When individuals, families, and their children are hungry, they struggle with high levels of toxic stress and have little bandwidth to do much more than meet their basic needs. Hunger plays a pivotal role in how economies function and thrive. Hunger’s impact on poverty and economic growth And, as stated above, the upcoming White House conference offers an unprecedented opportunity to discuss a whole-of-government, cross-sectoral approach to reforming food systems and eliminating hunger. SNAP is the nation’s largest anti-hunger program, supplementing the food budget of vulnerable families so they can purchase healthy food and move toward self-sufficiency. In 2023, Congress is set to reauthorize the Farm Bill, which includes funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. In 2022, Congress is due to reauthorize the USDA Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), 9which authorizes all the federal child nutrition programs that reach millions of children and their families every day. Two upcoming legislative opportunities would allow Congress to take meaningful action to build a food system that is more affordable, accessible, and resilient.
The report explains why, with the right interventions, hunger is wholly preventable and highlights interviews with Americans who have experienced hunger and food insecurity. Address the impacts of climate change and improve market competition to ensure long-term food sustainability for all.Create more accessible and affordable food production and distribution systems.
Reduce poverty as an integral step to reducing hunger. This report outlines the long-term strategies necessary to end hunger in the United States: With several key pieces of food and nutrition legislation coming up for reauthorization in Congress, and with the recent White House announcement that a national conference on hunger, nutrition, and health will be held in September 2022, 7the United States has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform all of the connected systems that address domestic hunger and food insecurity, focusing on building a whole-of-government, cross-sectoral approach to eliminating hunger. Policymakers must immediately take action to combat food insecurity and eliminate the root causes and barriers that prevent millions of individuals and families from succeeding. Notably, low-income households of color, often led by single mothers, tend to have higher rates of hunger and food insecurity 2due to historic and structural racism and discrimination in economic opportunity, employment, education, housing, and lending. More than 7 million households were food insecure despite receiving federal food and nutrition benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and almost 4 million of these households included children. From June 1 to June 13, 2022, almost 24 million households-including 11.6 million households with children under the age of 18-reported that they sometimes or often did not have enough to eat during the week. In 2020, almost 14 million households-10.5 percent of the population-did not having enough food to meet their needs, 1 which greatly affected their health, well-being, and quality of life. Yet hunger and food insecurity are widespread in the United States. Food is a fundamental human right, much like air and water.
0 kommentar(er)
