In California, more than 3.7 million students were eligible for free or reduced priced school meals in the 2017-2018 school year. For many of those students, school meals are the primary source of regular access to healthy food.
Arloc Sherman and Paul Van de Water for The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
The Trump Administration is publicly weighing plans to gradually lower the official poverty line by applying a smaller cost-of-living adjustment each year. Doing so would be unjustified for several reasons.
This paper analyzes why SNAP benefits are inadequate, reviews the body of research showing positive effects from more adequate SNAP benefits, and offers key policy solutions to improve benefit adequacy.
In the United States, more than 2.7 million grandparents report that they’re primarily responsible for their grandchildren under 18. The problem is many are struggling with food insecurity because of federal rules and regulations.
Community eligibility allows high-poverty schools and school districts to offer free meals to all students, and it eliminates the need for household school meal applications.
Amid attacks on several food security programs from the Trump administration, this proposed change could ignite yet another debate about where we draw the line.