Public Assistance Programs for Food Insecurities

840 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Solutions to food insecurity in the United States

DiNitto (2011) noted public assistance programs both cash and in kind, may not reduce national poverty rates dramatically, but they can substantially increase the quality of life of those who are poor. Has the American society effectively reduced food insecurities? With the reduction in hunger, is the society better off now than it was 5 years ago?
Supplemental Nutrition Program Assistance
According to DiNitto (2011), the most basic subsistence need the government meets is for food. The federal government’s main food program for low income individuals and families is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP is designed to reduce food insecurity and disrupted eating patterns in a household due to lack of money or other resources (FNS, 2013). SNAP replaced the food stamp program, the program utilizes the use of electronic benefit transfer which made paper coupons obsolete. The benefits cannot be used to buy material items such as soap, toilet paper or other personal hygiene items (DiNitto, 2011). The Food Stamp Act of 1964, was intended to help feed needy people at a time when hunger was one of the nation’s main dietary problems (Brownell & Ludwig, 2011). Based on recent research published by The United States Department of Agriculture, SNAP is associated with substantial improvements in food security (FNS, 2013).
Effects of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
In 2007, 13 million households the equivalent of 11.1 percent of the American population were food insecure. Food insecure means that at some time during the year, these families had difficulty providing enough food for all their family members due to lack of resources (Dinitto, 2011). In 2008, the maximum SNAP benefit for a family of four was $542 dol...

... middle of paper ...

... leaves the American Society better off than it was five years prior.

References
Blumenthal, S., Ludwig, D. & Willett, W. (2012, December). Opportunities to Reduce Childhood Hungry and Obesity. Journal of the American Medical Association, 308(24), 2567-2568. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from JAMA database.
Brownell, K. & Ludwig, D. (2001, September). The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Soda and USDA Policy, Who Benefits. Journal of American Medical Association, 306(12), 1370-1371. Retrieved March 16, 2014 from JAMA database.
DiNitto, D. (2011). Social Welfare Politics and Public Policy. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Food and Nutrition Service. (2013) Nutrition Assistance Program Report. Retrieved March 15, 2014 from http://www.fns.usda.gov
Food and Nutrition Service. (2014). Research and Evaluation Plan. Retrieved March 15, 2014 from http://www.fns.usda.gov

Show More
Related

  • Food Stamps: Should They Be Limited?

    1912 Words  | 4 Pages

    With more and more people becoming unemployed and applying for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), it is imperative that we understand the benefits as well as problems this causes. Even while researching this topic and talking to some of my family and friends about it, it surprised me the amount of those who do not understand food stamps. Coming from the SNAP website, “Food stamps offer nutritional assistance to millions of eligible low-income individuals and families and provides economic benefits to communities” (United States). This program helps millions of people per year and gives upwards of $75 billion and rising. With the prices of food increasing due to inflation, beneficiaries are receiving around $400 at most per month. Using the Electronic benefit transfer systems (EBT), beneficiaries can buy goods from a grocery store using a credit-card like transaction, which takes the money off of their card. The benefits are received monthly on a specific date and vary in amounts from person to person. One family may receive $300 per month because they have three kids and need the extra money, while another may receive $100 or less depending on financial status. The application process includes completing and filing an application form, being interviewed, and verifying facts crucial to determining eligibility. In the past, these applications did not require a drug screening to get benefits, but more and more states are adopting this. There are many drawbacks to SNAP as well such as taking money from working people’s paychecks every week and people abusing the system. Talking about a very opinionated subject, we must remove bias and answer whether or not the Food Stamp system should be limited.

    Read More

  • Food Stamps Argumentative Essay

    1880 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many families and people have become too dependent on food stamps. “Critics of food stamps and government spending, however, argue that too many families have become dependent on government aid.”(NoteCard #1) But if they did not have this program people would go hungry. “11.9 million people went hungry in the United States”... “that included nearly 700,000 children, up more than 50% from the year before.”(NoteCard #2, Point 2) The program does good and helps people but it also spends a lot of money to get people food stamps. “..food-stamp recipients has soared to 44 million from 26 million in 2007, and the costa have more than doubled to $77 billion from $33 billion.”(NoteCard #5) But in the end, is it worth it? People need the assistance. It does help people from going hungry and keeps them at least with a little food in their stomach to that keeps them from starving. A lot of people who could not get jobs, were eligible for the program because they did not have a source of income. “Critics of food stamps and government spending, however, argue that too many families have become dependent on government aid.”(NoteCard #1) Since not everyone could get work, the government changed the requirements and it went for the better and for the

    Read More

  • The Food Stamp Problem in the USA and Fingerprinting its Recipients

    547 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to the article Millions Commit Food Stamp Fraud Every Year, “Food stamps represent one of the fastest growing federal programs in the U.S., 46 million Americans now receive assistance, but, it's a program ripe for abuse” (Volk, 2012). Though the idea behind food stamps is noble, and there is a definite need for the program; there are many problems that arise from the food stamps program. The primary problem in terms of decision-making is the fraud associated with the food stamp program. According to Tanner as quoted in the Millions Commit Food Stamp Fraud Every Year article, “The food stamp program has always had one of the highest rates of waste, fraud and abuse” (Volk, 2012).

    Read More

  • Working Poor: Food Insecurity

    1285 Words  | 3 Pages

    Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana. (2013). Food programs . Retrieved from http://www.curehunger.org/Programs/FoodPrograms.aspx

    Read More

  • Food Stamps

    1001 Words  | 3 Pages

    This SNAP program originates from the latter half of the nineteen-thirties around the Great Depression. One of the worst problems from this era in our history was feeding everyone. SAMP was first introduced in New York in 1939 and they actually used orange and blue stamps, thus creating the term “Food Stamps.” John F. Kennedy helped to fuel the second stage of the process through his campaign. There was pilot program between 1961-1964 filled with studies, reports and legislative proposals”(FNS). “The Federal Food Stamp Act of 1964 is the most significant food plan in the united states” this act started it all. “It provides food stamps for needy individuals that can be exchanged like money in authorized stores” (Cornell). The same year the act was passed “there were 380,000 people in twenty two different states.”

    Read More

  • The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Analysis

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (S.N.A.P.) is a federal program founded in 1964, with the purpose of reducing hunger and malnutrition in the United States. Low-income families and individuals that qualify for this federal assistance can buy food every month in the form of an electronic benefit transfer (EBT). These EBT cards are similar to debit card; cardholder’s recipient can use their cash benefits or buy eligible food at most stores and retailers. Over the years S.N.A.P expenses have dramatically increase. S.N.A.P needs reform due to the never-ending of the amount of waste, fraud, and abuse.

    Read More

  • History Of SNAP

    497 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is a Federal food assistance program that can be traced to 1933. Since then SNAP has helped millions of Americans, who live below the poverty line, to purchase food and has been a safety net for Americans who have experienced hard times due to economic downturns. SNAP is an amazing federal program that without it, millions of Americans would be starving and economic activity would be down.

    Read More

  • A Sociological Perspective On Food Insecurity

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the year 2015, around 40 million U.S. citizens were food insecure (Randall para. 3). Food insecurity can be defined in paragraph 3 by “[having] difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources. This 12.7% of American citizens also contains another group - children. Aged 10-17, 6.8 million adolescents struggle with a food insecurity. There have been several years of cuts to the social programs designed to help these people, along with the Great Recession continuing to leave an impact on the U.S. economy (para. 6). Under the Obama administration, $8.6 billion was cut from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps. From 1993-2001 under the Clinton administration, former President Bill Clinton’s administration “gutted the welfare system” (para. 15). Because of these budget cuts, the families who rely on food assistance from the government have been allotted less throughout the years. From a sociological perspective, the concepts of sociological imagination, class stratification, and social location are in effect when it comes to child hunger in the United States. Being hungry is an issue larger than any one individual can control.

    Read More

  • Social Welfare: Sucking Off The Tit of America

    1518 Words  | 4 Pages

    Morin, Rich. "The politics and demographics of food stamp recipients." Pew Research Center RSS. Pew Research Center, 12 July 2013. Web. 11 May 2014.

    Read More

  • Hunger in East Tenessee: The Unnecessary Plague

    1681 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ronald Reagan took office January 20, 1981, and implemented his policy of Reaganonmics, which reduced government spending. In Closing the Food Gap, Mark Winne states, “Many elderly people who were surviving off of a meager Social Security Income and an allotment of food stamps were devastated when Reagan came into office” (Winne 21-23). Because of the reduced government spending, food stamp allotments were drastically reduced. Some rations were cut nearly in half or more, and multitudes were reduced to the minimum amount of ten dollars. Due to the increasing number of hungry people resulting from the lack of government assistance, “grass-root groups fell back on a kind of quintessential can-do American spirit to address the crisis at hand” (Winne 25). Food stamps are a big deal to people who are barely able to make ends meet because their budget must be split between thre...

    Read More

  • Low Income Families Living in Food Deserts

    1341 Words  | 3 Pages

    Health Education Journal, June 2000, vol. 59. No. of the. 2 137-149 Ploeg, M.; Breneman, V.; Farrigan, T.; Hamrick, K.; Hopkins, D.; Kaufman, P.; Lin, B. H.; Nord, M.; Smith, T.; Williams, R.; Kinnison, Access to affordable and nutritious food measuring and understanding food deserts and their consequences : report to Congress (Rev. Sept. 3, 2009] ed.). (2009). The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Labor.

    Read More

  • Obesity and Poverty

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to the American Psychological Association, “In 2010, the poverty threshold, or poverty line, was 22,314 dollars for a family of four” (2). People living in poverty may be forced to depend on public assistance programs such as food stamps, or more formally known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. On the exterior, this program seems to benefit hungry families, but in all actually it is actually facilitating their obesity. The formerly mentioned family of four would be qualified to receive a maximum of 688 dollars a month in food stamps (North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services). That equates to just over 170 dollars a week or 40 dollars per family member. A paltry amount such as this forces families to make difficult decisions regarding the amount and type of food they provide their family.

    Read More

  • Problems of the Food System

    2097 Words  | 5 Pages

    "U.S. Food System Facts Sheet." Center for Sustainable Systems . The University of Michigan , 2010. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. .

    Read More

  • The Effects of Poverty on Children

    1209 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alaimo, K., Olson, C. M., Frongillo, E. A., & Briefel, R. R. (2001). Food insufficiency, family income, and

    Read More

  • Childhood and Adulthood Obesity

    1387 Words  | 3 Pages

    National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2014, January 23). Division of nutrition, physical activity, and obesity. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/index.html

    Read More

More about Public Assistance Programs for Food Insecurities

Open Document