Anika Ravi, DQ 7

.docx

School

University of Mississippi *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

101

Subject

Biology

Date

Apr 3, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

6

Uploaded by ChancellorStarlingPerson826

Report
1 Federally Funded Food Assistance Programs: Discussion Question 7 Anika Ravi Lott Leadership Institute, University of Mississippi PPL 101: Foundations of Public Policy Leadership Dr. Holland October 6, 2023
2 Federally Funded Food Assistance Programs: Discussion Question 7 There are many federally funded programs made to address issues such as food insecurity and accessibility for those in lower-income communities and households. Programs included the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), child nutrition programs such as the National School Lunch program, School Breakfast, Child and Adult Care, Summer Food Service and Special Milk, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and food distribution programs such as Emergency Food Assistance, Indian Reservations, Commodity Supplemental, Nutrition for the Elderly, and Charitable Institutions (Food and Nutrition Service, 2023). The national trends of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), specifically since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020, follow a general trend seen in America during this time. SNAP gained 3 million participants alone between March 2020 and April 2020. This is because of the loss of jobs and access to school meals for families, thus resulting in the need for more supplemental food and assistance when living at home more than ever before. The number of SNAP participants peaked at 43 million in September of 2020, and that is the highest that the participant number has been from the 2020 fiscal year and forward. After the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the numbers fluctuated and decreased towards the end of 2021, then rose and dropped again during 2022. Overall, there are more participants in the 2023 fiscal year than the 2022 fiscal year (SNAP Data Tables, 2023). The cost of the SNAP was ~4 billion dollars before the COVID-19 pandemic, but then rose to 7 billion dollars and has since gradually increased, reaching over 10 billion dollars in May of 2021. After this month, the cost gradually decreased and then rose once again to 10
3 billion dollars in October of 2022. As of June 2023, however, the cost of the SNAP benefits has lowered to 7.5 billion dollars. Overall, the 2020 fiscal year cost 74 billion dollars, the 2021 fiscal year cost 108 billion dollars, the 2022 fiscal year cost 114 billion dollars, and the 2023 fiscal year cost 85 billion (SNAP Data Tables, 2023). When looking at the use of SNAP benefits per U.S. state, Mississippi had the highest percentage of people eligible for the SNAP (32.1%) in 2020 (Knop et al., 2023). In addition, Mississippi has 14% of our population participating in the program. Alabama proves to be similar, as they have 15% of their population enrolled in the program (Williams, 2022). However, Alabama also has over 79% of their eligible population enrolled in the program as of 2018 (Hall and Nchako, 2023). Georgia proves to be similar to Mississippi and Alabama in terms of state population percentage of participants as well, as they also have 15% of their population enrolled in the program. Contrastingly to surrounding states, Louisiana has a whopping 20% of their state population enrolled in SNAP (Williams, 2022). For Mississippi alone, the average monthly benefits for an individual with SNAP in 2021 was $212. As for if this can accommodate someone for their groceries per month, the average amount spent on groceries per month per household in the U.S. is roughly $438 (Measom, 2023). So, theoretically, the current approximate benefit per person in Mississippi from SNAP should cover a household of at least two people or more. As for inflation, however, the percentage of inflation for food prices used to be 2%, but jumped to 11% from 2021 to 2022 (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2023). This shows the drastic difference that inflation will cause in the effectiveness of food supplemental programs like SNAP. When discussing how to fill these gaps, the U.S. government is called on to fill them. However, can they? Can the government truly budget for this without
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
  • Access to all documents
  • Unlimited textbook solutions
  • 24/7 expert homework help