Contact: Meredith Jorss, mjorss@strength.org
WASHINGTON, DC - This week, a bipartisan group of 40 mayors from cities and towns across the country signed a letter to Congress urging federal lawmakers to temporarily increase benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Led by Mayor Levar Stoney of Richmond, VA and Mayor Betsy Price of Ft. Worth, TX, these local leaders are asking for a 15 percent increase to all household SNAP benefits and an increase to the minimum SNAP benefit, bringing it from $16 to $30, in the next coronavirus relief package.
“No child in Richmond or any city around the country deserves to spend one day hungry,” says Richmond, VA Mayor Levar Stoney. “In the face of a global pandemic, this country will be defined by whether it chooses to stand behind hardworking families or decides to abandon them in a time of unprecedented need. We call on Congress to do the right thing – fight poverty, protect our children.”
Before the pandemic, 1 in 7 kids in the United States faced hunger; this year, that number may grow to 1 in 4. SNAP is critical to ensuring children and families have an option to safely access food during these uncertain times. Benefits are used to buy groceries, helping to make room in budgets for other basic needs, like diapers and medicine.
“Communities need access to every tool available to fight hunger during this crisis,” says Jordan Bailey, state policy counsel at Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign. “SNAP is not only a safe and effective way to feed children, it’s also shown to stimulate the economy. Increasing benefits and strengthening the program will provide immediate relief for families in need and will help our nation as it recovers from this crisis.”
SNAP is also one of our nation’s fastest, most effective tools to stimulate local economies. Benefits spent at local grocery stores and markets leads to more jobs, wages and local economic activity in the community.
While other stimulus programs put dollars in pockets, the vast majority of families spend their benefits before the month ends, making SNAP one of our nation’s highest returns on investment.
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About No Kid Hungry
No child should go hungry in America. But 1 in 7 kids will face hunger this year. No Kid Hungry is ending childhood hunger through effective programs that provide kids with the food they need. This is a problem we know how to solve. No Kid Hungry is a campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization working to end hunger and poverty. Join us at NoKidHungry.org