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Making US Food Pantries More Old-Age Friendly

Madonna Harrington Meyer, Winston Scott

The article, co-authored by University Professor Madonna Harrington Meyer and Ph.D. student Winston Scott, was published in the Journal of Aging and Social Change.

March 4, 2026

Why the US Must Measure Food Insecurity in Old Age

Madonna Harrington Meyer, Colleen M. Heflin

The article, co-authored by Maxwell professors Madonna Harrington Meyer and Colleen Heflin, was published in The Milbank Quarterly.

February 23, 2026

Heflin Discusses USDA Sec. Rollins’s Three-Dollar Meal Claim With The Bulwark

“I was very confused,” says Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs, about Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins’s three-dollar meal claim. “USDA has several established meal plans that they estimate the cost of each month. And none of those comes out to $3.”

February 3, 2026

Heflin Discusses SNAP Work Requirements, Food Insecurity Data in Mother Jones Article

Around half of early retirements between the ages of 55 and 65 are the result of health issues or difficulties maintaining employment, often compounded by challenging state processes to seek exemption from it, says Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs. “It’s really important for states to be thinking about the administrative burden.”

January 23, 2026

Heflin Discusses Food Insecurity on WCNY’S ‘CONNECT NY’

“I think it's important to note that while poverty is a really significant risk factor for food insecurity, there are more people that live above the poverty line, actually, who are food insecure. It is the working poor. It's people that actually earn too much to potentially qualify for SNAP,” says Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs. 

January 9, 2026

Heflin Discusses SNAP Funding With ABC News, Newsweek, PolitiFact and USA Today

“The stress that families are facing throughout the country is tremendous, not knowing how they’re going to feed their families,” says Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs.

November 4, 2025

The Limits of SNAP in Addressing Older Adult Food Insecurity

Colleen M. Heflin and Madonna Harrington Meyer
This brief describes how SNAP is currently not well designed for older adults in three respects: (1) the high levels of administrative burden associated with eligibility, certification, and benefit-determination processes, (2) the low value of SNAP benefits compared with the high costs associated with redeeming them, and (3) the high levels of state variation in SNAP policies that produce substantially different conditions for SNAP depending on where one lives.
September 30, 2025

Food for Thought: Understanding Older Adult Food Insecurity

Colleen Heflin, Madonna Harrington Meyer

Written by Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs, and University Professor Madonna Harrington Meyer, the book examines the issue of food insecurity among older adults in the United States. 

September 4, 2025

Maxwell Partners With VA Medical Center, Instacart to Bring Healthy Food to Local Veterans

With a grant-funded study, Colleen Heflin and the Maxwell X Lab are hoping to determine whether greater access to nutritious food leads to health improvements over time.

September 4, 2025

Renowned Health Economist Joins Maxwell as Moynihan Chair

John Cawley specializes in the economics of risky health behaviors and has been widely published in journals and covered by the media.  

August 15, 2025

Colleen Heflin - Studying Hunger in America

Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs, is a leading authority on food insecurity, which, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), negatively impacts more than 47 million Americans.

June 2, 2025

Healthy Monday Finds a New Home With the Lerner Center

Through a restructuring, the center and The Monday Campaigns seek to ensure the vitality and expansion of beloved health programs envisioned by alumnus Sidney “Sid” Lerner.

March 24, 2025

Heflin Weighs In on Whether or Not RFK Jr. Can ‘Make America Healthy Again’ in BBC Interview

“RFK simply doesn't have jurisdiction over most of the policy levers that he would need to make America healthy again,” says Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs.

January 6, 2025

Gadarian Quoted in ABC News Article on RFK Jr.’s Intent to Regulate Farms and Food as Head of HHS

“If all of a sudden HHS is now in the business of passing more regulations on the food industry, on agriculture, we might see that a Republican Senate majority and a Republican House is less interested in allocating a budget to HHS that then would be under a different leadership,“ says Shana Gadarian, professor of political science.

December 5, 2024

Colleen Heflin Appointed to Committee on National Statistics

The committee is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and provides guidance to the federal government.

November 8, 2024

Heflin Quoted in Newsweek Article on the Farm Bill Reauthorization and Its Impact on SNAP Benefits

“If the appropriations bills are not passed by the end of December, January benefits will still go out because SNAP benefits are obligated in the prior month (December),” says Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs.

October 2, 2024

The Effects of Waiving WIC Physical Presence Requirements on Program Caseloads

W. Clay Fannin, Colleen Heflin, Leonard M. Lopoo

“The Effects of Waiving WIC Physical Presence Requirements on Program Caseloads,” co-authored by Maxwell professors Colleen Heflin and Leonard Lopoo, and Ph.D. student W. Clay Fannin, was published in Social Service Review.

September 11, 2024

Colleen Heflin Receives USDA Grant to Study Nutrition Assistance Programs

The research team will investigate how physical presence waivers impacted participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program.

January 8, 2024

PAIA Doctoral Student Receives Grant for SNAP Research

Clay Fannin was awarded $25,000 to continue research he began with professors Colleen Heflin and Len Lopoo.

September 11, 2023

RIDGE Partnership Grant Supports Maternity Health Research

Associate Professor Sarah Hamersma and graduate student Mitch McFarlane will use the $75,000 grant to investigate the impacts of SNAP food assistance on maternal and infant health.

July 12, 2023

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