The weekly Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) 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. Grim Statistics in Store if Recession Hits
Center for Economic and Policy Research, January 29, 2008)

Increased unemployment,  higher poverty rates, and lower numbers of people with health insurance are just some of results of a major economic downturn, as outlined in a new report, titled "What We're In For: Projected Economic Impacts of the Next Recession" from the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Using data and trends from the past three recessions, CEPR economists Dean Baker and John Schmitt anticipate the following effects of a recession on U.S. labor:

• 3.2 to 5.8 million more Americans will be unemployed;
• Unemployment numbers will continue to increase through 2010 or 2011;
• 4.2 million more Americans will be without health insurance;
• Family income figures will fall $2,000 - $3,750 by 2010 and 2011;
• 4.7 million to 10.4 million more Americans will be living in poverty.

The figures describe a range of outcomes based on forecast figures between a mild-to-moderate and a severe recession.

2. Study Finds Marketing Influences How Often Children Eat Fast Food
(Newswise.com, January 24, 2008)

A new study published in the American Marketing Association's Journal of Public Policy & Marketing finds that children were more likely to consume more fast-food if their parents reported greater exposure to fast-food marketing, and believed fast-food consumption to be the norm in their communities. Sonya A. Grier, associate professor of marketing at American University, headed research centering on parents, and included questions on their access to fast-food, promotion exposure, attitudes toward fast food and their children's fast food consumption.

The study also found that Hispanics and African-Americans reported greater exposure to fast-food promotion than whites, and felt they had greater access to fast food. Hispanics reported more positive attitudes about fast food than whites.

3. Food Stamp Families Hard Pressed to Include Fruits and Vegetables in Meals
(The Daily Iowan, January 30, 2008)

New research from USDA shows that food stamp families do not have enough money to include fruits and vegetables in their diets, in spite of the monthly financial benefit supplied by the program. The purpose of the study was to investigate households receiving food stamps that are near the poverty rate cutoff line. The report concludes that families must have an annual income higher than 130 percent of the federal poverty level (or the income qualification cutoff to receive food stamps) before they can save for fruit and vegetable spending.

4. More Iowa Families Receiving Food Stamps
(Houston Chronicle, January 25, 2008)

Switching from paper coupons to plastic cards and simplifying the application process are the main reasons being cited for the rise in number of Iowa families receiving food stamps. That number has more than doubled in seven years, going from 52,785 households in 2000 to 109, 652 in 2007. The average dollar amount of benefits increased 28 percent during that time, going from $67.50 per recipient each month to $94.34. The Iowa Department of Human Services instituted the changes in order to encourage more eligible recipients to apply. However, some experts feel that this trend is the result of economic hardships, as more Iowans find it harder to pay bills and struggle with food insecurity. In addition, the state's poor population grew from 2000 to 2005, rising from 8.3 percent to 10.8 percent.  Moving to the plastic EBT card system has improved the distribution system and removed the stigma recipients may feel in redeeming food stamps. Monthly reporting has been eliminated, and applicants can now apply for the benefit online or by telephone.

5. Food Stamp System Changes Also Bring Challenges
(Marion Chronicle Tribune, January 26, 2008)

A pilot program implementing changes to the way food stamps are applied for and distributed is creating barriers. The improvements, designed to speed up the bureaucratic process and provide more access to social services employees, are keeping food stamps from some recipients. One resident noted that she hadn't received food stamps in two months after re-evaluation, and was told by the call-in center that the system was "backed up." Another recipient said she preferred the old system, because she had her own caseworker - now she talks to a different person each time she calls, and doesn't feel she receives the kind of service she has in the past. An applicant said she "gets the runaround" when she calls the toll-free number to find out if she's been approved, and another applicant claimed he could not get through on the phone lines to anyone at all. Although the new system has no formal feedback process, a spokesman for Family and Social Services Agency (FSSA), which is heading up the move to automation, stated he wasn't aware of any problems and that most people are happy with the changes. FSSA has a $1.8 billion contract with IBM to implement the system, which could go statewide.

6. Community Invited to Take the Food Stamp Challenge
(Urbana Citizen, January 25, 2008)

Urbana, Illinois residents are being asked by the Champaign County Department of Job and Family Services (JFS) to take up the Food Stamp Challenge starting January 28. JFS director Jim Smith wants to get the community not only thinking about the problems of lower-income residents but contributing to solving hunger issues. "By challenging folks in the community to take a week and live as they do," he said in the Urbana Citizen, "the hope is that we'll get feedback to use in a presentation to the community and our local legislators."

7. One-on-One Assistance Helps Many Negotiate Food Stamp Bureaucracy
(Austin American-Statesman, January 13, 2008)

Food stamp delays, bureaucracy, and low participation have inspired the Austin Capital Area Food Bank to start making house calls. Lucas Cook is one of a number of employees hired by the organization to go into the community and help eligible residents plow through and organize the mountain of forms, eligibility questions, and documents (Social Security cards, driver's license, utility bills, mortgage payments, bank statements, disability benefits letters, proofs of insurance) required to qualify for food stamps.

Texas food stamp applications have been caught in a social services backlog lately, as one-third of applicants have waited multiple months for approval. People like Cook, hired by the food bank to increase the number of people receiving food stamps (and take some of the pressure off the Bank to provide food), venture into poverty-stricken areas as well as more middle-class neighborhoods.

"Fewer than half of Central Texas residents who are eligible for foods stamps receive them," according to the Austin American-Statesman article. Even with individuals trained to search out and sign people up, households still find long waiting periods in the application process as well as long lines when they go to pick up their cards. Monthly benefits often don't last more than a couple of weeks, as the food stamp portion of the Farm Bill has not changed since the Carter Administration. Families are disqualified from receiving food stamps if they have more than $2,000 in saving, an amount that hasn't changed in 20 years, and the minimum benefit remains at $10, an amount that buys only one-third of what it was able purchase back then.

8. News Articles Responsible for Child Hunger Legislation
(Kennebec Journal, January 23, 2008)

A series of articles on hunger published by the Kennebec Journal is being cited as the main reason a number of Maine legislators are backing a bill to expand school breakfast. The bill calls for all schools currently offering free and reduced price lunch to also provide breakfast, and eliminate the "two-tiered system" which requires some students to pay 30 cents for breakfast while others receive the meal at no cost.

Retired school meal worker Helen Rankin testified at a recent hearing in support of the bill and noted that some children have nothing to eat over the weekends, while others who are often absent will come to school because they want breakfast. Additional supporters who spoke included representatives from Maine Equal Justice, Partners in Ending Hunger, the Maine Children's Alliance and the state's Department of Education.

The series of articles, titled "For I was Hungry," revealed Maine's hungry population to be the fastest growing in the nation, and featured a significant focus on hunger in schools.

9. More People Seeking Help from Social Services
(The Coloradoan, January 17, 2008)

The current trends of rising mortgage prices coupled with layoffs at local companies are driving more and more Colorado residents to seek help from Larimer County Human Services offices. According to Nicole Vasquez, one of the office's income maintenance technicians, "we're seeing people we haven't seen in years. They were doing OK for a while, but now they are back." December saw 1,456 individuals seeking help, a 16 percent increase from the previous year, while last November saw a 15 percent increase from November 2006. Food stamps are just one of the services sought by more than 1,000 so far in 2008. Larimer County is hiring additional employees to handle the increased workload.

10. Breakfast Wins Awards for Schools in Two States
(Greater Tulsa Reporter Newspapers, January 24, 2008; Beloit Daily News, January 30, 2008)

The Midwest Dairy Council awarded eight Oklahoma and Illinois schools for substantially increasing the number of children receiving school breakfast. The innovative programs set up by the schools include:  offering breakfast outside the cafeteria; offering universal breakfast; outreach through students, teachers and staff; and new menu items.

Riverview Elementary in Illinois increased school participation by 43 percent, and all the programs work to reduce the stigma students may feel by being singled out as free meal recipients. Each school honored receives up to $3,000 to support their breakfast programs.

11. State's High Ranking in School Breakfast Report Makes the News
(South Carolina Now, January 25, 2008; News Channel 7, January 23, 2008)

59.2 percent of South Carolina's students participate in school breakfast, ranking it second in the nation according to FRAC's School Breakfast Scorecard. In a number of articles, teachers, school officials and students comment on the value school breakfasts bring to learning, test scores, and classroom participation:

•   "I'm thinking about like when's lunch time? When's lunch time?" noted one student on his difficulties in paying attention when he's hungry.
•   A fifth-grader said that when he doesn't eat breakfast "I tell the teacher I don't feel good and I go to the nurse…It hurts like rumbles and hurts my stomach real bad."
•   Another student commented that she gets physically ill if she hasn't eaten, a problem among students noted teachers.
•   "I would never want to test a child on an empty stomach. It comes across in testing," commented elementary school principal Mary Beth Heath.
•   State Superintendent Jim Rex said "Many studies have shown the link between breakfast and health and learning…for some children, a hot breakfast every morning is difficult to come by. By providing hot nutritious meals at school, we are helping students to develop good eating habits and to ensure their academic success."

South Carolina schools serve 37 million school breakfasts each year, and more than 222,000 students receive breakfast every day, all part of the federally-funded School Breakfast Program. All schools participate, mandated by state law since 1993, with eighty-four percent of breakfasts either reduced in price or served at no charge to the student.

The FRAC report cited ongoing poverty, wages note keeping up with inflation, and rising food, energy and housing costs as the main struggles for families in providing breakfast for their children.

12. Anti-Poverty Agency Honored for Increasing Number of Food Stamp Recipients
(Wicked Local Fall River, January 30, 2008)

The Massachusetts-based organization Citizens for Citizens, Inc. (CFC) substantially increased food stamp enrollment numbers in 2007, according to Project Bread of Boston. CFC helped 1000 households sign up for food stamps, a figure more than double the number of households applying in the two previous years. CFC used a $46,800 grant from Project Bread to engage new technology in identifying potential recipients and assisting them with the application process. The organization identified many of the new applicants when they enrolled for other benefits, including fuel assistance. The Food Stamp Program is an important assistance measure in the state as the number of people needing food in the area had gone up considerably, noted CFC executive director Mark Sullivan.

13. Massachusetts Increasing Food Stamp Outreach to Senior Citizens
(Boston Globe, January 31, 2008)

A nationwide campaign sponsored by USDA is designed to get more eligible seniors to apply for food stamps by delivering posters and materials to outreach workers, running local public service radio and television spots, and making it possible for applicants to file for the benefits online or by phone. Workers serving elderly populations also are receiving specialized training in helping seniors understand the programs benefits and encouraging them to sign up. An important part of the message is convincing seniors they are entitled to receive food stamps because they paid into the system through their taxes, much like Medicare and Social Security. This tactic seems to be working, as a number of possible recipients were turned into applicants as they began to see the program not as charity, but as a benefit they have earned. Still, senior center workers know they have to get past the population's tendency to keep quiet about their need for help in order to identify more potential applicants.

14. Trans Fats Transition Out of School Menus in Virginia
(The Washington Post, January 30, 2008)

Virginia's public schools must remove trans fats from cafeteria menus and vending machines according to a bill passed by the state's Senate. The legislation will require that the school system develop guidelines to eliminate the fat, although no deadline for full compliance is set. Some Virginia counties - such as Fairfax County - have begun eliminating the additive, and but the changes might take longer to implement in smaller school systems. Some food manufacturers supplying schools are responding by producing products containing less fat.

15. Kids and Cooking May Fight Obesity in Britain
(The New York Times, January 23, 2008)

Britain is hoping compulsory cooking classes for all school children 11 and 14 years of age will help battle the country's obesity problem. Recent research has shown that half of all Britons will be obese in 25 years if the population continues its current eating habits. The cooking curriculum will concentrate on teaching youth how to cook healthy versions of eight favorite British meals, including shepherd's pie and roast chicken.

16. Welsh City Council Supports School "Walking Bus"
(IC Wales, January 24, 2008)

The Cardiff City Council is encouraging parents to walk their children to school in the mornings in an effort to combat rising obesity rates among children in the UK. Parents sign up to gather children in a "Walking Bus" group as they walk to school, with the "bus" picking up children at stops along the way. The rates of overweight children in Wales is high, with thirty percent of the country's children diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and one in four UK children predicted to become obese. The Cardiff Council has provided luminous safety jackets, as well as other supplies, to parents and students involved in the walking bus program.

Subscribe to FRAC's News Digest | News Digest Archives | www.frac.org