Food Insecurity
What sunsetting vital pandemic-era benefits means now
Greetings! I’m here with one of my let’s-take-some-time-to-consider-some-hard-truths-about-our-food-system editions. I write these sporadically because of one of the main reasons I started my newsletter: I wanted to create a space where we can balance the pleasures of eating (and recipes of course) with an exploration of the political, social, economic, environmental, cultural, and ethical (whether real or perceived) forces converging on our food system.
What you’ll find below are some synopses of recent events related to food insecurity as well as some links to various articles, videos, newsletters, etc that I’ve found particularly insightful over the past month or so. I have done my best to comb through a variety of sources to share my own perspective and understanding of the events and media, and I welcome any feedback or questions in the comments.
Universal School Meals
Up first, some pieces of good news: On March 17, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed into law a bill that grants free breakfast and lunch to all Minnesota students of participating schools regardless of income. And just 10 days later, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham did the same for the students of her state. This makes Minnesota and New Mexico the fourth and fifth states, respectively, to pass universal school meals legislation after the pandemic-driven federal program expired last summer —Colorado voters approved their own bill back in November, and California and Maine were both early adopters last spring and summer.
Many other states are considering similar pieces of legislation, including Vermont, where just last week the State House of Representatives voted to approve a Universal School Meals bill. With a trip through the Senate next, the bill has another legislative round to go before making it to Governor Phil Scott’s desk, but fortunately the temporary measure for the 2022-2023 school year still stands, allowing Vermont’s students and families to take advantage of unrestricted breakfast and lunch programs throughout the state.
Universal School Meals have a lot going for them. I wrote about some of the benefits early last summer, but I felt it was worth highlighting some of the more specific beneficial key findings the sponsors of Vermont’s bill spoke about in their session a couple of weeks ago:
Improved mental health and reduced instances of anxiety and depression
Reduced probability of ob*sity in students
Reduced visits to the school nurse
Improved readiness to learn
Improved social climates
Improved overall family food security in low-income households
Increased school attendance
Declines in suspension rates and disruptive classroom behaviors
Improved performance in reading and math (particularly from students who were not eligible for USM previously)
And if that weren’t enough, in Vermont it’s estimated that a Universal School Meals program would save schools 68 minutes of administrative time per student per year, which equates to a monetary savings of $29 per student per year or $2.5 million. Factoring in the $1.60 stimulus to the Vermont economy for every $1.00 spent on local food for schools, the undeniable benefits to students’ and families’ wellbeing are not the only positive outcomes to consider.
Yet, the federal government doesn’t seem to see it that way, so now it’s up to every state to assume the responsibility of providing free meals to millions of students nationwide. Otherwise, they’ll be forced to pay the consequences in the form of jeopardized education systems.
There’s plenty more to do in order to get every state to rally behind universal school meals, so I encourage you to check where your lawmakers stand on such programs. If you support the program, it never hurts to share your voice or donate to a local advocacy organization doing the hard work of showing up to make their case every day. Also, if you have kids, one of the best ways to show your support is to participate in your school’s nutrition program, regardless of whether your family qualifies for free meals or not. High demand is one thing that our capitalist society (and politicians) can’t ignore.
Nutrition Benefits
While progress is slowly being made with respect to universal school meals, other pandemic era nutrition benefits have recently come to an abrupt end in many states. In February and March, tens of millions of Americans in 35 states and territories received their final Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) emergency allotments (EAs) — the extra food purchasing funds they’d been receiving every month since the start of the pandemic. These cuts amount to an average loss in benefits of $90 per month per recipient, though they’ll cost some households over $250 in lost benefits.
Because of the significance of these cuts and the timing coinciding with continued high inflation, many experts and news outlets are characterizing the end of the EAs as a hunger cliff. Individuals, families, and households will face difficult decisions about whether to eat or pay other essential bills, putting substantial stress on them and straining the charitable food system. As Ellen Vollinger, Snap director for the nonprofit Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) put it for the The Guardian:
When the federal government doesn’t provide as much support for food, it doesn’t mean that hungry people all of a sudden are better off, or no longer need assistance, or they go away. The hunger is still there, people are still there, the need is there, but the federal government is too abrupt in shifting the burden and costs of dealing with that downstream, to states [and] localities, and puts a greater burden on charities.
At this point, the damage from the cuts to EAs has been done, and food insecure households are already feeling the effects. If you can help, I encourage you to check in with your local food bank (here’s what the Vermont Foodbank has to share). Volunteering at food access organizations and/or donating money (or food) are very tangible ways to make an impact.
You can also advocate for more government support. The Farm Bill, which allocates SNAP benefit amounts and a lot more, is being reauthorized this year. That means that congress is considering changes to how nutrition programs are run and funded. Check in with your local food and agriculture advocacy organizations because they very likely have stances on the Farm Bill, and those very likely include more money for SNAP and other nutrition programs (again in Vermont, Hunger Free Vermont has shared the Nutrition Coalition’s 2023 Farm Bill Priority Recommendations, which you can learn about and sign onto here).
Further Resources
Food is a Universal Right, yet is often used to discriminate and exclude.
Food Insecurity Isn’t About Food, and distributing “enough” food isn’t the solution.
I have all kinds of recipe ideas building up that I hope will come to life in the following months. Thank you, as always, to all of you who are subscribing and supporting my work. I am so grateful to have you here!
Best,
Charlotte