A recent report shows Arkansas has a "food desert" issue in urban and rural communities.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson formed the Arkansas Gov.'s Food Desert Working Group, which issued a report recommending steps to alleviate food insecurities in Arkansas.

Kathy Webb, CEO of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, who serves as co-chair of the 18-member working group, said the food-deserts issue has been exacerbated over the last few years with a number of national grocery store closures, leaving some communities without access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

She added the group's original thought was recommendations would center on legislative changes, but what they found is change is centered on community action, with the Legislature playing a role through connections and better policy.

"We talked to people all over the country and got ideas for ways to make change," Webb recounted. "And in my opinion, it begins at the community level with community leaders, local elected officials as well as legislative."

The working group recommended adding support for food access into state fiscal policy, by setting up local and state tax incentives, creating a revolving loan program, and providing grant funds for pilot programs in areas with low-to-no access to fresh foods.

She noted the working group traveled to neighboring states Mississippi and Tennessee to look at different models and studying how some of them could be adapted to fit needs in Arkansas. She emphasized a key finding of the report was more than 82% of Arkansas counties have one or more communities in need of improved access to food.

"It is 62 of 75 counties, and in some of these areas, a brick-and-mortar grocery store is probably not going to be the solution," Webb acknowledged. "But there are other solutions. And it's making all of the different possibilities available to people in the community."

She also pointed out another recommendation in the report is for the Legislature to improve state food benefit programs for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the Women, Infants and Children program, to make it easier to access it virtually.

"Some of that involves work at the federal level," Webb stressed. "You currently cannot use WIC for online. To purchase things online, we'd like to see that change. We'd like to see more, smaller retailers be able to accept SNAP benefits online."

Webb recalled the group met with retailers virtually in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, who accept SNAP for online purchases, which is making a real difference in their rural communities.

She added the Arkansas Gov.'s Food Desert Working Group will be starting focus groups in January and community surveys to see what the community is going to respond to, and then match the needs with the potential solutions.

North Dakota is expected to rejoin the debate over whether all school children, regardless of their family income, should have access to no-cost meals.

Universal lunch programs have been adopted by nearly 10 states, including neighboring Minnesota. A broad coalition of organizations gathered Thursday to push for adding North Dakota to the list. The federal government funds free or reduced-cost meals to income-eligible students. States with universal policies cover the remaining expenses so all kids eat free.

Michelle Wagner, child nutrition director for Bismarck Public Schools and legislative chair for the North Dakota School Nutrition Association, said working in a school cafeteria has opened her eyes about the need.

"As a food service director, we see firsthand that many of these students depend on school meals as their primary source of nutrition," Wagner explained.

The coalition said one in three North Dakota children relies on the Great Plains Food Bank, and many do not meet school meal eligibility requirements. North Dakota lawmakers temporarily boosted meal eligibility last session but advocates said wider permanent access is needed. A likely bill sponsor said there appears to be bipartisan support but expects pushback over cost concerns, even with a budget surplus.

Coalition members argued this type of move works as a tax cut, estimating North Dakota families would save more than $850 per child each year.

Robin Nelson, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of the Red River Valley, said by putting kids in a better position to learn, the state would also be able to address workforce shortages down the road.

"If I were a company that was trying to recruit employees, I would use this for anybody to move to the state," Nelson suggested.

Statewide polling in North Dakota has shown strong public support for expanded school meals. In Minnesota, policy observers said the state's program, approved in 2023, is proving to be popular but demand has been strong, elevating costs. Those behind North Dakota's effort said they hope lawmakers get a full scope of what is needed when they begin debating the issue.


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Congressional efforts to avoid a government shutdown could extend funding for SNAP, the program formerly known as food stamps. And if the continuing resolution introduced in the U.S. House this week is passed, SNAP participants won't go hungry if they fall victim to electronic theft.

Carmen Mooradian, senior public policy manager with Hunger Free Colorado, said the resolution extends protections from practices - such as skimming data from EBT cards, which function like debit cards - through September of 2028.

"This is when a device is placed on a point-of-sale terminal, and it's used to take that account information, and to clone it into a new card, that is then used to drain that person's account," Mooradian said.

Electronic theft protections were set to expire this Friday. Nearly one in five families with children in Colorado have gone without food because they can't afford it, and advocates are urging lawmakers to improve emergency food assistance programs by removing barriers such as additional work requirements; getting more eligible people enrolled; allowing participants to make their own healthy food choices; and increasing benefit levels to keep up with rising costs.

The minimum SNAP benefit is currently $23 per month, and the average SNAP benefit is $6 a day. Mooradian said lessons learned during the COVID public-health emergency show what's possible when benefits are increased.

"It can actually protect against food insecurity. People have access to healthier foods, because they can afford healthier foods," Mooradian added. "So, we need to make sure that we are moving toward more adequate benefits. "

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-CO, has introduced a bill that would allow people with disabilities or working multiple jobs to use SNAP to buy hot prepared foods at grocery stores. Mooradian said it's also important for lawmakers to remove additional work and other requirements for the 40% of community college students experiencing hunger.

"There are a lot of restrictions on student eligibility right now that make it harder for students to access this program. When students aren't focusing on having to feed themselves, they are actually able to do better in school," Mooradian added.

Several federal programs may face budget cuts as the new administration proposes sweeping actions to reduce the federal debt.

Advocates for the safety-net programs in Tennessee said cuts would jeopardize food access, health insurance and essential services for tens of thousands of people.

Signe Anderson, senior director of nutrition advocacy at the Tennessee Justice Center, said key decisions early next year will significantly affect funding for Medicaid, as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. She pointed out on average, about 750,000 Tennesseans per month receive SNAP benefits.

"Tennesseans will have less access to health care and to food," Anderson projected. "Programs that are in place now that offer health care to Tennesseans will become more limited - and the same with the SNAP program, will become more limited."

The Tennessee Justice Center hosts a free webinar today at 11:30 a.m. to discuss how groups across the country are organizing responses to potential cuts and their impacts on communities. More than 1.4 million Tennesseans are enrolled in Medicaid.

Anderson noted another federal program providing summer meals to hundreds of thousands of Tennessee children will expire unless Gov. Bill Lee renews it by Jan. 1, which he has indicated he does not plan to do.

The Summer EBT program provides families with $40 a month during the summer, for extra help paying for food when kids are out of school.

"DHS reported to USDA that nearly 700,000 children participated this past summer," Anderson emphasized. "Tennessee has been very, very successful in rolling out the program, and we're one of the only southeast states last year that participated."

Anderson stressed advocates for maintaining Summer EBT have delivered more than 2,200 signatures on petitions to the governor's office. She added more than $78 million in Summer EBT benefits also boost the local economy through grocery store spending.


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