children and Families provides background information on WIC; briefly summarizes the harmful impacts of poverty and food insecurity; and highlights research demonstrating the effective role of WIC in improving food and economic security, dietary intake, weight outcomes, health, and learning.

The WIC food packages were revised in 2007 to align the authorized food with the latest nutrition science and guidance. The majority of WIC participants are satisfied with the revised food packages in terms of the new foods offered and changes in the amounts of food. As summarized in this brief, Impact of the Revised WIC Food Packages on Nutrition Outcomes and the Retail Food Environment, research shows that the revised WIC food packages have favorable impacts on dietary intake, breastfeeding outcomes, and obesity rates. In addition, also as summarized in this brief, studies suggest an important role for WIC in improving neighborhood food environments, which benefits both WIC participants and non-participants.

Unemployed or underemployed adults without dependents and without other exemptions (such as disability) often face time limits after three months of receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In this best practice, learn how partnering with health professionals, advocates, application assistance providers, and others can help individuals who are struggling against hunger to continue to receive benefits from SNAP when they might otherwise be improperly subjected to three-month time limits as so-called “Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents” (ABAWD).

Making WIC Work Better features a comprehensive set of recommendations to overcome the barriers that have led to a downward trend in participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

FRAC has developed a communications toolkit that promotes strategies to increase participation in WIC. The toolkit includes a national news release, talking points, videos, sample social media, and graphics.

The Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) demonstration pilots studied the utility of providing an electronic benefit card to low-income families to purchase food during the summer months. The evaluation found that Summer EBT reduced very low food insecurity among children by one-third. The pilot tested providing the resources through a SNAP EBT system in Connecticut, Delaware, Missouri, Oregon and Washington and a WIC EBT system in Michigan, Nevada, Texas and the Cherokee and Chickasaw Tribal Nations.

This series of state fact sheets provides state-specific data (compared to national data) on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation rates among eligible seniors, SNAP participation rates among households with seniors, and the percentage of households with seniors struggling with food insecurity.

During the summer, far too many children and adolescents experience food insecurity, weight gain, and learning loss, compromising their health and ability to thrive during summer break and beyond. A key strategy to address these issues is to connect more students — especially low-income students — to high-quality summer meal and enrichment programs, which support student food security, health, and learning. This brief first summarizes important research on summertime food insecurity, weight gain, and learning loss, and then describes the value and effectiveness of the federal Summer Nutrition Programs and summer enrichment programming.