This Report to Congress from USDA responds to a requirement established by the 2018 Farm Bill to address requirements to coordinate efforts within USDA to reduce barriers to food access. USDA has identified FNS as the Food Access Liaison to coordinate efforts and annually respond to this request. The report describes activities that occurred from October 2020 through September 2023 to reduce barriers to food access given the last such annual report submitted in March 2021 covered fiscal year 2020
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 authorized Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (Summer EBT) as a permanent federal food assistance entitlement program beginning in summer 2024. Summer EBT has been tested through evaluations of demonstration projects since 2011. With pending implementation of this new program, this is an appropriate time to reflect on what USDA, FNS research has learned through more than a decade of study.
This report provides statistics on food security in U.S. households throughout 2022 based on the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement data collected in December 2022.
This report—part of an annual series—presents estimates of the percentage of eligible persons, by state, who participated in USDA's SNAP during an average month in fiscal year 2020 and in the two previous fiscal years. Because the Coronavirus COVID-19 public health emergency affected data collection starting in March 2020, this summary covers only the pre-pandemic period of October 2019 through February 2020. Thus, this report presents rates only for all eligible persons during the pre-pandemic months of FY 2020.
This report presents estimates of the percentage of eligible persons, by state, who participated in SNAP during an average month in FY 2019 and in the two previous fiscal years. SNAP eligibility criteria include maximum income and resource thresholds, as well as certain nonfinancial criteria, such as age and disability status.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 added a new Section 23 on Childhood Hunger Research to the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. This section provides substantial new mandatory funding to research the causes and consequences of childhood hunger and to test innovative strategies to end child hunger and food insecurity.
This study—authorized by the 2010 Child Nutrition Act—tests innovative strategies to end childhood hunger and food insecurity.
The Expenditures on Children by Families annual report provides estimates of the cost of raising children from birth through age 17 for different budgetary components, including food, housing, transportation, health care, clothing, child care and education, and miscellaneous costs.
The annual report, Expenditures on Children and Families, also known as the Cost of Raising a Child, shows that a middle-income family with a child born in 2013 can expect to spend about $245,340 ($304,480 adjusted for projected inflation) for food, housing, childcare and education, and other child-rearing expenses up to age 18. Costs associated with pregnancy or expenses occurred after age 18, such as higher education, are not included.
This report responds to the requirement of PL 110-246 to assess the effectiveness of state and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals. Direct certification is a process conducted by the states and by local educational agencies to certify eligible children for free meals without the need for household applications.