www.ohiofoodbanks.org state food policy summit statewide policy implications on food and health...
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www.ohiofoodbanks.org
www.ohiobenefits.org
State Food Policy Summit
Statewide Policy Implications on Food and Health
Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, Executive Director, Ohio Association of Foodbanks
June 4, 2015
The Ohio Association of Foodbanks is Ohio’s largest charitable response to hunger.
Our mission is to assist Ohio’s 12 Feeding America foodbanks in providing food and other resources to people in need and to pursue areas of common interest for the benefit of people in need.
Who We Are
Who We Are
HUNGER STUDY: Our Network
HUNGER STUDY: Our Network• 16 percent of respondents reported
they were responsible for the care of grandchildren in their household.
• 50 percent of households had a member that was employed in the past year.
• 71 percent of households are living with annual incomes at or below the federal poverty level ($9,760 annually).
• Monthly household income was only $813.
• 1 in 10 households reported having no monthly income.
HUNGER STUDY: Spending Tradeoffs
Ohio Association of Foodbanks clients report that their household income is
inadequate to cover their basic expenses, often forcing them to make
tough choices.
Continued record demand
• Statewide 40% increase demand for emergency food assistance from 2010 to 2014.
• Ohio has yet to recover 107,800 jobs lost since the Great Recession.
• Continued low wages or part-time work means working poor are coming to our food
lines.
Continued record demand• Growing economic inequality and social insecurity, combined with
declining investment in public resources, put ever more stress on the finances and personal relationships of low-income parents.
• Most of the new jobs are low-wage, part-time service sector jobs and contingent employment. A full time minimum wage worker makes $16,848, less than the 100% of the Federal Poverty Level ($20,090/family of 3).
• Temporary workers in Ohio has increased from about 73,700 people in 2009 to an average of 114,000 during most of 2014, according to the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
• 18 percent (9 of the top 50) employers in Ohio with the most Ohioans who receive public assistance, Medicaid, Food Stamps and child care are temporary and staffing companies.
HUNGER STUDY: Coping Strategies
Ohio Association of Foodbanks clients report that they use– and often combine– a variety of coping strategies to stretch their limited
incomes further, especially purchasing inexpensive, unhealthy food (81%).
HUNGER STUDY: Hunger and Health
Declining Caseloads– The Facts• Basic assistance for needy families is dwindling
Ohio Works First - TANF
February 2015 February 2014 % Change
Recipients 113,435 121,267 -4.4%Children 96,589 100,769 -4.3%Adults 16,589 20,498 -23.6%Assistance Groups 59,907 62,671 -6.5%Average monthly benefit $193.85 $188.52 +2.8%
Food Assistance – SNAP – Food StampsRecipients 1,680,198 1,757,519 -4.4%
Average monthly benefit $124.93 $121.61 +2.7%Per person
42% of Ohio individuals on SNAP are children
SNAP benefits have been cutOhioans have lost over 277 million meals since October 2013. ($385 million in 100% federally funded SNAP)• Early sunset of ARRA boost to SNAP was used to offset
increasedreimbursement forhealthier schoolmeals in last CNR.
• Almost half of all Ohioans participating in SNAP are kids.
State Food Policy and Hunger Issues – Am. Sub. H.B. 64 2016/2017 State Budget
• Support Ohio Association of Foodbanks budget request for $20 million per year in support of the Ohio Food and Agricultural Clearance Programs.
• Provide $10 million year to expand Food Stamp Employment and Training.
• Support and provide funding to Healthy Food Financing Initiative.
• Provide state funding for expand Meals on Wheels and Congregant Feeding programs for seniors.
• Support Medicaid Extension $25.7 B (16) and $26.6 B (17) – largest state expenditure.
Foodbanks Funding RequestWe are requesting $20 million a year ($40 million over the 2016-2017 biennial budget) or a total increase of $5.5 million a year.
= a mere 83 cents per person per month served!
= 56 million meals for hungry Ohioans (or 35 cents a meal)!
= Kids who are able to focus in school and learn to read by the third grade!
= Ohio workers who can concentrate at work and don’t take sick days because of diet-related diseases!
= Lower rates of chronic health conditions and older adults who can live independently in their homes saving the state billions in institutionalized care!
State and Federal Investments that will help address Rising Poverty• Strengthen and expand Federal Earned
Income Tax (EITC), Education and Child Tax Credits.
• Implement a Refundable State EITC –Refundability Matters and helps support low wage workers.
• Expand and fund SNAP/Food Stamp Employment and Training Programs.
• Expand SNAP waiver and exempt unemployed and underemployed SNAP recipients from the 3 month in every 3 years time limit.
State Investments that will Address Rising Poverty• Ensure priority services in the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act: Targeting funding to serve more high-need adults.• GED and basic skills deficiency• Targeting intensive training, skills and
education for young adults
• Increase the Minimum Wage to a Living Wage
• Modernize Unemployment Compensation benefits
No Magic Bullet• Poverty is not a character flaw – its
an economic condition.• Acknowledge and face the New World
Order• Declining wages in the jobs that built
America's Middle Class.• Overall wages are not keeping up with
inflation.• The high cost of health care and health
insurance.
Child Nutrition Reauthorization
“I had to decide, do I buy Twinkies with the change I found in my car or do I buy them apples? I admit I chose Twinkies because it was cheaper,” said Elsie Hunt, a lunch aide at a Westerville school and married mother of 4.
Super Bowl of Child Nutrition Legislation
• Child Nutrition Reauthorizationauthorizes spending, policy for programs like school meals, after school meals and snacks, summer feeding, WIC, farm-to-school, and others
• Authorization expires September 2015
• Improvements from the last CNR included expanding after school meal program to all 50 states; enhance nutritional quality of food served in schools; established community eligibility option and more.
Child Nutrition Reauthorization Priorities• Provide states more options for serving kids during the
summer(flexibility in the congregate meal requirement and using an EBT-style food dollar supplement)
• Streamline regulations for community based providers(allowing nonprofits to run one program year round and increasing area eligibility)
• Allow flexibility to better reach kids during weekends and school breaks(sending kids home with a backpack of groceries on Friday afternoons)
• Leverage schools beyond the school day(opening up kitchens, libraries or playgrounds to nonprofits)
• Strengthen access and quality in school meal programs and WIC(by supporting equipment and training needs and outreach)
Federal Legislative Opportunities and Threats• Support Child Poverty Reduction Act of 2015 (H.R.
2408) to establish a target of cutting child poverty in ten years and eliminating it within twenty years.
• Monitor Subcommittee on Nutrition Public Hearing “Past, Present and Future of SNAP: The World of Nutrition, Government Duplication and Unmet Needs.
• Protect Nutrition Standards in Child Nutrition Programs.
• Oppose cuts and support proposal to strengthen SNAP – Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
• Protect 45.7 million poor American’s who depend on SNAP as their nutritional lifeline.
• Advocate increasing the SNAP benefits to the low cost or moderate food plan – to reflect the rising cost of food.
It’s common sense
• Access to food can stabilize struggling families, make Ohioans healthier, support Ohio workers, and stimulate Ohio’s economy.
• Hungry children can’t learn, hungry adults can’t compete for jobs, and hungry seniors are less independent.
• Increasing hunger is not the way to strengthen our economy or reduce the deficit.
• A job doesn’t necessarily mean a living.
How you can help:
• Support the Ohio Foodbanks request for an additional $2.75 million per year in Am. Sub. HB 64. Call and Email the following Senators Today:
• Ohio Senate President Keith Faber / [email protected] or (614) 466-7584
• President Pro-Tempore & Member of Medicaid Subcommittee Chris Widener / [email protected] or (614) 466-3780
• Majority Floor Leader Tom Patton / [email protected] or (614) 466-8056
• Majority Whip Larry Obhof / [email protected] or (614)466-7505
• Chair, Senate Finance, Scott Oelslager / [email protected] or (614) 466-0626
• Vice Chair, Senate Finance & Member of Medicaid Subcommittee, Bill Coley / [email protected] or (614) 466-8072
Thank you for your support!
ohiofoodbanks.org
Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, Executive Director [email protected] 614.221.4336, ext. 222