Media Coverage

Food banks are keeping up by purchasing more food with privately raised dollars than we ever have, but it’s not sustainable for us to keep up at this rate. We need more support from the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to put wholesome staple foods on the shelves. We join Feeding America and our peers across the country in urging Congress to include an additional $900 million in TEFAP in the upcoming spending package. TEFAP commodities made up about a quarter of all the food distributed by our network last year, and even more in rural areas of the state and nation.

Additionally, we need our state leaders to recognize that the Ohio hunger relief network is much more than somewhere people turn to in emergencies. Ohio food banks operate workforce development programs, prepare meals for kids during out-of-school time, deliver groceries to vulnerable households, supply personal care and personal hygiene items, provide nutrition education, connect clients to health care, foster cross-sector collaboration and so much more.

The Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey estimated that about a month after the credit expired, 339,000 Ohio families with children sometimes or often didn’t have enough to eat in the past seven days.

Compare that to the period from Sept. 15-27 when the credit was in full force. Then an estimated 264,000 Ohio families with children sometimes or often didn’t have enough to eat, the survey said.

If those estimates are accurate, that means food insecurity for families with children has leapt 28% since the expiration of the child tax credit.

Out of nearly 200 federal programs tracked by the Coalition on Human Needs between fiscal years 2010 and 2021, nearly two-thirds have not kept pace with inflation. Without an updated omnibus spending bill, said Joree Novotny, director of external affairs for the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, there isn't enough assistance to meet the need. For example, she explained, monthly WIC benefits for fresh produce for children would decrease from $24 to $9.

"People struggling with food insecurity are really uncertain about what the future looks like," she said, "and we want public policy that provides them with more certainty, more dignity, so that they'll be able to meet the needs of themselves and their kids."

After cutbacks over the past few years, the federal government has quadrupled the number of navigators to help people find health insurance for 2022.

Zach Reat is the director of health initiatives with the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, which is coordinating the "Get Covered Ohio" campaign. He said there are more than 50 trained, certified and licensed navigators in Ohio who can simplify the process.

"We can help people enter in all of their information to qualify for tax credits and subsidies," said Reat, "understand the different health insurance plans that are available, and then make sure they are selecting the plan that is best for them and fits into their budget."

We are here to fill gaps, prevent hunger and boost access to healthy eating options, but we can’t eliminate food insecurity on our own. We urge support for the permanent social safety net investments included in the Build Back Better Act. Congress must embrace what we have all learned, and what the data clearly tells us — more resources in the hands of families means less hardship and more hope.