Grafton High School Policy Brief Analysis

Analysis of how your policy will address the issue. This should include a cost/benefit analysis and statistics to be persuasive.

My policy is attached below in the word document. I also attached some information about food insecurity about military families below in the word document.

What I need is an Analysis of how your policy will address the issue.  This should include a cost/benefit analysis and statistics to be persuasive.

  1
Food Insecurity Policy
In order to tackle food insecurity issues within military households, I propose a policy
that would create a food recovery program at the Department of Defense. This program would
collaborate with military bases and locations to gather any excess food from cafeterias and other
sources, and distribute it to military families in need. A dedicated team within the Department of
Defense would manage the food recovery program and it would be in partnership with local
military family support organizations and food banks.
This food recovery program would not only provide direct assistance to military families
struggling with food insecurity, but it would also work to address issues of food waste and
sustainability within the military. This program would be modeled after successful food recovery
programs from other sectors, such as the Feeding America network of food banks, which have
recovered billions of pounds of food annually to provide to those in need. Establishing this food
recovery program within the Department of Defense, enables the use of existing resources to
address food insecurity and promote sustainability within the military, while also supporting the
readiness and wellbeing of our military personnel and their families.
Bibliography:
Feeding America. (n.d.). Our work. Retrieved February 22, 2023, from
https://www.feedingamerica.org/our-work.
1
Food Insecurity Policy
In order to tackle food insecurity issues within military households, I propose a policy
that would create a food recovery program at the Department of Defense. This program would
collaborate with military bases and locations to gather any excess food from cafeterias and other
sources, and distribute it to military families in need. A dedicated team within the Department of
Defense would manage the food recovery program and it would be in partnership with local
military family support organizations and food banks.
This food recovery program would not only provide direct assistance to military families
struggling with food insecurity, but it would also work to address issues of food waste and
sustainability within the military. This program would be modeled after successful food recovery
programs from other sectors, such as the Feeding America network of food banks, which have
recovered billions of pounds of food annually to provide to those in need. Establishing this food
recovery program within the Department of Defense, enables the use of existing resources to
address food insecurity and promote sustainability within the military, while also supporting the
readiness and wellbeing of our military personnel and their families.
The problem I would like to address is how military families struggle with food
insecurity. Food insecurity among U.S. veterans and military families is a national security
concern: it multiplies stress on active-duty personnel, diminishes well-being among service
members and their children—who are more likely to serve in the military as adults—and may
hinder recruitment for the armed services. Data from the Department of Defense shows twenty
four percent of active-duty military, the people who serve our country, have experienced some
sort of food insecurity in the last year. That’s about one in every four. The problem of food
insecurity is so extensive in the military, there is a food pantry on almost all U.S. military bases.
Some of the factors that can make it hard for members of the military to afford sufficient
food for themselves and their families include low salaries for enlisted members, high rates of
unemployment for military spouses due to the transitory nature of the military, the high cost of
living near many military bases across the country and the high cost of childcare. One factor that
did not help was Covid-19 because it made people lose their jobs which caused them to lose their
income which usually was what put food on the table.
Another problem many military families have is they can’t even qualify to receive food
stamps, SNAP benefits, or other government assistance. Many military families face this
problem because they are over the income level. According to the USDA, only 2% of active-duty
service members qualify for SNAP benefits. Currently, more than 20,000 military families are in
need of food stamps. Additionally, 213,000 members of the National Guard and Reserve and 1.1
million Veterans are waiting for SNAP to assist them in gaining access to food stamps.
Overall food insecurity is bad especially in the military. It is bad because food insecurity
in the military ranks can cause health issues for service members and negatively impact military
readiness. It can negatively impact military readiness because hunger affects service members
attention, so mission readiness suffers. The sad thing about this problem is many children eat
their only meals at school.