Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Congress Should Expand Federal Nutrition Programs: New York Times Op-Ed

Hunger in the United States

New York Times Editorial, November 18, 2009

Congress should make a priority of expanding federal nutrition programs that are aimed at helping millions of struggling families feed their children. The need to bolster these programs was underscored again this week in a dismaying Department of Agriculture study showing that a record number of households had trouble getting sufficient food at one time or another last year.

These facts are troubling enough, but a separate federal study showed that even before the recession began, more than two-thirds of families with children who were defined as “food insecure” under federal guidelines contained one or more full-time worker. This suggests that millions of Americans were trapped in low-wage jobs before the downturn that made it more difficult for them to provide children with adequate nutrition.

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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Hunger in U.S. at a 14-Year High

Published: November 16, 2009

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans who lived in households that lacked consistent access to adequate food soared last year, to 49 million, the highest since the government began tracking what it calls “food insecurity” 14 years ago, the Department of Agriculture reported Monday.

The increase, of 13 million Americans, was much larger than even the most pessimistic observers of hunger trends had expected and cast an alarming light on the daily hardships caused by the recession’s punishing effect on jobs and wages.

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Monday, November 16, 2009

Webinar Listening Sessions on Ending Childhood Hunger

The USDA is hosting 4 webinar listening sessions focusing on how to achieve the President’s goal of ending child hunger in the US by 2015.

These sessions are free and open to the public. Participants are encouraged (but not required) to speak and/or submit comments with suggestions on how to end child hunger.

Session dates are: Nov 17, Nov 19, Nov 23, and Dec 3.

To register, click here. If you are unable to participate, written comments and recommendations may be submitted via e-mail to the USDA at ECH2015@fns.usda.gov.

For more information about ending child hunger by 2015, please visit the following:

  • President Obama's Commitment to End Childhood Hunger by 2015 (here)


  • FRAC's Ending Childhood Hunger by 2015: Essential Strategies for Achieving the President's Goal (here)


  • Nutrition Consortium of NYS' Ending Childhood Hunger by 2015 (here)


Friday, November 13, 2009

Fall 09 Food Stamp e-News

The Fall 2009 edition of the Food Stamp e-News is now avialable!

Food Stamp e-News is a quarterly newsletter to help keep you up to date on the newest Food Stamp Program policy changes, research, and reports, along with providng tools and resources to assist organizations in working with families who may be eligible for food stamps.

To recieve an electronic copy of the FS e-News sign up for the Food Stamp Network. To contribute articles, research, and/or reports to the next edition of FS e-News contact Dawn Secor via e-mail at dawn.secor@nutritionconsortium.org or by phone at 518-436-8757 x 12.

Click here to view FS e-News in a pdf format.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Half of US kids will get food stamps, study says

By LINDSEY TANNER
The Associated PressMonday,
November 2, 2009 9:32 PM

CHICAGO -- Nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the current recession could push those numbers even higher, researchers say.

The estimate comes from an analysis of 30 years of national data, and it bolsters other recent evidence on the pervasiveness of youngsters at economic risk. It suggests that almost everyone knows a family who has received food stamps, or will in the future, said lead author Mark Rank, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis.

"Your neighbor may be using some of these programs but it's not the kind of thing people want to talk about," Rank said.

The analysis was released Monday in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The authors say it's a medical issue pediatricians need to be aware of because children on food stamps are at risk for malnutrition and other ills linked with poverty.

To read more....