LAWRENCE — The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps offset costs for families facing food insecurity. It is one of the most frequently accessed public programs, helping more than 41 million people each month.
But emergency SNAP assignments put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic will end this month. This will result in a reduction in benefits of approximately $95 a month for families in 35 states, including Kansas.
“These cuts come after a rapid increase in food prices over the past year and will likely result in greater food insecurity among low-income households,” said Donna Ginther, Roy A. Roberts and Regents Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Kansas.
His 2022 study titled “Association Between State Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Policies, Child Protective Services Involvement, and Foster Care in the United States, 2004-2016” also found that states with more generous SNAP policies had fewer children involved in protective services of childhood (CPS) and sent to foster care.
“Having sufficient SNAP benefits is associated with better student test scores and reductions in child abuse and neglect. SNAP benefit reductions could put more children at risk,” she said.
Now in her 21st year at KU, Ginther majors in labor economics. She is also the director of the Institute for Policy & Social Research, an interdisciplinary university center for faculty and students doing funded work in the social and behavioral sciences.
To interview Ginther, please contact KU News Service public affairs officer Jon Niccum at 785-864-7633 or [email protected].
