Resource Library

Annual estimates of food insecurity are released every year from the Census Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS). Surveyed participants were interviewed in December 2020 about food insecurity in the prior 12 months. This resource summarizes those findings.

On February 10, 2020, President Trump released his fiscal year (FY) 2021 budget proposal, which recycles many of the harmful proposals in the president’s previous budgets. In it, he proposes huge cuts to overall USDA funding and devastating cuts to SNAP and child nutrition programs. This analysis highlights areas of the budget that fund key anti-hunger and anti-poverty programs and how the proposed budget, if implemented, would harm the health and well-being of millions of people in our country.

DHS’ Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds final rule went into effect on February 24, 2020, and anti-hunger and nutrition stakeholders have important roles to play in providing basic facts about SNAP and other public benefit programs and in providing referrals to reliable legal resources on public charge questions. This FAQ provides information on the DHS public charge rule and how the rule intersects with the food security of immigrant families. This FAQ does not constitute legal advice or take the place of legal advice from an immigration attorney.

This brief will review food insecurity rates and risk factors among older adults; the connections between food insecurity and health among older adults; and the effectiveness of the federal nutrition programs in alleviating food insecurity and supporting health for this population.

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.

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.

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.

This primer examines the importance of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in improving the health, nutrition, and well-being of millions of senior adults (age 60 and older) struggling against hunger, and it summarizes opportunities to expand this vital program to reach more seniors across the country.

This interactive map provides state-by-state data on SNAP participation rates among eligible seniors and for comparison, participation rates among all eligible individuals. FRAC’s map and accompanying tables show that just 42 percent of eligible seniors are using SNAP on average each month.  

Includes: The Strength of SNAP and SNAP Action Needed; The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP); Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP); Child Nutrition Reauthorization

More than 37 million Americans are living in households that are food insecure. Even as the economy has improved, millions of families have been left behind, and need food assistance. Congress should deepen its historically bipartisan commitment to programs that provide food assistance to vulnerable people with low incomes by protecting the structure of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the other federal nutrition programs, and by sufficiently funding them to address the prevailing need.

This interactive map, produced in collaboration with the AARP Foundation, shows the share of all households with seniors (60+) in each state that participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at the state, metropolitan, small town, and rural levels.

This interactive map, produced in collaboration with the AARP Foundation, shows the share of all households with seniors (60+) that participate in SNAP in each county. Each county within a state is grouped into one of three categories: Metro, Small Town, and Rural.

Graphics on senior use of SNAP.