ASU Food Policy and Environment Research Group

As of May 2022, there have been more than 80 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the United States, and over two million cases in Arizona. The pandemic has had a devastating impact on local, national, and global economies. This brief features the findings from data collected from a survey administered to Arizona residents in April of 2021, as well as national statistics, to understand some of the economic consequences of COVID-19 and its impacts on Arizona households.

We surveyed a diverse group of Arizona residents, including over 2,300 parents of school-age children and nearly 1,300 members of the school community, consisting of teachers, lunchroom staff, school administrators, and other school employees. Respondents represented a wide range of racial, economic, educational, and political backgrounds. A more detailed report of methods and results will be shared on the Arizona Food Bank Network’s website in January 2023.

Under current United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines, Arizona schools participating in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program are reimbursed for the meals they serve students through federal dollars and co-pays from student families. For this analysis, our goal was to estimate the cost to the State of Arizona if the breakfast and lunch co-pays for students that qualify for reduced-price meals were covered by the state.

The epidemic of overweight and obesity and its multiple causes have captured the attention of researchers, program administrators, politicians, and the public alike. Recently, many stakeholder groups have started investigating the role that food and nutrition assistance programs play in the etiology of the problem and in identifying possible solutions. As a result, policy changes have been recommended and implemented for programs such as the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to improve the nutritional quality of foods they offer to their participants. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is also attracting attention as a potential vehicle to reduce the burden of obesity among its users. Because of the tough economic and political climate in which all federal programs currently operate, the need for making nutrition assistance programs more efficient and effective in addressing health and nutrition related problems affecting the country has never been greater.

This document proposes a set of strategies to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of SNAP. These strategies are based on a review of research literature, recommendations from expert groups, and the experiences of other communities and states. We include information that pertains to potential stakeholder arguments for and against each strategy, as well as the political feasibility, financial impact, and logistical requirements for implementation. We drew candidate strategies from the range of options that have been tested through research and from policies that have been implemented around the country. The order of strategies in this document is based on overall strength of supportive research, as well as political and implementation feasibility. The four proposed strategies are improving access to healthy foods to provide better choices, incentivizing the purchase of healthy foods, restricting access to unhealthy foods, and maximizing education to more effectively reach a larger population of SNAP participants.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected employment and food security globally and in the United States. To understand the impacts of COVID-19 on food security in Arizona, a representative survey of Arizona households was launched online from July 1 to August 10, 2020. This brief provides an overview of changes in food security rate, perceived worries and challenges about food security, as well as behavioral changes and strategies adopted since the pandemic. Additional briefs from the Arizona survey covering topics on economic consequences, food access, and participations in food assistance programs during the pandemic are also available.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led to disruptions in the food supply and high rates of unemployment and under-employment, both in Arizona and nationally. These emergencies required food assistance programs to adapt quickly and in unprecedented ways by relaxing eligibility criteria, improvising on delivery modalities, and increasing benefits. To examine food assistance program participation during the pandemic, we collected data from a representative sample of 620 Arizona households. The sample was drawn from across Arizona in July-August 2020 using an online survey. This brief provides the summary for participation in key food assistance programs, namely, the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC), School Food Programs, and the emergency food assistance provided through food pantries.

Frequent consumption of fruits and vegetables has been linked to better dietary quality and positive health outcomes. Unfortunately, fruit and vegetable consumption among elementary school children falls far short of the recommendations. Therefore, finding strategies to promote fruit and vegetable consumption in children is a public health priority. One such strategy is the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP), which provides fresh fruits and vegetables as snacks, at least twice per week, in elementary schools with high student enrollment from low-income households. The program aims to expand the variety of fruits and vegetables children experience, impacting their present and future health outcomes.  Another USDA initiative, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed), offered in community and school settings, aims to improve the likelihood that SNAP eligible individuals will make healthy food choices consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.  SNAP-Ed is a potential resource for FFVP schools, providing nutrition education, staff training, and promotional materials.

With more than 19 million confirmed COVID-19 cases across the United States1 and over 500,000 in Arizona as of December 2020, the ongoing pandemic has had devastating impacts on local, national, and global economies. Prior to the pandemic (February 2020), based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the unemployment rate in Arizona was 6.5%, compared to 4.9% at the national level.3 Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020), the United States has experienced striking increases in the unemployment rate, reaching 13.2% in April. Similarly, in Arizona, the unemployment rate jumped to over 13.5% in April. The unemployment rates have since declined both nationally and in Arizona but remain higher compared to February 2020. In November 2020 (the most recent data available), the national unemployment rate was 6.7%, while in Arizona the rate was 7.8%—the 10th highest unemployment rate among all U.S. states.