Gabrielle G. Gonzales

HUNGER FREE AMERICA is a nonpartisan, national nonprofit group working to enact the policies and programs needed to end domestic hunger and ensure that all Americans have sufficient access to nutritious food. With an estimated 54 million people, including 18 million children, struggling with food insecurity, a historic surge in federal funding for SNAP (formerly called Food Stamp) benefits dwarfed the sharp hike in food distributed by charitable food pantries and soup kitchens nationwide: from March 2020 to July 2020, the total SNAP caseload in 33 states increased from 30.8 million to 35.2 million. The Leading Edge Fellows will gather evidence of the positive impact SNAP has on recipients and how it helps them get ahead in life by researching the long-term impacts of SNAP on past and current recipients, both famous and non-famous. The fellows will collaboratively produce a report outlining the benefits of the SNAP program for individuals, families, and communities, using a variety of sources, to be used by Hunger Free America and affiliates to advocate for maintaining and expanding policy to end hunger in America.