Thursday, February 15, 2018

Problems with Unemployment Benefits

Mainers who are eligible for unemployment benefits have had difficulty accessing those benefits since the Maine Department of Labor switched to a new software system in December. You can read more about the issues with the new filing system here: https://www.pressherald.com/2018/01/28/state-unemployment-system-continues-to-frustrate-mainers/


Good Shepherd Food Bank is interested to hear from partner agencies who are serving people who have not received their unemployment benefits. Have you seen your numbers go up as a result of this issue? Have you spoken to patrons who are experiencing problems with the new system? If so, please reach out to Clara McConnell, Director of Public Affairs, at cmcconnell@gsfb.org or 782-3554 x1166 to share your experiences. 

SNAP Time Limits

As you may know, in 2015 Maine instituted a strict time limit in our SNAP program. After a 3 month period, childless adults age 18-49 must work, volunteer, or take part in job training for at least 20 hours a week in order to qualify for SNAP. Maine had been applying for waivers that exempted people who live areas of high unemployment from this time limit. Starting in early 2015, when the administration decided to no longer apply for these waivers, all people in this group were subject to the 3 month limit. In the subsequent years, Maine’s SNAP rolls have shrunk significantly. In 2015 SNAP served an average of 202,500 people in Maine and as of December 2017, SNAP served just over 178,000 Mainers. At least 9,000 people, but probably many more, lost access to SNAP due to the time limit.

Similar SNAP time limits are now being considered on a nationwide basis, either as part of the Farm Bill process or in an upcoming "welfare reform" effort by Congress. There is a good deal of interest from national media about how the time limits have impacted Mainers. 

Good Shepherd Food Bank is interested to hear from partner agencies who are serving people who lost access to SNAP in recent years. Have you seen your numbers go up as a result of this issue? Have you spoken to patrons who were subject to the time limit or other SNAP restriction? If so, please reach out to Clara McConnell, Director of Public Affairs, at cmcconnell@gsfb.org or 782-3554 x1166 to share your experiences.

President's FY 2019 Budget Proposal

On February 12, President Trump submitted his proposed budget for  FY 2019. This proposal outlines the administration’s recommendations to Congress on how to prioritize spending, so while it’s unlikely to be implemented as is, it provides important insight into the administration’s goals.

Included in the plan were several proposals that would dramatically weaken our national response to hunger. The plan included structural changes to SNAP that would cut the program by $213 billion over 10 years. Central to these structural changes is a plan to provide half of every beneficiary’s food assistance via a monthly box of shelf stable foods. This would undermine the basic dignity that comes from allowing SNAP recipients to shop for groceries like anyone else, increase federal and state bureaucracy, increase the need for infrastructure and logistics to distribute the food boxes, and unnecessarily alter a program that is currently working as it was intended.  


The budget would also inexplicably eliminate the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which each month provides nutritious USDA foods to supplement the diets of thousands of older Mainers, and SNAP Education, which provides cooking and nutrition resources to SNAP recipients. These cuts to nutrition programs, when coupled with proposed cuts to housing, healthcare, LIHEAP, and other programs, would have a devastating impact on Mainers living in poverty. 


GSFB Network is a blog for partner agencies of Good Shepherd Food Bank focused on feeding Maine's hungry.