The Weekly Food Research and Action Center News Digest highlights what's new on hunger, nutrition and poverty issues at FRAC, at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, around the network of national, state and local anti-poverty and anti-hunger organizations, and in the media. The Digest will alert you to trends, reports, news items and resources and, when available, link you directly to them.

1. SNAP/Food Stamps and Unemployment Insurance Offer Largest Return for Economic Stimulus
(Brattleboro Reformer, December 30, 2008)

Boosting benefits for two “important programs that have been underfunded for years and are experiencing great demand in this recession” would return the highest dollar value in economic stimulus. The programs – SNAP/Food Stamps and unemployment insurance – give money to people who would spend it and is “sound economic policy” according to this editorial, and would return over $1.50 each for every dollar spent – with unemployment returning $1.64 and SNAP/Food Stamps $1.73. Other tax cuts and financial aid would return less than these two programs. Specific amounts returned for every dollar spent include:

- making reductions permanent to dividend and capital gains taxes: 37 cents;
- corporate tax rate cuts or making the President’s tax cuts permanent: 30 cents;
- across the board tax cuts: $1.02;
- aid to states for budget shortfalls: $1.36;
- money for public works projects: $1.59.

2. Government SNAP/Food Stamp Spending Will Be $50 Billion in 2009
(Reuters, January 7, 2009)

Charles Abbot of Reuters reports that congressional forecasters predict the recession will drive up the cost of the SNAP/Food Stamp program to $50 billion in 2009, a 27 percent increase from 2008. Economic “slowdowns” are usually matched with increased SNAP/Food Stamp spending as more people apply for the benefit. “The cost really has gone up because more people are out of work,” said Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat and chair of the panel overseeing SNAP. High unemployment rates will continue over the next few years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which also said economic recovery could begin in 2010. The CBO also said that over the next ten years, SNAP/food stamps would cost an additional $86 billion than was forecast in September 2008. According to FRAC, the October 2008 SNAP/Food Stamp enrollment was 3.9 million people more than in October 2007.

3. Money Saved on Lower Gas Prices Now Goes to Food
(The Gourmet Retailer, January 4, 2009)

Lower gas prices are saving consumers money, and 48 percent of consumers say they’re spending that extra money at the grocery store, ahead of saving it (42 percent) or paying off credit cards (30 percent). Of consumers surveyed who say they’ve suffered a “direct financial loss during the recession,” 55 percent are spending those savings on groceries; among respondents with incomes under $35,000, 59 percent say they spending the extra savings on food. In addition, nearly two-thirds of responders said the recession has changed the way they purchase groceries, with 27 percent saying they can no longer afford to “stock up” and now buy food week-to-week. The online survey, conducted by Precima between November 28 and December 8, 2008, tallied responses from 45,000 households.

4. North Dakota County Needs More Staff to Handle Increased SNAP/Food Stamp Caseload
(Grand Forks Herald, January 7, 2009)

Grand Forks County’s director of social services Keith Berger asked county officials to approve the hiring of two or three more employees to handle the increased caseload of SNAP/Food Stamp applications and recipients. Over the past year, the number of people in the county receiving the benefit increased 13 percent (from 4,412 to 4,991). Now, nearly eight percent of the total population in the county receives SNAP/Food Stamps. The amount of federal money county residents on SNAP receive increased 29 percent from the previous year. “This is all federal or state dollars, no county dollars, in SNAP,” said Berger, “but we are responsible for taking applications, processing them and making sure people get the EBT, the electronic benefit cards. According to a study by the Census Data Center in Fargo, 47 percent of SNAP funds in the state went to people 18 or younger in 2007.

5. SNAP/Food Stamp Household Numbers Soar in Georgia
(Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 8, 2009)

Since July 2008, 10,000 new SNAP/Food Stamp cases a month have been coming into the state’s assistance offices, according to state officials. The cases, which can be either individuals or households, jumped 19.9 percent – 79,934 cases – from November 2007 to November 2008, for a total of 480,103 cases. Still, many are having trouble putting food on the table “Three hundred and twenty dollars for a whole month ain’t very much,” said Donna Chapman. “We run out.” To stretch her dollars, sometimes she and her husband eat crackers and peanut butter, or a box of macaroni and cheese, for dinner at the end of the month; other times they’ll eat less in order to leave more food for their daughter and her 8-week-old baby.

6. New Hampshire Streamlines Assistance Application Process
(WMUR, January 2, 2009)

In order to reduce the length of lines forming outside public assistance offices to apply for SNAP/Food Stamps, Medicaid and other programs, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) instituted an appointment system. According to Terry Smith, director of the Division of Family Assistance (DFA), lines have been out the door and into the parking lot. “These challenging economic times have brought 20 percent increases in the numbers of people applying for assistance,” said Smith. “This new appointment system will reduce wait time for eligibility interviews to 15 minutes or less.” Applicants are provided with a list of forms to fill out well in advance of the interview; in emergency cases, applicants can be seen the same day. Kathy Finnegan, Manchester DFA District Office Supervisor, noted “Our staff…(has) already seen a tremendous improvement in customer service as a result of this change.” The new appointment system is part of a larger effort to provide clients with faster service; DHHS is looking at instituting home application and telephone interviews and is working on becoming a paperless office.

7. 2-1-1 Phone Number and Mobile Assistance Unit Brings SNAP/Food Stamp Applications to the Needy
(PRWeb.com, January 6, 2009;New Jersey News via YouTube, November 6, 2008)

New Jersey’s 2-1-1 phone number enables residents from anywhere in the state to call and find out information on the various federal nutrition programs which can help the needy from going hungry. The phone number provides residents with a confidential service of personal assistance in navigating the state’s health and human services, government assistance programs, and local community resources. 2-1-1 also provides “understanding and compassion along with the information that is needed to address the caller’s concerns.” Programs include SNAP/Food Stamps, WIC, school meal programs, and senior meals.

2-1-1 is supported by United Way in partnership with the State of New Jersey-Department of Human Services, Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, Department of Health and Senior Service, and the Department of Children and Families.

A “county mobile assistance services office” is making the rounds of health fairs, senior centers, community events, and shopping center parking lots to help needy residents apply for SNAP/Food Stamps and other welfare assistance. People visiting the mobile van tell of their struggles through these tough economic times, which brings them to apply for assistance. SNAP/Food Stamp use rose significantly from September 2007 to September 2008, going from nearly 202,000 to 219,000. In Essex County, Bruce Nigro, Director of Welfare, noted that the number of SNAP/Food Stamp households rose from 31,000 to 34,000. In Bergen County, SNAP/Food Stamp use is up 20 percent. The mobile unit continues to ease the application process for residents through support from Shoprite grocery stores.

8. SNAP/Food Stamps Help Some Students Afford College
(Boston Globe, December 22, 2008)

Hadassah Sylvester, a single mother of two who is studying for her nursing degree in Massachusetts, said she would not be able to stay in school without the $463 she receives in SNAP/Food Stamp benefits each month. While 1,700 college students in the state receive SNAP/Food Stamps, thousands more may be eligible, prompting the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) to launch a campaign to let working students know about the program. Columns in school newspapers, workshops on campuses, and educating financial aid officers are components of the outreach campaign, timed “so that college students can renegotiate financial-aid packages for the spring semester to include a federal work-study job that helps them qualify.” Across the state 40,000 students already receive financial aid, and advocates believe most of them could qualify for SNAP. The recession and rising college costs have hit students hard, especially low-income students, for whom a year of community college, priced at $8,500 after financial aid, would be prohibitively expensive, according to a study by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. SNAP/Food Stamp benefits are one way of helping, especially since “Work-study students have gone through the financial litmus test already,” said Patricia Baker, senior policy analyst at MLRI.

9. Food Bank in Hawaii Terms 2009 "Year of the Food Stamp"
(Kauai World, January 6, 2009)

The Kaua’i Food Bank’s newest employee, Wendi Rusaw, has done SNAP/Food Stamp outreach since August 1, 2008 and secured $110,000 in food stamp funding for clients. The amount has resulted “in almost a half a million dollars in community economic impact,” said Director Judy Lenthall. During the last five months of 2008, the food bank experienced a 25 percent increase in demand for food. Lenthall is promoting 2009 as “The Year of the Food Stamp,” and outreach coordinator Rusaw has been distributing packages of ginger snap cookies to potential SNAP/Food Stamp recipients as a way of breaking the ice and working through possible stigma attached to accepting the benefit. State Sen. Gary Hooser (D) has been working with the food bank and is expected to introduce legislation that will help the SNAP program in the next session.

10. Rising Demands Shrink Food Bank Distribution
(Arizona Daily Star, January 1, 2009)

The Tucson Community Food Bank has been forced to reduce the amount of food it’s giving to clients from two boxes to one due to increased demand, according to Jack Parris, spokesman for the organization. “This is the first time we’ve had to reduce it,” he said, and he expects long lines of people coming to the bank for help to continue, especially after the holidays. The food bank distributed 36 percent more food boxes during the first 11 months of 2008 than in the previous year.

11. Senior Times Promotes SNAP/Food Stamps for Elderly in Florida
(Senior Times, January 2009)

New Year’s resolutions for some may involve eating healthier and losing weight, but for others, the new year brings the problem of finding the money to pay for sufficient food. Senior Times writes that some Florida seniors may be eligible for food stamps, and directs its readers to the state’s Web site to find out more about eligibility and benefits: www.dcf.state.fl.us. Eligible seniors can apply online for food stamps, as well as Medicaid benefits. The article points out that food stamps can assist seniors struggling with the high cost of food, and help make sure they don’t have to make the choice between medicine and groceries.

12. Arkansas High School Institutes “Grab and Go” Breakfast
(Times Herald, January 7, 2009)

Students at Forrest City High School in Arkansas can now take advantage of “Grab and Go” breakfast through a grant from the Midwest Dairy Council. Students can pick up bagged meals in one of the hallways on their way to class, which helps students who may arrive at school too late to eat breakfast in the cafeteria. Making breakfast available in this way helps a lot of students at the high school, according to Evelyn Rayford, supervisor of child nutrition for the Forrest City School District. Rayford noted that it’s important for anyone to eat breakfast, especially students, “for them to be able to interact in the classroom, and even interact peacefully with each other.”

13. Nearly Half Million Ohio Children Suffer from Hunger
(Chillicothe Gazette, December 28, 2008)

According to a report published by the Children’s Hunger Alliance, 495,000 (one in six) Ohio children “either go to bed hungry each night or don’t know where their next meal is coming from.” However, the state could gain $105 million in federal funding to feed these children breakfast and meals in the summer if schools and caregivers took advantage of federal nutrition programs, which many may not know about or have chosen not to participate in. The report, titled “Feeding Ohio’s Hungry Future: Goals for a Brighter Tomorrow,” outlines six goals for the state’s policymakers and local leaders to commit to reaching by 2011 in order to eradicate hunger in children and help them in their classrooms:

Enroll an additional 40,000 students in the School Breakfast Program every day.
Get 20,000 additional students to participate in the National School Lunch Program each day.
Bring the Summer Food Service Program to an additional 20,000 students.
Make sure an additional 10,000 children are fed through the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
Ensure the State of Ohio has adopted a comprehensive action plan to slow the growth of childhood obesity, "paying special attention to improving access to healthier choices and physical activity for children."
Develop state and local government agency partnerships with nonprofit, faith-based and community organizations to "maximize federal resources for improved outreach efforts."

14. Study Finds Children Eat More Fruits and Vegetables if School Snack Food is Restricted
(KIVI, December 19, 2008)

A study of fifth-graders found a small increase (3 percent) in their consumption of fruits and vegetables when “unhealthy” snack availability was restricted in their elementary school. The study of 10,285 fifth-graders at 2,065 elementary schools nationwide was published in the January 2009 issue of The Journal of Nutrition. According to co-author Edward A. Frongillo, chairman of the University of South Carolina’s department of health promotion, education and behavior, the findings were significant, as even a small increase in consumption means that a policy restricting access to high-fat and high-sugar snack foods has the opportunity to affect a large number of children at a school. “What the data are saying is that children’s experience in one part of their day is having an impact on the whole of that day,” said Frongillo. “The implication isn’t that there are bad ways to provide food to children. The real issue is, are we modeling in the foods we make available to children what they should be eating?” A Temple University study found that three-quarters of middle schools in a nationwide sampling of 42 schools have sugared drinks and snack vending machines; a Mathematica study found 17 percent of elementary schools have vending machines, compared to 82 percent of middle schools and 97 percent of high schools that have them. The food available to students in schools and school snack policies are part of the ongoing debate in this country over childhood obesity. Federally-subsidized school breakfast and lunch programs must meet federal nutrition standards, said Sonya Jones, one of the study’s co-authors.

15. New York’ WIC Food Package Promoted as Model by USDA
(Newsday, January 9, 2009)

The changes New York has made to the menu of food choices for WIC is “such a refreshing change” that USDA has advised other states to use it as a model as states begin to implement the new food package. The state Health Commissioner, Richard Daines, announced the new emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables, along with whole grains. Program leaders welcome the change; “It’s a wonderful thing. We’re thrilled these changes have occurred,” said Susan McKenna, Nassau County Health Department’s WIC public health nutritionist. In New York, 550,00 low-income women and children receive WIC benefits. The state sponsored training programs to help recipients learn about healthier foods, and included grocers in the programs.

16. California WIC Program Services Over Half of One County’s Infants
(Modesto Bee, January 7, 2009)

In California’s Stanislaus County, 64 percent of infants born are served by the WIC program, yet the program only serves 70 percent of those eligible. Caseloads have jumped over the past year, going from18,500 a month to 20,525 due to the recession. With the growing need in the community, the county is set to receive an additional $306,000 in federal money to help administer the program, which is good news according to Health Services Agency director Mary Ann Lee. The program is helpful, says Martha Ramirez, despite occasional impatience from checkout clerks when the wrong items are rung up for payment through the vouchers.

17. Report Shows Significant Numbers of WIC and Other Federal Program Participation in Iowa Counties
(Denison Bulletin/Review, January 6, 2009)

According to Iowa Kids Count 2007, Wapello County had the highest percentage of children ages 0-4 receiving WIC services (55.2 percent of 2,410), and Crawford County had the second highest percentage in the state (49.4 percent of 1,208). The report also found that the percentage of people receiving SNAP/Food Stamp benefits increased 90 percent since 2000, and unemployment increased 46 percent. Also significant from the report: one in three school children in the state are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. More than 6,000 public officials, legislators, agencies, organizations and media outlets receive the report published annually by the Child and Family Policy Center in Des Moines and supported by a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which supports Kids Count activities in all 50 states.

18. Direct Care Workers Need Help Too
(Vail Sun, December 30, 2008)

One in ten low-wage earners (three million nationwide) is a direct care worker, providing assistance to senior citizens and the disabled in private homes, nursing homes, and non-residential, non-medical day programs, points out this editorial. 40 percent of these workers live in households relying on public benefits such as food stamps and Medicaid, and have been hit harder than most by the recession. These jobs account for $56 billion pumped into the economy. Home health aides, home care aides and nursing aides, orderlies and attendants need investments in “recruiting, training, employing, retaining, and raising the wages,” and should not be neglected as policymakers seek ways of stimulating the economy and helping Americans through the recession. Without help, millions of direct care providers will continue to struggle with the demands of their jobs and their home lives, and businesses could lose billions in productivity. Investing in these workers is a long-term economic stimulus strategy, unlike some of the other anti-recession proposals.

19. Kids Count Shows More Children Living in Poverty, Receiving Aid in Indiana
(Indianapolis Star, January 6, 2009)

The updated Kids Count in Indiana Data Book, published by the Indiana Youth Institute, includes figures that show the child poverty rate for the state increased 43 percent from 2000 (11.6 percent) to 2005 (16.6 percent). Also experiencing a 43 percent increase is the number of children receiving free and reduced-price lunch, from 2000’s 26.3 percent to 37.7 percent in 2008. The numbers show that “Hoosier children were among the first people to feel the effects of the nation’s economic downturn.” In addition, SNAP/Food Stamp recipient numbers nearly doubled over the decade, to 600,000 in 2007.

20. Texas Healthcare Outsourcing Failing the Needy
(Dallas Morning News, January 4, 2009)

Clients are complaining about lack of services, and lawmakers in Austin are “irate” over the state’s latest round of healthcare outsourcing. The state is the leader in outsourcing health and human services to private contractors, but near the bottom in the per-capita spending on these services. Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas legislature see outsourcing as a way of saving money while delivering state-funded care, but have not conducted a “broad-based analysis” of the success or failure of the privatization movement. The safety net in Texas has become “very stingy” said Celia Hagert of the Center for Public Policy Priorities. “We have a leadership that believes the private sector does things better,” said Hagert. The elderly are falling through the cracks, said a coordinator of an assisted living facility. One provider, Evercare, has been fined more than $1 million after hundreds of complaints, which include:

• Willis Stewart – who has been waiting three months for dentures after mouth cancer forced the removal of all his teeth; approval to remove his teeth took weeks. Stewart has been forced to live on a liquid diet and has lost 25 pounds due to chemotherapy and lack of food.
• Steven McGee – who has called Evercare for seven months without reaching a medical coordinator; McGee, a former truck driver, has been disabled by Multiple Sclerosis.
• Mary Hung – a 72-year-old widow who has “waited months for dental care.” “They ought to call them ‘Nevercare,’” she said.

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