Public Policy & Hunger

In a country with the greatest bounty and wealth in the world, it is appalling and disturbing that hunger should persist. Yet persist it does. In a report on hunger and food insecurity in America, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that in 2010:

• 48.8 million people lived in households considered to be food insecure in the United States.
• Of those 48.8 million people, more than 16.2 million were children.
• Utah’s food insecurity rate is 13%, which is very near but just lower than the U.S. average.  The average rate of households with very low food security in Utah was 4.8% of Utah.

For 30 years Utahns Against Hunger has been working with policy makers, program administrators and elected officials to make sure that the policies that shape federal nutrition programs and other low-income services remain accessible to the most vulnerable Utahns.

UAH staff works on the state administrative level to shape the policies of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program.  Staff works with the state food stamp staff when they are considering policy changes that might impact low-income households accessing these benefits.