Advocacy & Policy Updates
A Win for Women, Infants, and Children- Full Funding for WIC!
Over the past several months, as Congress has worked to finalize a spending package for the current fiscal year, we’ve been warning you all about a potential WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) funding crisis. For months, WIC has been facing a potential funding shortfall of $1 billion, potentially putting this crucial benefit at risk for 2 million eligible participants.
This week, the House passed the first of two spending packages that will keep the government funded through the end of this fiscal year. The Senate is expected to pass it today before the funding deadline. We are happy to report that this spending package includes full funding for WIC! This means that through the end of this fiscal year, WIC will have the money to serve every eligible individual that applies. The spending package also includes enough money to continue to fund the WIC fruit and vegetable vouchers at the elevated levels that families have benefited from for the past several years.
Finally, this spending package does not include harmful changes to SNAP that had been proposed during the negotiation process. While funding levels remain too tight to truly invest in the health and well being of low-income families, securing full funding for WIC and defeating bad SNAP policy proposals is a major win!
Thank you to everyone who joined us in the effort to secure full funding for WIC! Your calls, emails, social media posts, and letters to your legislators helped put attention on this issue. We hope that you will join us as we continue to fight for a world in which all people have the food they need to lead healthy lives.
DC Visit
As Congress works to finalize spending packages for this fiscal year, we joined our partners at Philabundance and the Feeding America network in DC to talk to our legislators and keep attention on the Farm Bill. While we aren’t sure when Congress will begin working on the Farm Bill, the piece of legislation that includes SNAP, it is important to keep attention on the Farm Bill and the importance of a strong Nutrition Title. We had great meetings with the offices of the 6 Representatives that represent our area of service (Reps Fitzpatrick, Boyle, Evans, Dean, Scanlon, and Houlahan) as well as Senators Casey and Fetterman. We had a chance to let our legislators know what we are seeing “on the ground” in their districts, as well as discuss current threats to SNAP and the need to keep the program strong.
Looking Ahead To Summer Meals
While we are currently bundled up for the winter, summer will be here before we know it! In our region, many kids rely on Free or Reduced Price School Meals during the year, a resource that isn’t available in the summer months. Summer Meals is a program that helps youth 18 and under eat free, healthy meals all summer long. To make this program a success, it requires support from the community to ensure that kids have safe places to eat!
Nutritional Development Services is looking for community members to host 2024 summer meal sites, where they can provide free, nutritious meals to kids 18 and under. Sites can be hosted at a variety of locations, are free to host, and can run for as little as one week or as long as the whole summer.
If you are interested in hosting a summer meals site you can call 215-895-3470, option 1 or visit their Summer Meals Interest Form.
