School Breakfast and Lunch Program
under School Breakfast and Lunch Program
Providing nutritious breakfasts and lunches to students of public and private schools has always been the goal of the School Breakfast Program and the School Lunch Program. These federally-assisted feeding campaigns operate in public schools, nonprofit private schools, and public or private nonprofit licensed residential child care centers every day.
Headed by the U. S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Services, partners such as local educational offices get cash reimbursements and donated commodities from the USDA, and in some cases, State funds, for each meal they give to the students. In exchange, the local educational agencies must serve meals in their national school breakfast and lunch programs that satisfy federal requirements.
Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits
under Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits
A financial aid program under the Social Security Administration, the Social Disability Insurance Benefits was created to give people with disabilities a source of income despite their physical or mental limitations that make working impossible. The disability benefits of the said program aids a person with disability until his or her condition improves. The program also guarantees income to people with incurable conditions.
The disability benefits can only apply to people who are deemed disabled and incapable of doing income-generating activities. A person is pronounced as disabled and eligible for social disability application if:
Special Milk Program
under Special Milk Program
An offshoot of the National Lunch Program, the Special Milk program gives servings of free milk to students in schools, camps, and child care institutions that have no other federal Child Nutrition Program. Started in 1955, the Special Milk Program is helmed in the federal level by the Department of Agriculture through its Food and Nutrition Service.
Participating schools and other learning and educational agencies serve free milk on a daily basis. The milk must not be used as a part of any profiteering activity. However, children who can afford to buy milk are charged in accordance to the school’s guidelines. The Department of Agriculture compensates the expenses of participating schools for their free milk campaign. Generally, the reimbursement is based on every half-pint.
Summer Food Service
under Summer Food Service
The Summer Food Service Program is an initiative that offers free meals to students 18 years and younger when schools are not in session. Funded federally, the summer food program is usually carried out together with educational and/or recreational activities.
Basically, the summer food program aims to provide food to students who come from low income families and have depended heavily on the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. Since these two school meal programs are carried out only during school days, the summer food program fills the gap. Handled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, students of low income families can still enjoy free or low-priced meals that have met the nutrition allowance laid out by the appropriate agencies.
TANF
under TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Formerly known as “welfare,” Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, also known as TANF, strives to provide provisional yet sufficient financial aid to poor American families with dependent children through the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
Families who want to apply for TANF must satisfy strict requirements. Low-income individuals are in need of TANF benefits mostly because of the following:
Unemployment Insurance
under Unemployment Insurance
Managed by the United States Department of Labor, the Unemployment Insurance confers unemployment benefits to workers who have been terminated from their jobs through no fault of their own. The financial assistance that comes with the insurance is projected to temporarily cover the costs of the individual and his/her household.
Aside from the unemployed sector, the Unemployment Insurance policy also helps in cushioning the impacts of economic slides and contributes to the stability of communities, states, and the nation by providing momentary income sources for terminated workers.
Weatherization
under Weatherization
Created by the United States Department of Energy over 30 years ago, the Weatherization Assistance Program’s primary goal is to provide aid for people to make their homes energy efficient. With energy-efficient homes, people who have been aided by the Weatherization Program have their energy bills significantly reduced permanently.
The home weatherization assistance helps low income families save their funds for them to spend on other pressing issues such as food, clothing, and medication. Since the Weatherization Assistance Program does not offer financial assistance but instead significantly reduces energy bills, dependency on financial aid is greatly lessened. Thus, families have more to spend and this spending, in turn, helps in creating job opportunities and economic growth.