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A potential food crisis is brewing in Arizona that could be a warning to other states as changes to the Supplemental Food Assistance Program start to take effect. Federal funding cuts and major changes to state administration of SNAP have caused enrollment in that state to drop by half. As many as 200,000 children who once received SNAP benefits now go without. Many of those who were dropped are eligible, even with new work requirements, but they can’t get through the state’s restructured system. State officials estimate one in three Navajo Nation residents receive SNAP benefits. Native Americans in general are much more likely to rely on SNAP than the general population. Arizona has been aggressive in initiating SNAP changes. Those same changes in other states are expected to start rolling out after the midterm elections. We’ll find out what’s different — and what’s the same — in Arizona when it comes to the looming SNAP changes.
GUESTS
Chairman Julian Hernandez (Pascua Yaqui Tribe)
Carly Griffith Hotvedt (Cherokee Nation), executive director at the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative
Mary Greene-Trottier (Spirit Lake Nation), president of the National Association of Food Distribution Programs on Indian Reservations and director of the Spirit Lake Tribe Food Distribution Program
Jaynie Parrish (Diné), executive director of Arizona Native Vote
Michelle Estradé, research associate at the Center for Human Nutrition at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
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