October 4, 2013

photo credit: NCReedPlayer

In an Op-ed for the Huffington Post,  CUNY Grad Center doctoral student Maggie Dickinson weighs in on how SNAP cuts (and stipulations to receiving benefits) can have devastating effects on those most in need. Dickinson points out that with it’s policy of work requirements to receive benefits (and the now-ended policy of fingerprinting), both before and during the Great Recession, the recent history of how New York City has administered the SNAP program foretells a dismal future for  food access across the nation should proposed cuts to Food Stamps succeed. Work experience programs are often underfunded,  lead to dead-end jobs and can be a deterrent to applicants. Without the appropriate workforce development strategy and living-wage jobs for people participating in these programs, such programs cannot help build a stronger economy.