Calls Needed to Protect Safety Net Programs -- Including SNAP/Food Stamps and Child Nutrition

From the Food Research and Action Center:

New York Advocates Must Weigh-in with Senator Charles Schumer AND the White House to Protect Safety Net Programs -- Including SNAP/Food Stamps and Child Nutrition –as Discussions Heat Up on Raising the Debt Ceiling/Reducing the Deficit

Background:
As a key player in the ongoing budget negotiations, anti-hunger advocates must contact Senator Schumer to urge him to protect SNAP/Food Stamps, Child Nutrition and other safety net programs during the debt ceiling negotiations. Decisions are happening now!

As you know, President Obama, Vice President Biden and a bi-partisan group of Congressional leaders, including Senator Schumer, are negotiating a debt-ceiling/deficit reduction plan and hope to reach an agreement in the coming weeks. At the top of the agenda is securing $4 trillion in savings from program cuts over the next 10 or 12 years. Whether or not revenues will be part of the final plan is also in play. Anti-hunger advocates are demanding that negotiations follow a key principle included in the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform’s plan (Bowles-Simpson): protect programs for low-income families and individuals, like SNAP/Food Stamps and Child Nutrition, and make sure that the deficit reduction is achieved in a way that does not increase poverty.

Actions Needed:
1. Call Senator Schumer at (202) 224-6542 or call toll-free: 1-888-907-1485 which will connect you to the Capitol Switchboard.

2. Contact the White House (President Obama and Vice President Biden). E-mail or call toll-free: 1-888-245-0215.

Message: Any deficit reduction plan must protect programs for low-income families and individuals -- such as the nutrition programs like SNAP/Food Stamps and Child Nutrition -- and must also include new revenues. The plan should reduce poverty and help the disadvantaged, even as it attempts to shrink the deficit. Low-income assistance programs, like SNAP/Food Stamps and Child Nutrition, must be exempt from any caps and automatic across-the-board cuts which could be triggered when budget targets or fiscal restraint rules are missed or violated.

Please take these actions immediately and to share this alert widely among your network and contacts in order to demonstrate support for responsible long-term deficit reduction through a combination of revenue increases and spending cuts that do not harm the poor and vulnerable.

School Nutrition Foundation: Breakfast in the Classroom Resources + Funding Alert

The School Nutrition Foundation (SNF) with support from the Walmart Foundation and Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom released a NEW resource for schools all about starting breakfast in the classroom.

Click here to link to the Resource Center.

Also on the SNF website, a funding announcement for schools to increase breakfast participation. Sponsored by the National Dairy Council and the National Football League, eligible applicants are schools that operate the School Breakfast Program and are enrolled in Fuel Up to Play 60 for the 11-12 SY. Deadline is July 31, 2011.

Click here to learn more about the grant.

House Passes Harmful Cuts in FY2012 Agriculture Appropriations

From the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC):

On June 16, the House passed its FY2012 Agriculture Appropriations spending bill, H.R. 2112, by a vote of 217 to 203, concluding three days of unusually contentious debate triggered by the radical and destructive provisions in the bill.

The bill’s overall allocation for FY2012 ($17.250 billion) is $5 billion (23%) below the President’s FY2012 request and approximately $3 billion (14%) below FY2011 levels.

The bill includes cuts to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program.

Learn more on the FRAC website

Stop the Slashing: A Guide for the Budget Perplexed

The Nutrition Consortium, along with 500 plus human service providers across the nation, recently participated in a webinar sponsored by the Coalition on Human Needs (CHN) focusing on federal budget proposals that slash programs for low-income families.

CHN is asking community organizations to act as "real world reporters," sharing the realistic dangers of these budget proposals and translating them into understandable human terms.

Become a "real world reporter". Below find the webinar, handouts, a guide and other tools and resources for the budget perplexed.

Resources:
Stop the Slashing Webinar (6/7/11):
Overview Page
Audio presentation
Handouts

Additional Resources:
Budget Advocacy Guide

Children's Health Watch: Federal Programs that Protect Young Children’s Health

In their latest policy action brief, Children's Health Watch states that certain federal programs are essential for the health of very young children. Further, the brief argues that budgetary changes to these programs will undermine the health of these children.

Programs mentioned include:

• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• WIC
• Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
• Affordable housing

Read the June 2011 Children's Health Watch policy action brief on their website.

AARP releases report with Nutrition Consortium: Older Adult Food Insecurity: Framing the Issue in New York State

AARP, the Nutrition Consortium of New York State, and other Anti-Hunger groups released a report outlining state policy changes that need to occur to improve access to food stamps and other food assistance and nutrition programs for older adults in New York State. The AARP Foundation report, "Older Adult Food Insecurity: Framing the Issue in New York State," focuses on recommendations to remove barriers to applying for benefits as well as remove the stigma associated with food stamp enrollment.

The Nutrition Consortium spoke at the press conference releasing the report. Click here to read our statement.

View the AARP press release.

Read the report.

Food Research and Action Center: Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation, 2011 Report

From the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC):

"Participation in the Summer Nutrition Programs continued to erode in summer 2010 as recession-driven cuts in summer schools and youth programs led to fewer sites that could offer summer meals. Since July 2008, total participation nationwide in the Summer Nutrition Programs has dropped by 90,000 children, according to Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation, an analysis by the Food Research and Action Center."

According to FRAC, Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) participation has decreased in NYS. Approximately 255, 000 children ate summer lunch during 2010, as compared to approximately 262,000 during 2009; a decrease of almost 3%.

Read the report and learn more about how NYS compares to other states in regard to the SFSP.