OUR CHILDREN NEED FOOD SUBSIDIES
The vast majority of low-income parents today are working but still struggling to make ends meet: struggling to find and keep a job or 2 or 3 in a changing labor market, to keep up with their bills, and to pay the basic costs of daily living. Promise the Children supports better funded food stamps for low-income families.
Children live in poverty at rates much higher than any other age group in the U.S.
In 2011, 16 million+ children, 22% of all children in the United States, were living in poverty. Toddlers and infants aged 0 – 6 were and still are the most likely to be poor. In 2011, 25% of this age group lived in poverty.
The type of severe malnutrition that doctors found in children in 1968 has been largely eliminated, even in impoverished communities. Studies have linked this progress directly to the expansion of the Food Stamp program since 1964.
But there is still “food insecurity.” One in five children will miss meals regularly, and depend on a possible school meal. Promise the Children supports better funding for SNAP so that no child misses a meal, and every family is able to purchase food for regular meals.
Nutrition Assistance Available for Preschool Children
In 1964 President Lyndon Johnson enacted the Food Stamp program (now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that was operating as a small pilot program. Eligibility for this program is now regulated by federal guidelines. In general the SNAP subsidy is in addition to what a family would normally pay for food, which is set at 30% of income.
Who Pays for Snap? The Federal Government pays for SNAP and splits the cost of operating the program with each state. In 2014, 46 million people received SNAP benefits and 70% of these were families with children,
Eligibility Rules for SNAP and amount of benefit in fiscal 2015.
- Gross monthly income generally must be at or below 130 percent of the poverty line, or $2,144 (about $25,700 a year) for a three-person family
- Net monthly income, or income after deductions are applied for items such as high housing costs and child care, must be less than or equal
to the poverty line (about $19,800 a year or $1,650 a month for a three-person family in fiscal year). - Assets must fall below $2,250 for households without an elderly or disabled member and $3,250 for those with an elderly or disabled
member. - The average household receives an average monthly benefit of $133.08
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides Federal grants to States for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk. Information on the WIC program is readily available for each state involved.
Sign up with Promise the children for more information, and to support adequate monthly payments for food stamps. Visit FRAC for more general information on hunger.
