Foundation Journal

>A user-friendly website developed by Western Michigan University and the Federal government has surpassed 1 million users. The Food Research and Action Center reported that the "site helps low-income parents learn healthier child feeding behaviors, and has information available in English and Spanish. During the past year, more than 417,000 WIC clients used the site to access training videos, recipe lists, and lessons on topics like dealing with children who are picky eaters and how to improve meal nutrition." The site hosts a wealth of information and a variety of online tools, such as a YouTube video channel geared to WIC participants as shown here.

While the news of a judge blocking the voter ID regulation in South Carolina is encouraging, a law requiring fingerprints for Food Stamp/SNAP application in New York is still on the books. Opponents of the voter ID laws claim these regulations are in violation of the Voting Rights Act because they target minorities, thus reducing their likelihood of voting. The voter ID regulations in South Carolina and other states are simply laws chasing fraud where it does not exist or is misguided because of the negligible number of cases. Simply put: these regulations, like the fingerprinting requirement, are targeting poor people in unjust ways. As the Food Research and Action Center noted in their recent news digest, a January 1, 2012 New York Times editorial argued for ending the practice of fingerprinting SNAP applicants. “Especially at a time when so many families are struggling, the Bloomberg administration should drop the [fingerprinting] requirement that leads to many New Yorke...

A line snakes down the street as people line up outside Birmingham's Boutwell Auditorium seeking supplemental food assistance offered people who suffered losses in the April 27, 2011, tornadoes in Alabama. (The Birmingham News/Michelle Campbell) Today I had several people ask what they could do to help people affected by the Joplin tornado devastation. One person responded that "mercifully" no one he knew lived in Joplin, but he was concerned about providing disaster relief. Food Relief and Action Center documented two recent cases -- in Alabama and North Dakota -- where victims of storms were provided food assistance through the SNAP/Food Stamps program. The Alabama case show one example of the quickest way to provide relief is through the government program; a keen way to shared responsibility to disaster relief. 500 county health workers were needed to process SNAP benefit applications, which shows how great the need for basic food assistance is in t...