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Need for food stamps surges with pandemic

Jul 27, 2020
More than six million people signed up for food stamps in just three months, more than in the first 17 months of the Great Recession.
Scott Heins/Getty Images

Coronavirus-linked hardship puts pressure on food banks

Apr 9, 2020
As millions lose their jobs or suffer furloughs, the demand at food banks is surging.
Volunteers pack boxes of food at the distribution center of the Capital Area Food Bank on April 9 in Washington, D.C.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Food stamp change could cut 700,000 from SNAP

Dec 5, 2019
Unemployment is at historic lows but some workers still face hurdles to work.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

New SNAP rules will affect 700,000 aid recipients — and more than 250,000 retailers

Dec 4, 2019
The new rules will require more people to work at least 20 hours a week to receive benefits.
New research shows that SNAP benefits can help local businesses.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

What does public charge proposal mean for hospitals that treat immigrants?

Dec 10, 2018
Today is the final day for comment for the Trump administration’s public charge proposal that would make it harder for immigrants to qualify for citizenship if they’ve used public benefits, including SNAP, public housing and Medicaid. Immigrants who’ve received cash assistance or long-term medical care already have a strike against them when they apply for […]
Immigrants make up roughly 12 percent of the population in this country, but account for just 8.6 percent of heath care expenditures. 
John Moore/Getty Images

Snapchat, Twitter lose active users. Is that a big deal?

Oct 26, 2018
Snapchat lost two million daily active users in its most recent quarter. Twitter also saw its active user base decline as it continues to purge fake accounts. These numbers are important, sure. But they just might be more important to investors than they are to the companies themselves.  

Snapchat, Twitter lose active users. Is that a big deal?

Oct 26, 2018
Snapchat lost two million daily active users in its most recent quarter. Twitter also saw its active user base decline as it continues to purge fake accounts. These numbers are important, sure. But they just might be more important to investors than they are to the companies themselves.  

For public good, not for profit.

Food aid need shifts from cities to countryside

Sep 24, 2018
Since the late 1970s, lawmakers have placed the SNAP nutrition program into the farm package hoping to get both urban and rural support. But that thinking might be outdated.
Small-town grocery stores like this one in southwest Iowa get 10 percent to 25 percent of their sales from federal food aid called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to the Rural Grocery Initiative at Kansas State University.
Peggy Lowe/KCUR

Georgia experiments with food stamp work training program

Aug 13, 2018
But state's training program spends much more per person than the figure Congress might allocate if it decides to pass a SNAP work requirement
A welding student at Goodwill Industries.
Susanna Capelouto for Marketplace

Georgia has looked at what it takes to train some food stamp recipients to meet work requirements

Jul 30, 2018
The House version of the proposed federal farm bill would require parents with children over 6 years old to fulfill a 20-hour work or training requirement to receive benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps. That means nationwide 3 million more people would suddenly need job training. The conundrum, said […]