We are so excited to have 3 Fox Fellows from the University of Pennsylvania joining us in our work to end hunger this summer! Please join us in welcoming Dangela Fonseca, Ece Yildirim, and Emma Bhansingh to the team! |
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Policy and Advocacy Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP): While we previously reported that applications for LIHEAP closed on Friday, May 20, the application deadline was extended until June 17th. As a reminder, LIHEAP is a program that helps low-income families pay their heating bills in the form of a grant that does not need to be repaid. To qualify for LIHEAP, a household’s income must be at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (see this chart). If you have not yet applied for LIHEAP but need assistance, apply before June 17th at www.compass.state.pa.us. SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program): The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved Pennsylvania’s request to issue Emergency Allotments (EAs) in June. EAs are the extra SNAP payments issued in the second half of the month. For more information, including payment dates, see our EA Flyer for June. SNAP Facts: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) recently updated their SNAP Fact Sheets, giving us a better idea of how SNAP supports families in Pennsylvania. In fiscal year 2021, 1 in 7 Pennsylvanians (14%) participated in SNAP. Thanks to Pandemic-related increases, including EAs, Pennsylvania participants received an average benefit of $244 per month, or about $8.02 per day. This figure is almost double that of fiscal year 2020, when the average benefit per day was $4.23. These numbers show the importance of pandemic-related increases to benefits such as EAs, and the “hunger cliff” that many families will face when these measures end. This is why we are always advocating to better support Pennsylvania families facing food insecurity. To get involved in our advocacy efforts, sign up for advocacy alerts today! |
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Food Pantry & Soup Kitchens For our food pantry and soup kitchen leaders: We will be emailing you a form to update your current pantry/kitchen information next week, so please keep on eye on your inboxes for a message from us. You will have the option of completing and submitting the online form or requesting that we call you to complete the form over the phone. This information will be used to update our pantry map that was visited almost 40,000 times this year already! We also depend on your updated information to keep us informed about the changing needs of you and your program participants so we can continue to advocate for and support you all. If you do not receive the form next week, please feel free to reach out to Tanya Sen at [email protected]. |
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SNAP Hotline In Action Last week, we submitted SNAP applications for two separate clients who were later incorrectly denied their benefits. Our SNAP Hotline Manager noticed these benefit denials in the system right away. She called her liaisons at the two separate County Assistance Offices (CAO) and asked them to look into the denials. The CAO looked into both of these cases and determined that they were system errors. Our clients should have never been denied. The CAO corrected the errors in the system and gave both clients expedited benefits. After submitting each SNAP application for our clients, our team checks on the applications to make sure they are approved. Thanks to the proactive efforts of our SNAP Hotline Manger, the errors in the system were fixed before the clients were notified of the denials. |
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Our Coalition Against Hunger SNAP Hotline team is here to help! Whether it’s navigating the SNAP application process or providing case management, our SNAP Hotline team is available Monday – Thursday from 9:00am to 5:00 pm and on Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Give our SNAP Hotline team a call at 215-430-0556. |
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