Foundation Journal

A discussion about food stamp outreach at Harvesters taught me to remember the difficulty many working poor people face when making ends meet. The trend in the charitable food assistance world shows a steady pattern of people living in poverty and with food insecurity. Many individuals neglect to apply for SNAP benefits even though they are eligible for those benefits. An AmeriCorps worker performing SNAP outreach duties at Harvesters shared how Kansas City, Kansas residents have increasingly applied for food stamps because of the instructions provided to social service workers at El Centro . The outreach worker shared how even immigrants with permanent residency status neglect to apply for these government benefits over fears they could lose their path to citizenship, despite situations which allow non-citizens to receive benefits.

Missouri SNAP/food stamp applicants needlessly wait longer than expected when they apply for well-deserved food assistance because application are hand-written and submitted by mail. Anything that can be done to help workers fill a gap in stagnant wages helps Missouri communities. New Jersey has pending legislation that would provide information to SNAP applicants on when their application was received. “There is a hunger crisis in New Jersey that is being made worse by a mismanaged food assistance program that leave some families without food waiting up to six months for assistance,” said Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union in a January 26, 2015 NewJersey.com article . “It is unconscionable to make families and children go hungry that long.” In Misssouri applicants are required to mail or deliver in person hand-written applications to a Social Services office. Once applications are sent, people applying do not receive a notice that Missouri office received the applications. In fact, appli...

Incredibly, a bi-partisan effort in the Missouri state house of representatives proposes a bill to block SNAP recipients from purchasing energy drinks in Missouri House Bill 1283. Missouri State Rep and bill sponsor Keith English went further when he accused poor people of reselling the energy drinks in a KCTV5 news report . Is there fraud in the food stamps business? Yes, people and small businesses are involved small-time abuse of food stamps, but fraud and corruption is much more costly in other government-regulated programs that favor large multi-national companies, like the $62 million settlement case against military contractor Northrup Grumman and $10.5 against Lockheed Martin  and post-Katrina by government officials and charities . Calls to control food items purchased with SNAP are widespread, like from Time's Christopher Matthews asks "Why would barring junk food be functionally different than barring alcohol?" Many people commenting on the KCTV5 r...

Just when you thought you heard all the ways Missouri legislators and the governor have made life worse for poor people they pull another one out of the hat. This last move spells trouble for housing projects for homeless people . The trend over time has caused more despair for low-income and working poor people in Missouri. Here is a list of six ways that have Missouri officials have found to increase poverty for people in the state. 1. Make it difficult to obtain food assistance. In a supposed effort to improve the food stamp (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) and public welfare application process, the Department of Social Services (DSS) in Missouri plans to consolidate 114 family support offices throughout the state . The state also removed an online application, making it more difficult for individuals and agencies to apply on behalf of individuals. While state officials have noted a drop in unemployment and food stamp participation, anti-poverty ...

A report on Democracy Now! today aired portions of "State of Conflict: North Carolina," a Bill Moyers documentary, which focuses on the "Moral Monday" protests and actions in North Carolina. Moral Mondays have built a movement to oppose Republican-led policies, which have diminished a range of social programs for poor and working people in the state, including Medicaid expansion, cuts to food stamps (aka Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), education and unemployment benefits, changes to voting rights, as well as laws restricting abortion and support for the death penalty. These policies represent nothing short of an attack on poor people in that state. The Moral Monday movement is planning a massive march in Raleigh on February 8 to "fight back against these extreme policies."  While efforts in the Kansas City area and throughout Missouri don't match the impact of Moral Mondays, there is a groundswell led by Communities Creating Opportun...

In a possible good development in poverty relief, the Guardian reports that Republicans may c ompromise on cuts to the SNAP (food stamps) program. Republican negotiators have reined in funding for Wall Street regulators as part of agreeing a $1.1tn federal budget, but dropped demands for further reductions in federal food stamp programmes that would have hit America's poorest families.

“Lost your job” and “you make too much money for social security.” These are some of the comments I heard over the cubicle wall as Julie interviewed a client for the Hunger in America study today at the Samaritan Center in Clinton, Missouri. A woman was elaborating on her situation during some of the questions about her household’s income, food, and health condition. The woman was frustrated with her situation “trying to get disability insurance and wasted a lot of time and money in Warrensburg and Kansas City.” The building is an old single story building in the older part of Clinton with patterned-covered wallboard and a drop ceiling. Clients are able to visit the pantry once a month. They come in and schedule the next month’s visit, then go through the pantry. Conducting interviews involves a fair amount of waiting as clients come through for food. A random sample selects every fourth client today based on the estimate of the number of people seeking food. The goal is to get 10-...