SNAP works

Crucial for hungry Arkansans

Our neighbors across Arkansas are struggling with hunger, and one way to make a difference is to increase SNAP benefits now.

In the first 10 days of April, almost 20,000 new applications for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) were received, as many as were received in the entire month of February. The month-end numbers for April, and the numbers next month, will be staggering. As are the stories that accompany each application.

Families where both parents have been laid off, with several kids, now have no way to make ends meet. A senior and veteran, who was still working just to get by, has also been laid off. He’s never asked for government assistance before and needs help for food — and said he’d be happy to pay it back when he returns to work. A single mom, widowed and unemployed, with three kids who rely on school meals, now trying to stretch food dollars even further.

Along with Arkansas’ six food banks that are part of the Feeding America network, hundreds of pantries, schools and other nonprofits are working around the clock to feed hungry Arkansans. But they cannot do this work alone. A strong charitable relief network and increased investment in federal nutrition programs like SNAP are imperative.

According to Feeding America, the “single most important thing we can do to put money into the hands of people who need to purchase food is to increase the SNAP maximum benefit by 15 percent for the duration of the economic downturn.”

Why is expanding SNAP so crucial? SNAP puts food on the table while also stimulating the economy.

According to the Food Research and Action Center — another partner of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance — boosting the SNAP maximum benefit during the 2009-2013 recession resulted in an economic benefit of $1.50-$1.80 per each dollar of new SNAP benefits. The impact of this increased spending by SNAP households “multiplies” throughout the economy, as the businesses supplying the food and other goods — as well as their employees — have additional funds to make purchases of their own, as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains.

New research from the USDA Economic Research Service on the multiplier effects of federal spending on low-income programs, such as SNAP, shows an even greater multiplier effect: For every dollar distributed in new SNAP benefits, up to $2 of economic activity is generated. According to the USDA’s research, evidence suggests a $1 billion increase in SNAP benefits during an economic downturn could increase GDP by $1.54 billion, support 13,560 new jobs, and create $32 million in farm income.

A report from Healthy Eating Research, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, shows that larger SNAP benefits reduce poverty and food insecurity, and that the 14 percent SNAP boost from 2009-2013 “increased food expenditures, mitigated declines in calorie intake, improved food insecurity, and reduced Medicaid cost growth, especially for people with chronic illnesses with high sensitivity to food insecurity.”

Organizations and groups across the political spectrum know that increasing the maximum benefit works. Typically, SNAP dollars are spent quickly: Over 95 percent of dollars are spent within 30 days. The Congressional Budget Office and Moody’s Analytics said that increasing benefits would be “one of the most cost-effective ways to boost economic growth and create jobs in a weak economy.”

The bottom line is that SNAP works.

While Congress has included some changes to SNAP in previous covid-19 relief legislation — including emergency benefits and operating money and flexibilities — the Alliance joins hundreds of anti-hunger organizations across the country in calling for a 15 percent increase for SNAP benefits, an increase in minimum benefits, and a moratorium to harmful rulemaking for the duration of the pandemic and economic downturn.

Food banks and feeding programs cannot do this alone.

Contact us at 1-833-SNAPARK (1-833-762-7275) for assistance.

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