State Food Policy Summit Statewide Policy Implications on Food and Health

1. State Food Policy SummitStatewide Policy Implications on Food and Health Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, Executive Director, Ohio Association of Foodbanks June 4, 2015

2. Who We Are The Ohio Association of Foodbanks is Ohio’s largest charitable response to hunger. Our mission is to assist Ohio’s 12 Feeding America foodbanks in providing food and other resources to people in need and to pursue areas of common interest for the benefit of people in need.

3. Who We Are

4. HUNGER STUDY: Our Network

5. HUNGER STUDY: Our Network • 16 percent of respondents reported they were responsible for the care of grandchildren in their household. • 50 percent of households had a member that was employed in the past year. • 71 percent of households are living with annual incomes at or below the federal poverty level ($9,760 annually). • Monthly household income was only $813. • 1 in 10 households reported having no monthly income.

6. HUNGER STUDY: Spending Tradeoffs Ohio Association of Foodbanks clients report that their household income is inadequate to cover their basic expenses, often forcing them to make tough choices.

7. Continued record demand • Statewide 40% increase demand for emergency food assistance from 2010 to 2014. • Ohio has yet to recover 107,800 jobs lost since the Great Recession. • Continued low wages or part-time work means working poor are coming to our food lines.

8. Continued record demand • Growing economic inequality and social insecurity, combined with declining investment in public resources, put ever more stress on the finances and personal relationships of low-income parents. • Most of the new jobs are low-wage, part-time service sector jobs and contingent employment. A full time minimum wage worker makes $16,848, less than the 100% of the Federal Poverty Level ($20,090/family of 3). • Temporary workers in Ohio has increased from about 73,700 people in 2009 to an average of 114,000 during most of 2014, according to the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages • 18 percent (9 of the top 50) employers in Ohio with the most Ohioans who receive public assistance, Medicaid, Food Stamps and child care are temporary and staffing companies.

9. HUNGER STUDY: Coping Strategies Ohio Association of Foodbanks clients report that they use– and often combine– a variety of coping strategies to stretch their limited incomes further, especially purchasing inexpensive, unhealthy food (81%).

10. HUNGER STUDY: Hunger and Health

12. Declining Caseloads– The Facts • Basic assistance for needy families is dwindling Ohio Works First - TANF February 2015 February 2014 % Change Recipients 113,435 121,267 -4.4% Children 96,589 100,769 -4.3% Adults 16,589 20,498 -23.6% Assistance Groups 59,907 62,671 -6.5% Average monthly benefit $193.85 $188.52 +2.8% Food Assistance – SNAP – Food Stamps Recipients 1,680,198 1,757,519 -4.4% Average monthly benefit $124.93 $121.61 +2.7% Per person 42% of Ohio individuals on SNAP are children

13. SNAP benefits have been cut Ohioans have lost over 277 million meals since October 2013. ($385 million in 100% federally funded SNAP) • Early sunset of ARRA boost to SNAP was used to offset increased reimbursement for healthier school mealsin last CNR. • Almost half of all Ohioans participating in SNAP are kids.

14. State Food Policy and Hunger Issues – Am. Sub. H.B. 64 2016/2017 State Budget • Support Ohio Association of Foodbanksbudget request for $20 million per year in support of the Ohio Food and Agricultural Clearance Programs. • Provide $10 million year to expand Food Stamp Employment and Training. • Support and provide funding to Healthy Food Financing Initiative. • Provide state funding for expand Meals on Wheels and Congregant Feeding programs for seniors. • Support Medicaid Extension $25.7 B (16) and $26.6 B (17) – largest state expenditure.

15. Foodbanks Funding Request We are requesting $20 million a year ($40 million over the 2016-2017 biennial budget) or a total increase of $5.5 million a year. • a mere 83 cents per person per month served! • 56 million meals for hungry Ohioans (or 35 cents a meal)! • Kids who are able to focus in school and learn to read by the third grade! • Ohio workers who can concentrate at work and don’t take sick days because of diet-related diseases! • Lower rates of chronic health conditions and older adults who can live independently in their homes saving the state billions in institutionalized care!

16. State and Federal Investments that will help address Rising Poverty • Strengthen and expand Federal Earned Income Tax (EITC), Education and Child Tax Credits. • Implement a Refundable State EITC –RefundabilityMatters and helps support low wage workers. • Expand and fund SNAP/Food Stamp Employment and Training Programs. • Expand SNAP waiver and exempt unemployed and underemployed SNAP recipients from the 3 month in every 3 years time limit.

17. State Investments that will Address Rising Poverty • Ensure priority services in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act: Targeting funding to serve more high-need adults. • GED and basic skills deficiency • Targeting intensive training, skills and education for young adults • Increase the Minimum Wage to a Living Wage • Modernize Unemployment Compensation benefits

18. No Magic Bullet • Poverty is not a character flaw – its an economic condition. • Acknowledge and face the New World Order • Declining wages in the jobs that built America's Middle Class. • Overall wages are not keeping up with inflation. • The high cost of health care and health insurance.

19. Child Nutrition Reauthorization “I had to decide, do I buy Twinkies with the change I found in my car or do I buy them apples? I admit I chose Twinkies because it was cheaper,” said Elsie Hunt, a lunch aide at a Westerville school and married mother of 4.

20. Super Bowl of Child Nutrition Legislation • Child Nutrition Reauthorization authorizes spending, policy for programs like school meals, after school meals and snacks, summer feeding, WIC, farm-to-school, and others • Authorization expires September 2015 • Improvements from the last CNR included expanding after school meal program to all 50 states; enhance nutritional quality of food served in schools; established community eligibility option and more.

21. Child Nutrition Reauthorization Priorities • Provide states more options for serving kids during the summer (flexibility in the congregate meal requirement and using an EBT-style food dollar supplement) • Streamline regulations for community based providers (allowing nonprofits to run one program year round and increasing area eligibility) • Allow flexibility to better reach kids during weekends and school breaks (sending kids home with a backpack of groceries on Friday afternoons) • Leverage schools beyond the school day (opening up kitchens, libraries or playgrounds to nonprofits) • Strengthen access and quality in school meal programs and WIC (by supporting equipment and training needs and outreach)

22. Federal Legislative Opportunities and Threats • Support Child Poverty Reduction Act of 2015 (H.R. 2408) to establish a target of cutting child poverty in ten years and eliminating it within twenty years. • Monitor Subcommittee on Nutrition Public Hearing “Past, Present and Future of SNAP: The World of Nutrition, Government Duplication and Unmet Needs. • Protect Nutrition Standards in Child Nutrition Programs. • Oppose cuts and support proposal to strengthen SNAP – Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. • Protect 45.7 million poor American’s who depend on SNAP as their nutritional lifeline. • Advocate increasing the SNAP benefits to the low cost or moderate food plan – to reflect the rising cost of food.

23. It’s common sense • Access to food can stabilize struggling families, make Ohioans healthier, support Ohio workers, and stimulate Ohio’s economy. • Hungry children can’t learn, hungry adults can’t compete for jobs, and hungry seniors are less independent. • Increasing hunger is not the way to strengthen our economy or reduce the deficit. • A job doesn’t necessarily mean a living.

24. How you can help: • Support the Ohio Foodbanks request for an additional $2.75 million per year in Am. Sub. HB 64. Call and Email the following Senators Today: • Ohio Senate President Keith Faber / sd12@ohiosenate.gov or (614) 466-7584 • President Pro-Tempore & Member of Medicaid Subcommittee Chris Widener / sd10@ohiosenate.gov or (614) 466-3780 • Majority Floor Leader Tom Patton / sd24@ohiosenate.gov or (614) 466-8056 • Majority Whip Larry Obhof / sd22@ohiosenate.gov or (614)466-7505 • Chair, Senate Finance, Scott Oelslager / sd29@ohiosenate.gov or (614) 466-0626 • Vice Chair, Senate Finance & Member of Medicaid Subcommittee, Bill Coley / sd04@ohiosenate.gov or (614) 466-8072

25. Thank youfor your support! ohiofoodbanks.org • Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, Executive Director • lisa@ohiofoodbanks.org •  614.221.4336, ext. 222