Category: SNAP Highlights

Advocates Urge Supreme Court to Uphold Individuals’ Ability to Enforce Essential Rights

Decision Could Impact Millions of Children’s Access to Food, Healthcare  Contacts: Willis Jacobson, National Center for Youth Law: wjacobson@youthlaw.org Saima Akhtar, National Center for Law and Economic Justice: akhtar@nclej.org Selina Weiss, Youth Law Center: sweiss@ylc.org Constance Van Kley, Upper Seven Law (counsel…

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Twenty-two States Are Trying to Deny Free School Lunch to LGBTQ Students 

By Saima Akhtar, Senior Attorney, and Katharine Deabler, Staff Attorney The tide is rising high this year of far-right attacks on LGBTQ youth. And the multi-pronged strategies to win a right to discriminate against young LGBTQ people are…

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Federal Court Preliminarily Approves Settlement to Improve Access to Public Benefits for People with Disabilities in Suffolk County

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact for comments: Jordan Berger, NCLEJ Skadden Fellow, berger@nclej.org, 646-680-8906Saima Akhtar, Senior Attorney, akhtar@nclej.org, 646-558-6152Linda Hassberg, Senior Attorney, Empire Justice Center, lhassberg@empirejustice.org, 631-533-5272 A federal district court judge in the Eastern District of New York…

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Missouri judge denies state’s request to dismiss federal SNAP lawsuit

The following excerpts were reprinted from Missouri Independent. Read the the full article. This article was also reposted in Fulton Sun. Mary Holmes says she subsisted on hardly any food for over a month as she struggled to…

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Missouri Case Moves Forward to Secure Access to SNAP Food Benefits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Zavé Martohardjono | martohardjono@nclej.org  For years, Missourians have faced problems and been wrongfully rejected when applying for SNAP benefits because of difficulties navigating the state’s Department of Social Services’ application process. Missourians—especially people with…

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Good news from Missouri: Plaintiffs have started receiving SNAP benefits

Plaintiffs in our lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Social Services have received interviews and started receiving benefits after months of being unable to get through to the State Agency’s failing call center— a barrier that has caused thousands of eligible households to be…

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Missouri sued over long wait times at ‘nonfunctional’ call center for food benefits

See excerpt from an article in the Kansas City Star Attorneys from the National Center for Law and Economic Justice in New York joined the lawsuit. Katharine Deabler-Meadows, an attorney from that organization, said the state’s reliance on…

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Lawsuit Exposes Missouri’s Failure to Provide SNAP Benefits, Denying Food Aid to Thousands

MISSOURI — The National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ), Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, and Stinson LLP filed a lawsuit today on behalf of Empower Missouri and two low-income Missourians against the state’s Department of Social…

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Connecticut has emerged as a national leader in getting SNAP benefits to low-income people on time.  

Imagine not being able to get food on your table because your state has problems processing benefits in a timely fashion. These delays could mean that families, including those with children, may not be able to meet their basic needs.   Until recently, Connecticut ranked last…

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