Why does one of the wealthiest countries in the world make its most vulnerable citizens choose between food or shelter?
Highly rural, the communities outside of Crescent City in Northern California are food deserts. “I hear from staff all the time, these kids are hungry when they come to school,” one school administrator says.
An estimated 755,000 people would lose benefits over the next three years if the rule change proposed by the USDA goes into effect.
Even with help from food stamps and a federal nutrition program, nearly half of U.S. households receiving such benefits struggle to feed their families.
Arizona has the some of the strictest guidelines in the nation for welfare benefits. Tucson mother Jessala Grijalva can usually get what she needs for herself and her three children, but she’s found some surprising exceptions.
Trump's new budget wants to replace a portion of food stamp benefits with a box of "shelf-stable" items. For Native families who have endured such government-issued provisions in the past, that's a horrifying prospect.
Uncertainty about proposed budget and policy changes in Washington have put low-income and working families — and the programs and agencies that serve them — on high alert.
Arizona tends to try out new approaches and programs, but rarely sticks with such efforts long enough to bring about change.
It's those first 1,000 days — from conception until a child's second birthday — that the brain most needs the right mix of nutrients to fully form. But programs that focus on such developmental goals are now at risk.
In the U.S., social welfare benefits tend to impose tight restrictions on recipients. But in Manitoba, low-income pregnant women can receive a no-strings-attached cash boost. Research suggests it leads to healthier babies.
