Human Services News

From Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

Following the creation and expansion of the domestic food assistance programs in the second half of the 20th century, severe hunger, which had been a significant national problem, has become rare. The food assistance programs were developed in several steps. Concerns about the nutritional status of young men drafted for service in World War II led to the enactment of the National School Lunch Act in 1946. The Food Stamp Program was established on a pilot basis in the early 1960s, and extended nationwide in the early 1970s, to help low-income families and individuals purchase a nutritionally adequate diet. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infant, and Children, popularly known as WIC, was created in the early 1970s to improve the health of low-income pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and young children who are found to be at nutritional risk.

In the 1960s, various studies found hunger to be a significant problem in the United States. Today, it has become relatively rare, although it still exists. In addition to easing one of the major burdens of poverty — being unable to put enough food on the table — the nutrition assistance programs also have been found to improve birth outcomes and increase children’s intake of key nutrients.
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