Nourish Our Future!
The tumultuous 2024 elections are behind us, and a new Congress and Administration will begin in January. Now is the time to recommit ourselves to the work of building relationships across party lines and speaking out boldly to our political leaders. Millions of children in the U.S. live in households facing food insecurity. Globally, almost 45 million children suffer from severe hunger, and nearly half of all preventable deaths among children under five are attributed to malnutrition. Child hunger is a local and a global problem, but together we can make a difference.
Sign Bread for the World's petition TODAY calling on the 119th Congress to Nourish Our Future, and join us online for the Nourish Our Future launch on February 4! It is integral that we show U.S. Congress that there is broad and deep support across the country to ensure all children are fed and nourished.
We want to influence, empower, and work with Congress to pass legislation that:
• fully funds and strengthens the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
• expands a Child Tax Credit that prioritizes cutting child poverty and ending hunger
• increases funding for global nutrition programs for children
• helps reduce food insecurity on college campuses
Here is more detail on why we want Congress to pass legislation that addresses these issues:
Fully funding and strengthening WIC for all eligible participants
WIC (the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) provides mothers and young children in the U.S. with nutritious food, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, immunization screening, and important health and social services referrals. The program reaches approximately 6.7 million women and young children, including about half of all infants born in the United States.
WIC participation leads to healthier eating, increased birth weights, fewer premature births, and fewer infant deaths. The program helps support proper brain development in young children, contributing to the child’s ability to learn and thrive later in life. WIC also has a significant economic impact due to reduced healthcare costs.
Recognizing these powerful outcomes, Congress has fully funded WIC on a bipartisan basis for decades. However, in recent years, funding for WIC has been threatened and challenged. Bread for the World and partner organizations successfully achieved full funding in 2024, but we must remain engaged and vigilant in future funding negotiations.
We are urging Congress to:
1. Recommit to fully fund WIC now and in the future, so that all who are eligible and apply have access.
2. Restore reforms that strengthened the program and made it easier for families to sign up.
Expanding a Child Tax Credit that prioritizes cutting child poverty and ending hunger
The Child Tax Credit (CTC) serves as a lifeline for the most vulnerable and a beacon of hope for millions of families in the U.S. The expanded CTC, enacted as a part of the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021, significantly reduced child hunger and led to the lowest child poverty rate in our nation’s history. Bread for the World worked hard to pass the Child Tax Credit expansion in 2021.
In 2024, Bread welcomed the House of Representative’s passage of the Child Tax Credit expansion--which was included in the bipartisan, bicameral Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act--and we urged the Senate to do the same. Unfortunately, the Senate failed to move the expansion forward. This legislation would have benefited millions of children, including nearly 3 million children under age 3. It was projected to lift 400,000 children out of poverty in the first year.
The proven, measurable success of the expanded Child Tax Credit make clear that the passage of a similar bill would make an immediate and dramatic impact on child poverty and hunger.
Increasing funding for global nutrition programs for children
Programs that help prevent and treat child malnutrition in low-income countries save lives, help families and communities thrive, and build resilience and stability for generations to come. Increasing funding for these programs, a tiny fraction of the U.S. budget, is a compassionate and strategic response to soaring rates of child malnutrition right now and a wise investment in our shared future.
Priority nutrition programs include:
• Treatment of acute malnutrition
• Education and promotion of breastfeeding
• Nutrition supplements for children, adolescent girls, and pregnant women
• Education and promotion of good feeding and hygiene practices for infants and young children
• Preventive malaria treatment
• Fortification of staple food crops with nutrients
Developing solutions to college student hunger
Nearly 23% of all college students were food insecure in 2020, and students who were food insecure were less likely to get their bachelor’s degrees than those who were food secure. In addition, there is a substantial "SNAP gap," meaning students who are eligible for SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) or other assistance but do not receive benefits.
To help close the SNAP gap, Bread for the World has identified three priorities:
1. Pass legislation in Congress that addresses this gap, such as The Opportunity to Address College Hunger Act or Closing the College Hunger Gap Act.
2. Persuade the Department of Education to inform low-income students matriculating on college or university campuses of their potential eligibility for SNAP, WIC, and other benefits.
3. Partner with a research institute to study best practices for closing the SNAP gap and to identify which interventions have the potential to be brought to scale and to attract public funding through future advocacy.
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