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Yahoo
22-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
1 in 5 Kentucky kids faces hunger. Congress is considering a plan that would make it worse.
When children don't have consistent access to meals, it impacts their development, their education and their future. (Stock photo by Inti St. Clair/Getty Photos) In Kentucky more than 753,000 residents, or 1 in 6, face hunger. They often don't know where and when their next meal will be. That sobering statistic is felt daily across the commonwealth — from families forced to choose between groceries and rent to schools struggling to meet students' basic needs. Food banks and our partners across the state are doing all we can to provide millions of meals annually and coordinate critical emergency support — but we can't do it alone, and we certainly can't do it with policy that sends us backward. But that's just what's happening, and hungry Kentuckians will pay the price. The U.S. House Committee on Agriculture has proposed a plan that would quietly shift the burden and worsen the problem. If passed, the Kentucky budget would be responsible for funding over $150 million annually by 2028 just to maintain current benefit levels. With food insecurity projected to rise, that cost will likely increase even more. We're sure federal and state governments will jostle for who is to blame, but the bottom line is simple: Fewer Kentuckians will be able to eat. And that's why we're pushing back. The proposal under consideration would throw the entire SNAP system off, and there's no solution being offered. SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) works because it can scale up quickly when people are struggling, like after a natural disaster, such as recent tornadoes. States just don't have the resources to handle that kind of surge. Keeping SNAP federally funded is the only way to ensure it's there when people really need it. Charitable food assistance steps in where other support falls short, but it's not enough. For every meal provided by the charitable food system, SNAP delivers nine. That ratio matters. Reducing access to SNAP won't just stretch food banks thinner, it will stretch family budgets to the breaking point. Hunger is not just about food; it's about health, learning and opportunity. When children don't have consistent access to meals, it impacts their development, their education and their future. In Kentucky, 1 in 5 kids faces hunger. When adults don't have food, they can't be expected to perform their best at their job. The consequences ripple far beyond the dinner table. We already know what works. The community eligibility provision helps high-poverty schools serve free meals to all students. Summer EBT provides grocery assistance when school is out. SNAP helps families put food on the table every night. These aren't luxuries — they're lifelines. And they're part of our shared responsibility to ensure no Kentuckian goes hungry. Kentucky's food banks are committed to doing our part. But systemic hunger cannot be solved through charity alone. We need policies that protect families and uphold the principle that access to food is a basic human right. Anyone can experience hunger. A job loss, medical emergency or child-care crisis can leave a family facing food insecurity. These programs offer dignity, consistency and hope when it matters most. And no matter our political beliefs, we should agree on this: No legislation should determine who gets to eat and who doesn't. Congress can act to protect and strengthen the nutrition programs that keep families afloat and give children a fair shot. We can work together to build a future where no one in Kentucky goes hungry. Melissa McDonald is executive director of Feeding Kentucky, a statewide network of seven Kentucky food banks and their partners.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
1 in 5 Kentucky kids faces hunger. Congress is considering a plan that would make it worse.
When children don't have consistent access to meals, it impacts their development, their education and their future. (Stock photo by Inti St. Clair/Getty Photos) In Kentucky more than 753,000 residents, or 1 in 6, face hunger. They often don't know where and when their next meal will be. That sobering statistic is felt daily across the commonwealth — from families forced to choose between groceries and rent to schools struggling to meet students' basic needs. Food banks and our partners across the state are doing all we can to provide millions of meals annually and coordinate critical emergency support — but we can't do it alone, and we certainly can't do it with policy that sends us backward. But that's just what's happening, and hungry Kentuckians will pay the price. The U.S. House Committee on Agriculture has proposed a plan that would quietly shift the burden and worsen the problem. If passed, the Kentucky budget would be responsible for funding over $150 million annually by 2028 just to maintain current benefit levels. With food insecurity projected to rise, that cost will likely increase even more. We're sure federal and state governments will jostle for who is to blame, but the bottom line is simple: Fewer Kentuckians will be able to eat. And that's why we're pushing back. The proposal under consideration would throw the entire SNAP system off, and there's no solution being offered. SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) works because it can scale up quickly when people are struggling, like after a natural disaster, such as recent tornadoes. States just don't have the resources to handle that kind of surge. Keeping SNAP federally funded is the only way to ensure it's there when people really need it. Charitable food assistance steps in where other support falls short, but it's not enough. For every meal provided by the charitable food system, SNAP delivers nine. That ratio matters. Reducing access to SNAP won't just stretch food banks thinner, it will stretch family budgets to the breaking point. Hunger is not just about food; it's about health, learning and opportunity. When children don't have consistent access to meals, it impacts their development, their education and their future. In Kentucky, 1 in 5 kids faces hunger. When adults don't have food, they can't be expected to perform their best at their job. The consequences ripple far beyond the dinner table. We already know what works. The community eligibility provision helps high-poverty schools serve free meals to all students. Summer EBT provides grocery assistance when school is out. SNAP helps families put food on the table every night. These aren't luxuries — they're lifelines. And they're part of our shared responsibility to ensure no Kentuckian goes hungry. Kentucky's food banks are committed to doing our part. But systemic hunger cannot be solved through charity alone. We need policies that protect families and uphold the principle that access to food is a basic human right. Anyone can experience hunger. A job loss, medical emergency or child-care crisis can leave a family facing food insecurity. These programs offer dignity, consistency and hope when it matters most. And no matter our political beliefs, we should agree on this: No legislation should determine who gets to eat and who doesn't. Congress can act to protect and strengthen the nutrition programs that keep families afloat and give children a fair shot. We can work together to build a future where no one in Kentucky goes hungry. Melissa McDonald is executive director of Feeding Kentucky, a statewide network of seven Kentucky food banks and their partners.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hunger assistance, student meal support, take hits in final Ohio House budget draft
(Stock photo by Inti St. Clair/Getty Photos.) Anti-hunger advocates saw a mixed bag with the final Ohio House version of the state budget, and they're hoping to claw back some losses via the Senate's draft. The House's budget was approved by the chamber on Wednesday with only five Republicans voting against it. It maintained some reductions to a children's health initiative, and gave food banks across the state only 'core funding,' without an increase that they say they need as the number of people asking for food continues to increase. And federal food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) often doesn't cover the needs of Ohio residents. The final House budget draft still includes SNAP work requirements and regulations, some of which were in Gov. Mike DeWine's executive budget, and some were added by the House. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The Children's Hunger Alliance will still fight against cuts to its programs as the budget moves to the Senate. DeWine's proposal asked for $3.75 million each year in federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to be given to the alliance. The House reduced that amount to $2.5 million. The cut could cause major problems for children in Ohio who need the help, according to the alliance. They include 2.8 million fewer meals and a doubling of the number of schools on a waitlist to join the program. The hunger alliance's president and CEO, Michelle Brown, said Columbiana and Athens counties would lose 150,000 meals in an Appalachian region that sees significant food insecurity already. 'We are urging the Senate to honor their commitment to children and by increasing CHA's funding by $2.5 million over the biennium, to restore flat funding as proposed by the governor,' the alliance said in a statement after the House budget was passed. The Hunger Network in Ohio criticized not only the hunger program cuts, but also cuts to the Fair School Funding Plan and the Housing Trust Fund. The network pressed the Senate to 'adopt fiscally responsible investments to create a stronger Ohio that prioritizes Ohio neighbors who are struggling to make ends meet.' The House-passed version of the bill didn't include a provision of DeWine's budget that would have provided free breakfast or lunch to school districts that participate in federal school meal programs and have a student population with at least 25% eligible for free or reduced-priced meals. The measure removed from the budget by the House used the federal Community Eligibility Provision, something that also could be up for cuts on the federal end. The provision allows schools to participate based on the percentage of students in a school district who participate in other assistance programs like SNAP and TANF. Currently, schools are eligible if they have up to 40% participation in such programs. Earlier this year, a congressional committee proposed changing the eligibility level for the provision. It would raise the participation percentage to 60%, a change that hunger relief advocates said could impact more than 280,000 Ohio children, and millions nationwide. The House budget did retain DeWine's language on the state's school meal programs. It would reimburse districts to allow those eligible for reduced-priced meals to receive them for free. The previous state operating budget included $4 million for that purpose. For the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, an earmark from TANF dollars of up to $24.5 million a year made it from the governor's budget proposal to the House's draft. The association is expected to use the money for food distribution, summer meal programs, SNAP outreach and even free tax filing services, according to budget documents. The provision also mentions 'capacity building' equipment as part of the earmarked funding. But the group still sees the need to fight for more on the Senate side, especially amid increasing demand and potential cuts to federal food assistance. The U.S. House passed a budget on Thursday, with funding cuts that could number in the trillions. They could include at least $880 billion in programs such as the SNAP program. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities stated at least $230 billion in federal cuts have been proposed through 2034 from the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, overseers the SNAP program, and reductions could come 'largely or entirely' from SNAP. Data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services noted nearly 1.5 million SNAP recipients in the state as of last month. The association's executive director, Joree Novotny, said the group plans to ask the Senate to add $4.93 million per fiscal year to help offset rising food costs and allow the food banks to continue to source food locally. 'Since 2020, food prices have surged by nearly 24%, meaning the same level of funding buys significantly less, both in consumers' grocery carts and in our own purchasing power as a statewide hunger relief network,' Novotny said in a statement. '…With modest additional support, Ohio's foodbanks will continue to stretch every dollar to maintain access to healthy foods when seniors and working families are forced to turn to us for help.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
