Download or read book Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-04-23 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many Americans who live at or below the poverty threshold, access to healthy foods at a reasonable price is a challenge that often places a strain on already limited resources and may compel them to make food choices that are contrary to current nutritional guidance. To help alleviate this problem, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers a number of nutrition assistance programs designed to improve access to healthy foods for low-income individuals and households. The largest of these programs is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly called the Food Stamp Program, which today serves more than 46 million Americans with a program cost in excess of $75 billion annually. The goals of SNAP include raising the level of nutrition among low-income households and maintaining adequate levels of nutrition by increasing the food purchasing power of low-income families. In response to questions about whether there are different ways to define the adequacy of SNAP allotments consistent with the program goals of improving food security and access to a healthy diet, USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to conduct a study to examine the feasibility of defining the adequacy of SNAP allotments, specifically: the feasibility of establishing an objective, evidence-based, science-driven definition of the adequacy of SNAP allotments consistent with the program goals of improving food security and access to a healthy diet, as well as other relevant dimensions of adequacy; and data and analyses needed to support an evidence-based assessment of the adequacy of SNAP allotments. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Examining the Evidence to Define Benefit Adequacy reviews the current evidence, including the peer-reviewed published literature and peer-reviewed government reports. Although not given equal weight with peer-reviewed publications, some non-peer-reviewed publications from nongovernmental organizations and stakeholder groups also were considered because they provided additional insight into the behavioral aspects of participation in nutrition assistance programs. In addition to its evidence review, the committee held a data gathering workshop that tapped a range of expertise relevant to its task.
Download or read book Overview and Perspectives on the Food Stamp Program written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: A GAO report provides an overview and perspectives on the U.S. Food Stamp Program (FSP) and highlights 5 major program issues. The issues are: accountability and integrity, program simplification, nutritional adequacy provided by the program, interrelationship of the FSP with other food assistance programs, and program coverage and eligibility requirements. The report discusses the implications of each of these issues and the related concerns of the issues, past efforts that have been undertaken to address them, actions yet to be implemented, based on prior recommendations, and other, related factors that need to be considered. A bibliography of documents used to develop the FSP issues is appended. (wz).
Download or read book Means Tested Transfer Programs in the United States written by National Bureau of Economic Research and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2003-10-15 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few United States government programs are as controversial as those designed to aid the poor. From tax credits to medical assistance, aid to needy families is surrounded by debate—on what benefits should be offered, what forms they should take, and how they should be administered. The past few decades, in fact, have seen this debate lead to broad transformations of aid programs themselves, with Aid to Families with Dependent Children replaced by Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, the Earned Income Tax Credit growing from a minor program to one of the most important for low-income families, and Medicaid greatly expanding its eligibility. This volume provides a remarkable overview of how such programs actually work, offering an impressive wealth of information on the nation's nine largest "means-tested" programs—that is, those in which some test of income forms the basis for participation. For each program, contributors describe origins and goals, summarize policy histories and current rules, and discuss the recipient's characteristics as well as the different types of benefits they receive. Each chapter then provides an overview of scholarly research on each program, bringing together the results of the field's most rigorous statistical examinations. The result is a fascinating portrayal of the evolution and current state of means-tested programs, one that charts a number of shifts in emphasis—the decline of cash assistance, for instance, and the increasing emphasis on work. This exemplary portrait of the nation's safety net will be an invaluable reference for anyone interested in American social policy.
Download or read book Food Insecurity and Hunger in the United States written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2006-05-02 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States is viewed by the world as a country with plenty of food, yet not all households in America are food secure, meaning access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. A proportion of the population experiences food insecurity at some time in a given year because of food deprivation and lack of access to food due to economic resource constraints. Still, food insecurity in the United States is not of the same intensity as in some developing countries. Since 1995 the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has annually published statistics on the extent of food insecurity and food insecurity with hunger in U.S. households. These estimates are based on a survey measure developed by the U.S. Food Security Measurement Project, an ongoing collaboration among federal agencies, academic researchers, and private organizations. USDA requested the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academies to convene a panel of experts to undertake a two-year study in two phases to review at this 10-year mark the concepts and methodology for measuring food insecurity and hunger and the uses of the measure. In Phase 2 of the study the panel was to consider in more depth the issues raised in Phase 1 relating to the concepts and methods used to measure food security and make recommendations as appropriate. The Committee on National Statistics appointed a panel of 10 experts to examine the above issues. In order to provide timely guidance to USDA, the panel issued an interim Phase 1 report, Measuring Food Insecurity and Hunger: Phase 1 Report. That report presented the panel's preliminary assessments of the food security concepts and definitions; the appropriateness of identifying hunger as a severe range of food insecurity in such a survey-based measurement method; questions for measuring these concepts; and the appropriateness of a household survey for regularly monitoring food security in the U.S. population. It provided interim guidance for the continued production of the food security estimates. This final report primarily focuses on the Phase 2 charge. The major findings and conclusions based on the panel's review and deliberations are summarized.
Download or read book Characteristics of Food Stamp Households written by and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book GAO Documents written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 924 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Catalog of reports, decisions and opinions, testimonies and speeches.
Download or read book The Public Health Effects of Food Deserts written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2009-07-02 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the United States, people living in low-income neighborhoods frequently do not have access to affordable healthy food venues, such as supermarkets. Instead, those living in "food deserts" must rely on convenience stores and small neighborhood stores that offer few, if any, healthy food choices, such as fruits and vegetables. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) and National Research Council (NRC) convened a two-day workshop on January 26-27, 2009, to provide input into a Congressionally-mandated food deserts study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. The workshop, summarized in this volume, provided a forum in which to discuss the public health effects of food deserts.
Download or read book A Safety Net That Works written by Robert Doar and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-02-13 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an edited volume reviewing the major means-tested social programs in the United States. Each author addresses a major program or area, reviewing each area’s successes and recommending how to address shortcomings through policy change. In general, our means-tested programs do many things well, but some adjustments to each could make the system much more effective. This book provides policymakers with a broad overview of the issues at hand in each program and how to address them.
Download or read book Legal Strategies in Childhood Obesity Prevention written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-08-08 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 1980, childhood obesity rates have more than tripled in the United States. Recent data show that almost one-third of children over 2 years of age are already overweight or obese. While the prevalence of childhood obesity appears to have plateaued in recent years, the magnitude of the problem remains unsustainably high and represents an enormous public health concern. All options for addressing the childhood obesity epidemic must therefore be explored. In the United States, legal approaches have successfully reduced other threats to public health, such as the lack of passive restraints in automobiles and the use of tobacco. The question then arises of whether laws, regulations, and litigation can likewise be used to change practices and policies that contribute to obesity. On October 21, 2010, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) held a workshop to bring together stakeholders to discuss the current and future legal strategies aimed at combating childhood obesity. Legal Strategies in Childhood Obesity Prevention summarizes the proceedings of that workshop. The report examines the challenges involved in implementing public health initiatives by using legal strategies to elicit change. It also discusses circumstances in which legal strategies are needed and effective. This workshop was created only to explore the boundaries of potential legal approaches to address childhood obesity, and therefore, does not contain recommendations for the use of such approaches.
Download or read book Shopping with Food Stamps written by and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Breadlines Knee Deep in Wheat written by Janet Poppendieck and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2014-04-26 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At no time during the Great Depression was the contradiction between agriculture surplus and widespread hunger more wrenchingly graphic than in the government's attempt to raise pork prices through the mass slaughter of miliions of "unripe" little pigs. This contradiction was widely perceived as a "paradox." In fact, as Janet Poppendieck makes clear in this newly expanded and updated volume, it was a normal, predictable working of an economic system rendered extreme by the Depression. The notion of paradox, however, captured the imagination of the public and policy makers, and it was to this definition of the problem that surplus commodities distribution programs in the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations were addressed. This book explains in readable narrative how the New Deal food assistance effort, originally conceived as a relief measure for poor people, became a program designed to raise the incomes of commercial farmers. In a broader sense, the book explains how the New Deal years were formative for food assistance in subsequent administrations; it also examines the performance--or lack of performance--of subsequent in-kind relief programs. Beginning with a brief survey of the history of the American farmer before the depression and the impact of the Depression on farmers, the author describes the development of Hoover assistance programs and the events at the end of that administration that shaped the "historical moment" seized by the early New Deal. Poppendieck goes on to analyze the food assistance policies and programs of the Roosevelt years, the particular series of events that culminated in the decision to purchase surplus agriculture products and distribute them to the poor, the institutionalization of this approach, the resutls achieved, and the interest groups formed. The book also looks at the takeover of food assistance by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its gradual adaptation for use as a tool in the maintenance of farm income. Utliizing a wide variety of official and unofficial sources, the author reveals with unusual clarity the evolution from a policy directly responsive to the poor to a policy serving mainly democratic needs.
Download or read book Local Food Systems Concepts Impacts and Issues written by Steve Martinez and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 87 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive overview of local food systems explores alternative definitions of local food, estimates market size and reach, describes the characteristics of local consumers and producers, and examines early indications of the economic and health impacts of local food systems. Defining ¿local¿ based on marketing arrangements, such as farmers selling directly to consumers at regional farmers¿ markets or to schools, is well recognized. Statistics suggest that local food markets account for a small, but growing, share of U.S. agricultural production. For smaller farms, direct marketing to consumers accounts for a higher percentage of their sales than for larger farms. Charts and tables.
Download or read book Mickey Leland Childhood Hunger Relief Act written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture. Subcommittee on Department Operations and Nutrition and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Homelessness written by and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Hunger and Obesity written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-06-26 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At some point during 2009, more than 17 million households in the United States had difficulty providing enough food for all their members because of a lack of resources. In more than one-third of these households, the food intake of some household members was reduced and normal eating patterns were disrupted due to limited resources. The Workshop on Understanding the Relationship Between Food Insecurity and Obesity was held to explore the biological, economic, psychosocial, and other factors that may influence the relationship between food insecurity, overweight, and obesity in the United States. Hunger and Obesity examines current concepts and research findings in the field. The report identifies information gaps, proposes alternative approaches to analyzing data, recommends new data that should be collected, and addresses the limitations of the available research.
Download or read book Food Security Poverty and Nutrition Policy Analysis written by Suresh Babu and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2009-04-06 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Food Security, Poverty and Nutrition Analysis provides essential insights into the evaluative techniques necessary for creating appropriate and effective policies and programs to address these worldwide issues. Food scientists and nutritionists will use this important information, presented in a conceptual framework and through case studies for exploring representative problems, identifying and implementing appropriate methods of measurement and analysis, understanding examples of policy applications, and gaining valuable insight into the multidisciplinary requirements of successful implementation.This book provides core information in a format that provides not only the concept behind the method, but real-world applications giving the reader valuable, practical knowledge.* Identify proper analysis method, apply to available data, develop appropriate policy* Demonstrates analytical techniques using real-world scenario application to illustrate approaches for accurate evaluation improving understanding of practical application development* Tests reader comprehension of the statistical and analytical understanding vital to the creation of solutions for food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty-related nutrition issues using hands-on exercises
Download or read book The Food Stamp Scheme in Sri Lanka written by Neville Edirisinghe and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 1987-01-01 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The policy change; Price subsidy and food stamp benefits; The beneficiaries; The effect on fiscal costs and income distribution; Patterns of food consumption and nutrition before and after the subsidy program change; Inflation and the real value of food stamps; Impact of food stamps on nutrition and cost-effectiveness; The nutrition of children and income transfer.
