Nutrition is vitally important both during pregnancy and during a child's early years. Inadequate nutrition during this critical period can harm children's health and developmental outcomes throughout childhood and into adulthood. Thus, write Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach and Betsy Thorn, it's particularly important that young children have adequate…

Food assistance programs--including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps), the National School Lunch Program, and the School Breakfast Program--have been remarkably successful at their core mission: reducing food insecurity among low-income children. Moreover, writes Craig Gundersen, SNAP in particular has also been…

Suggests four criteria (efficiency, return on investment, incentives, and equity) for evaluating and comparing public programs for poor children, and provides an overview of information available on eight large federal programs using these criteria. Positive effects of some programs are noted, and policy recommendations the evidence supports are…

Reviews six federally funded in-kind public assistance programs designed to mitigate effects of poverty on children: (1) food stamps; (2) the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children; (3) school nutrition programs; (4) Medicaid; (5) Head Start; and (6) housing assistance. Evidence indicates these programs achieve their…