This will increase SNAP Benefits for families struggling with food insecurity

News Source: No Kid Hungry by Share Our Strength

Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced its long-awaited update to the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), the mechanism used to calculate Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. The current TFP, created in the 1970s, is badly out of date and underestimated what it costs a family to purchase a nutritious diet today. This update, which fulfills a directive from Congress’s 2018 bipartisan Farm Bill, will increase average SNAP benefits more than 25 percent over pre-pandemic levels, with families receiving an additional $36 each month per person starting in October. For more information, click here for Share Our Strength's explainer post on the update to the Thrifty Food Plan. 
 
This announcement marks the culmination of advocacy efforts to improve SNAP benefits; endorsing legislation, urging previous Administrations to consider changes to the TFP, early conversations with the Biden Transition Team, and continued advocacy with the current USDA leadership. This means that as the temporary pandemic-related increases expire in September, this update will be in place to avoid a benefit cliff for millions of families and make healthy food more available to low-income families across the country.