The past several years have presented low-income families with profound challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, housing affordability crises in major cities, and the rising costs of child care and other essentials. These same challenges also inspired an unprecedented expansion of the US social safety net through changes to the Child Tax Credit (CTC), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program. Collectively, the expansion of these programs during the height of the COVID pandemic prevented over 50 million people from falling into poverty and reduced the child poverty rate to historical lows.
The SNAP program plays a critical role as part of this suite of safety net programming. The program is the second-largest anti-poverty program for children in the United States, preventing an estimated 8 million children annually from falling into poverty. Participation in the program has also been shown to improve long-term outcomes in areas such as education and employment.
Despite these strong anti-poverty and long-term benefits, the program faces renewed calls to restrict benefits and introduce stricter work requirements in order to receive benefits. Given these recent debates, and considering upcoming legislation to reauthorize the program through the Farm Bill, it is important that we understand what the evidence can tell us about how nutritional and income supports benefit families, and what role work requirements play in these benefits.
This event will feature O-Lab and Goldman School of Public Policy (GSPP) faculty Hilary Hoynes and Adam Leive discussing recent work on the long-term benefits of nutritional and cash support to families, as well as the impact of work requirements on economic and nutritional security, labor supply, and participation in safety net programming. This will be followed by a moderated discussion led by Sakeenah Shabazz, Policy Director at the Berkeley Food Institute (BFI). BFI has led a number of important recent discussions with policymakers on equity implications of the Farm Bill, the legislation that supports SNAP; this discussion will offer an opportunity to review the evidence, assess how discussions around safety net policy have evolved, and consider what future reforms may hold. David C. Wilson, the Dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy (GSPP), will provide opening remarks.
AGENDA
4:00PM: Opening Remarks | David C. Wilson, Dean, Goldman School of Public Policy
4:05PM: The Role of SNAP in Securing Child and Family Wellbeing | Hilary Hoynes, Faculty Director, Berkeley Opportunity Lab; Haas Distinguished Chair in Economic Disparities; Professor of Economics & Public Policy
4:20PM: Work Requirements, Safety Net Access, and Employment | Adam Leive, Assistant Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy
4:35PM: Moderated Q&A | Hilary Hoynes & Adam Leive
Moderated by Sakeenah Shabazz, Policy Director, Berkeley Food Institute
5:30PM: Wrap-up & closing remarks