Dear Springboard to Opportunities Partners,
This month, I am thinking about what families need to build stable, healthy lives — and what happens when the systems we have in place create new barriers instead.
Congress’ H.R. 1, passed last year, is reshaping access to two essential supports: SNAP, which helps families put food on the table; and Medicaid, which helps people access health care. The law expands work-reporting requirements in SNAP and establishes new Medicaid “community engagement” requirements for many adults in the Medicaid expansion population.
The question is not whether people work. Most parents are already working — at paid jobs, in school, caring for children and family members, navigating unpredictable schedules and doing the daily work it takes to keep a household afloat. The question is who gets to define “work,” who has the time and resources to navigate another reporting system and what happens when paperwork, technology barriers or an administrative mistake stands between a family and the food or health care they need.
At Springboard, we believe families are the experts in their own lives. We also believe policy should make it easier for people to pursue their goals, not force them to clear additional hurdles just to meet their children’s basic needs.
That is why the power of the polls matters. The decisions made by elected officials determine whether families have access to affordable child care, nutritious food, health care, housing and real pathways to opportunity. Our voices, our stories and our votes are how we hold leaders accountable for building systems that honor families’ dignity and reflect what communities actually need. I hope we’ll all take that with us into the voting booth come November.
Also, I am happy to announce my new podcast, Bless Your Heart, is officially live! Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, and join me for conversations about the people, places and ideas shaping how we understand this moment.
Yours in Service,
Aisha Nyandoro
CEO