Get Involved - has information about a number of ways that you can learn about and join efforts to end hunger: through donations, volunteer work, advocacy, public education, or a unique community-based method of finding and linking the unique skills of local community residents (Asset-Based Community Development).

What Government Can Do (continued)

Goals:

1. Improve the quality of life in Sacramento, California and the US. as a whole.
2. Help meet basic nutritional needs.
3. Reduce the future costs of impaired or delayed physical and psychological development, reduced productivity, and increased health care needs for hungry children and adults.
4. Reduce tile 1need for emergency food assistance and promote the most efficient use of public and private resources.

Recommended Actions for State and Federal government:

• Individuals and local policymakers should advocate for the following infrastructure changes in the Federal Food Programs:
• Increase outreach, make eligibility requirements less restrictive, and increase benefit levels for the Food Stamp Program:
  • Fund outreach to all Americans; California should match federal funds now available for this purpose.
  • Shift from the "Thrifty Food Plan" (the USDA approved scale upon which the amount of food stamps available to a household is determined) to the "Low Cost Food Plan" which provides more adequate long-term nutrition.
  • Revise or eliminate cumbersome reporting and documentation requirements and simplify application forms.
  • Increase funding for WIC (Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children):
  • Supplement federal funds with state dollars.
  • Make WIC an entitlement program, so that all those who are eligible can be served.
• Increase the federal reimbursement rate for the School Breakfast Program and provide start-up funds for schools implementing the program.
• Expand the Child Care Food Program:
  • Reduce paperwork requirements.
  • Add a meal/snack for all participating programs.
• Expand the Summer Food Program:
  • Allow private non-profit groups to be sponsors.
  • Allow areas with 1/3 or more low-income children to qualify as sites.
  • Provide a Summer Food Program equivalent for year round schools during school breaks.

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