With programs like SNAP and Meals on Wheels under constant threat, food security remains one of the America’s most pressing problems

In his most recent edition of The Anti-Poverty Soldier,  our Executive Director, Dr. Clarence Hightower, examines the current funding threat to America's Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program or SNAP (former known as Food Stamps).

In addition to the intent of many federal lawmakers to cut SNAP by nearly $10 billion a year for the next 10 years, Dr. Hightower also references the current administration's proposal to replace SNAP cards with pre-packaged food boxes. This plan forced one economic expert to write that this was the “meanest and dumbest approach to food stamps in recent memory.” 

Among other significant points that are equally troubling when considering the goal of some in our government to reduce food support to Americans in need, is that these legislators argue non-disabled, non-elderly SNAP recipients must work in order to receive benefits. The fact is, according to the government's own data is that well over three-quarters of SNAP households (with non-disabled, non-elderly members) do participate in the U.S. workforce. 

Furthermore, new research now shows that the current funding levels for SNAP do not adequately meet the nutritional needs of program recipients. I am also reminded of recent discussions at the federal level to do away with programs such as Meals on Wheels. How mean-spirited is that? On several occasions (although never at the same time), my wife and I have had the tremendous privilege of delivering Meals on Wheels to seniors throughout the metro. The most common experience we have shared with one another after  doing so, is the outpouring of joy and appreciation we receive from those individuals, who are often home-bound and depend on this program for their very well-being. For anyone to consider shuttering Meals on Wheels, well, that's unconscionable to me.

Tony Kiene is the Executive Writer at Community Action Partnership of Ramsey & Washington Counties His 22 years of nonprofit and entertainment experience includes service to The Minneapolis Urban League, Penumbra Theatre Company, Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, the Black United Fund of Oregon, and Pepé Music, Inc. Additional experience includes work as a Graduate Research Intern / Archivist at Stanford University’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Graduate Teaching Fellow at the University of Oregon, and Public Relations Associate at the Purdue Black Cultural Center. He holds a B.A. in sociology and African American Studies from Purdue University as well as an M.A. in American Studies from Purdue where his Master’s Essay was titled, Uptown: The Racial, Spiritual, and Political Sociology of The Minneapolis Sound. Some of Tony’s other work has been published in Nommo: The Power of the Word, Community Times, Black Theatre Network, Insight News, Black Classic Press, Collegiate Press, and Reo Deo.