Policymakers Must Provide America’s Latinos with Affordable and Secure Access to Healthy Food
Many Latinos cannot afford to provide their families with nutritious meals.
Nearly two in five Latinos reported that their families did not have enough food to eat in 2023—more than any other racial or ethnic group and significantly higher than in the past. With high food prices and the end of pandemic assistance, more than one in eight Latino adults have gone into debt to feed their families. Without affordable access to healthy food, Hispanic communities face an epidemic of diet-related illness.
UnidosUS polling has shown that Latino voters rank the cost of food and basic living expenses as one of the single most important concerns elected officials must address.
Among our policy recommendations are:
- Cut paperwork and bureaucracy that stop eligible Latino families from participating in federal food programs.
- Increase SNAP benefits so families can afford to buy healthy food.
- Guarantee WIC benefits for all eligible families.
- Require simple, graphically compelling front-of-package labels that help Latino families make informed food choices.
- Extend SNAP to American citizens who live in Puerto Rico.
unidosus_policymakersmustprovideamericaslatinoswithaffordableandsecureaccesstohealthyfood.pdf
