In the Community
May 3, 2010
Kaiser Permanente Funds Resource to Help States, Local Agencies Respond to Increased Need for Food Assistance
Declining wages and widespread unemployment have driven an unprecedented need for food assistance. To respond to this growing need, Kaiser Permanente provided funding for a new resource guide, “SNAP/Food Stamps Outreach and Access Toolkit,” released today by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC).
“Increasing people’s access to food stamps is a powerful health promotion strategy,” said Loel Solomon, vice president of Community Health. “This toolkit will help ensure that more low income families can remain healthy through the recession.”
The new toolkit outlines policy, outreach, application assistance, and local office initiatives to help states, local agencies, and communities respond to the increased need for food assistance.
In 2008, even before economic conditions worsened, the government reported that 49.1 million Americans lived in households that faced a constant struggle against hunger. In the last quarter of 2009, 18.5 percent of Americans surveyed by Gallup reported that there had been times in the prior 12 months when they did not have enough money to buy food that they or their family needed, an indicator FRAC refers to as “food hardship.”
Kaiser Permanente is at the forefront of national efforts to ensure access to healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables. The organization is funding local programs from Hawaii to Washington, D.C., to ease the struggle that many Americans face as they work to put food on the table. In 2009, Kaiser Permanente approved $2.1 million in grants and donations to nonprofit organizations that provide access to healthy foods at food banks and pantries, and that help boost participation in federal nutrition programs. The health care organization’s grants in this area are up from $430,000 in 2008 and $480,000 in 2007.
