Helping to Protect and Strengthen the Food Stamp Program
Coalition Against Hunger
2901 W. Hunting Park Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19129
Phone: 215-430-0555
Fax: 215-223-3073
E-mail: info@hungercoalition.org
Food Stamp Hotline: 215-430-0556
In the effort to end hunger and improve food security, no piece of federal legislation is more important than the Farm Bill. It provides the legal authority over a five year period for the operation of the Food Stamp Program and other important food and nutrition programs. Around $40 billion will be spent this year on food and nutrition under the authority of the Farm Bill.
How can the next Farm Bill help move America toward lower rates of hunger, higher rates of food security, and lowered risk of chronic disease? To answer that question, a work group representing seven Pennsylvania anti-hunger organizations drafted a set of recommendations. In general terms, four objectives guided their work:
- Keep the Food Stamp Program strong
- Provide more nutritional support to low-wage working families
- Provide better nutritional supports to low-income seniors
- Improve access by low-income households to fresh produce
Click here to learn more about the Farm Bill, the recommendations of key Pennsylvania anti-hunger organizations, and how you can make your voice heard on this important issue.
The Philadelphia Food Stamp Challenge
As part of its 10th anniversary celebration, the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger issued a challenge to the community: learn about the physical, emotional, and social difficulties of poverty and food insecurity by living on a food stamp budget for just one week. The Coalition asked those who had never personally experienced hunger or food insecurity to discover what it is like for the nearly 400,000 people in the Delaware Valley who use food stamps to purchase their groceries each month.
For one week in July, three dozen Challenge participants did their best to make ends meet on a food stamp budget. They bought their groceries using the maximum food stamp benefit for their household size. For one person, that's just $35.47 for the week - $5.07 per day or $1.68 per meal!
Were participants able to meet the Challenge? The answer is yes and no. Find out by reading the summary of the Challenge results and the articles below.
Meeting the Challenge? The results are in! Find out what the media had to say about the Challenge.
To learn more about how the Challenge was designed, you can click here to see the guidelines and forms participants used during the Challenge.
The Coalition and its partners engage in ongoing advocacy work around food stamp access issues via the Food Stamp Task Force. Food stamps are our nation's first defense against hunger, yet too few low-income people take advantage of this federal program. The Coalition formed the Food Stamp Task Force to address the barriers to participation. With representation from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Office of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Pennsylvania's Department of Public Welfare, Philadelphia's County Assistance Office, and staff from over a dozen legal and social service organizations, the Coalition is nurturing relationships and dialogue that will result in improved access, better service, and greater accountability.
A subcommittee of the Task Force meets regularly to address issues with COMPASS, the state's online gateway to a variety of public benefits including food stamps. Composed of advocates and representatives from local, state, and federal agencies responsible for administering the Food Stamp Program, the group convenes quarterly to discuss any problems with the system and to consider suggestions for improvement. The result has been an ongoing dialogue about COMPASS and continuous improvements to the system with input from the advocate community.