Resource Library

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 created a permanent nationwide Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (Summer EBT) Program. Beginning in 2024, states, territories, and Indian Tribal Organizations will be required to cover 50 percent of the Summer EBT administrative expenses from nonfederal sources. Careful planning and preparation by states and territories, and technical assistance by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (USDA FNS), are critical to ensure full implementation of Summer EBT in 2024. Learn more in FRAC’s new one-pager. 

Millions of people who rely on support from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have seen their benefits drop – in many cases, dramatically. As of March 1, 2023, all Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants have suffered cuts to their benefits each month as the temporary, pandemic-era SNAP boosts known as Emergency Allotments have come to an end. Combined with soaring food prices and skyrocketing heating, transportation, and housing costs, our nation is facing a hunger cliff. Find out how the hunger cliff has affected people in your state using FRAC’s state Hunger Cliff fact sheets.

Time limits in SNAP harm women, LGBTQIA+ people, and their families. Taking away nutrition assistance will not help women and LGBTQIA+ people find jobs any faster; it will just increase hunger. As a nation, we should fight hunger by helping families struggling to make ends meet put food on the table. Congress should increase SNAP benefits so fewer families have to choose between food and shelter or other necessities and reduce inequities in SNAP that prevent many women, LGBTQIA+ people, and their families from accessing this critical program. SNAP needs to be protected and strengthened.

The Stop Child Hunger Act of 2023 (H.R. 4379), introduced by Reps. Mike Levin (D-CA) and Jahana Hayes (D-CT) would expand the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (Summer EBT) Program, which provides families whose children are eligible for free or reducedprice school meals with an EBT card to purchase food.

FRAC’s new research brief explains the SNAP time limit provisions and discusses priorities for outreach, proper screening for time limit exemptions, and use of discretionary exemptions and waivers for areas that have 10 percent or higher unemployment or other indicators of insufficient jobs. Finally, it underscores the urgency of passing legislation to end SNAP time limits entirely.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which the U.S. Department of Agriculture administers, is the nation’s first line of defense against hunger. Without SNAP, hunger in this country would be far worse. Find the reasons why we need to urge policymakers to protect and strengthen this effective program in FRAC’s new fact sheet.

An alarming number of children missed out on nutritious meals provided through the Summer Nutrition Programs last summer, according to FRAC’s latest report, Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report 2023. Download the report to learn more. 

The Food Research & Action Center and AARP Foundation collaborated with Dr. Rachel Zimmer of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and Dr. Kimberly Montez, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and conducted a survey to learn more about current efforts and promising opportunities for doctors, nurses, and other health care providers to address food insecurity among their patients 50 years of age and older. This report summarizes the findings of the survey responses from 144 health care providers. It also provides recommendations to enhance efforts by health care providers to address food insecurity informed by the survey findings.

Existing rules pose extra hurdles to SNAP for most low-income college students enrolled in higher education at least half time. The Enhance Access to SNAP Act (EATS Act) would put low-income college students on an equal footing with other people eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 

The Closing the Meal Gap Act of 2023 (H.R. 3037/S. 1336), introduced by Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), would address the hunger cliff and improve food security and health by improving SNAP benefit adequacy for all participants. Learn more in FRAC’s new fact sheet. 

Read FRAC President Luis Guardia’s statement to the House Democratic Task Force on Agriculture and Nutrition in the 21st Century. Delivered at the Task Force’s 2023 Farm Bill Roundtable on July 13, 2023.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 10.2% (or 13.5 million) of households were food insecure at some point during 2021. Families experiencing homelessness often face additional barriers to accessing food due to high mobility or lack of transportation. Homeless liaisons play an important role in ensuring that students have access to free school meals and referrals are made to provide the family access to food resources in the community. Learn more about supporting this population in FRAC’s new fact sheet, produced in collaboration with SchoolHouse Connection. 

Many large school districts across the country reported decreased participation in school breakfast and lunch when the nationwide child nutrition waiver that allowed schools to offer school meals to all of their students at no charge ended, according to FRAC’s latest report.

To better understand the impact of providing grocery benefits to families when their children lose access to free or reduced-price school meals and the experience families had in accessing benefits, the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) surveyed 153 parents and guardians who received Pandemic EBT benefits at some point during the last three years. Learn more about the survey’s findings in FRAC’s new report. 

During the 2022–2023 school year, there was a significant increase in the number of schools and districts participating in community eligibility. Learn more in FRAC’s latest report, Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2022–2023.