Hunger and Nutrition

Welcome to the NCSL portal page on hunger and nutrition. From this page, visitors can:

• Read about the NCSL Foundation Hunger Partnership.
• View information and documents from past Hunger Partnership meetings (right panel).
• Access recent resources, publications and NCSL policies (right panel).
• See the Latest News and Publications (below)
• Find archived documents on hunger and nutrition (Document Library).

NCSL Foundation Hunger Partnership:  Latest News and Publications

A Guide to the School Breakfast Program, November 2012
 
This two-page brief describes the federally funded school breakfast program, how it works, and its benefits for children.  School breakfast has the same eligibility criteria as school lunch, but fewer than half of lunch participants eat school breakfast.  This brief offers examples of public-private partnerships that help expand access to school breakfast and how legislators can play a role.

NCSL Legisbrief:  Public-Private Partnerships in SNAP, October 2012

The number of people in the United States who had difficulty putting food on the table has grown by more than 5 million since 2007. With one in seven households experiencing food insecurity in 2010, the situation no longer is limited to low-income Americans. Food banks across the country report seeing more seniors, families with children, veterans and active military personnel, and suburban and rural families. In the face of the slow economic recovery and high unemployment, many of these families turned to food banks for the first time.

Luckily, experts say, hunger in the United States is a solvable problem. Today, public officials, private businesses, nonprofits and concerned citizens are partnering in creative efforts to address hunger. State lawmakers play vital roles, from passing legislation to
administer and leverage funds from one of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 15 nutrition programs to promoting local gardens and food pantries.

This legisbrief provides examples of public-private partnerships that have blossomed in recent years under a common purpose: to increase the effectiveness of the federal program at the state and local levels.

How to Address Hunger in Your Community: A Checklist for State Legislators, August 2012

Hunger affects communities across the United States. One in seven households was food insecure in 2010 and as many as one in five households had difficulty affording food at some point in 2011. Yet, hunger in the United States is a solvable problem. Today public officials, private businesses and non-profits and concerned citizens around the country unite in creative efforts to address hunger in their communities. Whether it is leveraging one of the 15 federal nutrition programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or promoting a local community garden, state legislators can play an active role in eliminating hunger in their districts and beyond.
 
This checklist serves as guide to legislators as they seek simple, low cost ways to feed hungry families. Flip the page to see how you can begin looking at the problem, raising awareness, and fighting hunger in your community.
 

New Webinars

Food for Learning: Public Private Partnerships in the School Breakfast Program
June 12, 2012
Research shows that students who participate in school breakfast have improved attendance, test scores and decreased behavioral problems.  The webinar highlights how schools and public and private partners are providing affordable breakfast to students, and leveraging federal dollars to provide healthy breakfasts to children in their community. 
See the webinar here.

Speakers:
Bill Ludwig, Regional Administrator, USDA FNS Southwest Regional Office
Ali Dorazio, Nutritionist, General Mills
Jason Reed, Director of Strategy and Corporate Partnerships, Hunger Free Minnesota
Moderator:  Sheri Steisel, Director of Human Services Policy, National Conference of State Legislatures

Ensuring Program Integrity and Efficiency in Nutrition Assistance Programs
June 24, 2012
State and federal lawmakers have been concerned about ensuring that the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Woman Infants and Children (WIC) benefits go to those who are eligible.  Join NCSL Foundation’s Hunger Partnership for a webinar on combating fraud and theft in federal nutrition assistance programs. Our panel of expert speakers combine federal, business and law enforcement perspectives on how to ensure program integrity. We will hear what the USDA has done and their ongoing efforts to reduce improper payments and errors, pursue recipient fraud and combat abuse and misuse of benefits. We will hear from an EBT systems expert on the role of EBT in combating fraud and increasing accountability, and from the business community on how they are confronting the role of organized crime and how theft increases costs. What are cost-effective strategies states can use?  How cans legislators partner with the federal government, state agencies and others to combat program errors, theft and fraud? How can we aid struggling families and seniors to put food on the table and ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent appropriately? 
See the webinar here.

Speakers:
Undersecretary Kevin Concannon, Food and Nutrition Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Bard Shollenberger, Vice President, State Government Solutions,  Xerox State & Local Solutions, Inc.
Rick Gunselman,  Security Manager, Global Corporate Security, Mead Johnson Nutrition
Moderator:  Sheri Steisel, Director of Human Services Policy, National Conference of State Legislatures

This page revised and updated on October 12, 2012.

To view all the documents in this collection, click the Document Library tab at the top of the page.