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. Heating and Hunger Linked Among More Low-Income Families in Vermont
(Barre Montpelier Times Argus February 12, 2008)

Steeply rising fuel costs are forcing more and more Vermonters to choose heating their homes over maintaining a nutritious diet. As fuel costs have skyrocketed by 30-50 percent, and with Vermonters spending $800 million more for heat than four years ago, putting off eating for many in the state helps them put off frozen pipes. To battle hunger, low-income residents rely on inexpensive, calorie-dense foods, causing health problems later in life. Assistance may be coming through legislation which will provide weatherization funding to the state’s low-income population. Waterbury representative Robert Dostis, also director of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, chairs the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee, which is working on legislation to increase the number of weatherized homes from 1,500 a year to 3,000 a year. The Hunger Council also wants to increase summer food programs for children, as research has shown children’s BMI increases in the summer when they don’t have access to nutritious food. While legislation will help with heating bills, the state still faces a hunger crisis, as food shelf participation has risen 130 percent over the past year.

2. WIC Program Helps Nearly Fifty Percent of State’s Live Births
(Branson Daily News, February 8, 2008)

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) provides services to a significant portion of Missouri’s population according to this article. In 2007, 42 percent of live births were to mothers taking advantage of WIC services, and the program serves more than half of all infants born in the state. 135,000 Missourians receive nutrition information and meal assistance through WIC every month. “Formula can be over $100 a month,” notes WIC coordinator Tammy Drake, while food bills for pregnant women and toddlers can run from $50 to $60 each month.

3. Faltering Economy Partly to Blame for Rise in Poverty Rate
(The Durham News, February 2, 2008)

A regional boom that is “entering a slow phase” in a number of North Carolina’s counties is cited for a rise in the area’s poverty rate. That rate, which started at 13.4 percent in 2000, is now up to 15.6 percent. “I was very surprised,” said Durham County commissioner Ellen Reckhow in her recent state-of-the-county address. Reckhow stated that food stamp and Medicaid applications have nearly doubled. “We have a considerable number of people in Durham who are low- and moderate-wage people,” she noted. The number of Wake County residents receiving food stamps has increased 122 percent since 2000; the rising cost of living is also a factor in the increase. However, agencies have also stepped up efforts to enroll qualified individuals who have not been receiving the benefits. Reckhow said the solution to the poverty problem involves better public aid programs, increased education, occupational training, and financial skill building. (Article available from news site's archives.)

4. Universal Breakfast Grows to Become Important Part of School Day
(ABC7news.com, February 7, 2008)

A pilot program serving free breakfast in one Berkeley, California school is now a part of the curriculum in all of the district’s 16 schools. The universal breakfast program removes the stigma low-income students may feel in being singled out as free meal recipients, while every child benefits from the program’s nutritional and social aspects. Parents struggling with hectic mornings find the school meal an enormous help – one parent noted “It…gives kids and parents…a chance to hang out at school together. I don’t just drop her off and run out the door.” Teachers notice a difference too, as well-fed children concentrate better on schoolwork. “It should be just a right of humanity that every child gets a healthy breakfast,” said elementary school chef Ann Cooper. The district’s school breakfast programs feeds 9,600 K through 12th grade students.

5. Anti-Hunger Programs Can Encourage Farmers to Bring Their Crops to Farmers’ Markets
(Medill Reports, February 7, 2008)

For some farmers, transporting their crops to various markets may seem complicated, especially since they must cover the fuel costs themselves and follow a number of rules and regulations. By accepting food stamps, farmers’ markets can attract a significantly larger customer base of individuals usually unable to afford fresh, organic food. Opening farmers markets in underserved areas – or “food deserts” - can also help provide healthier eating options for many low-income residents on food stamps. In Chicago, 20 of the city’s farmers’ markets currently accept food stamps, although there are still a large number of farmers unwilling to take the time and energy to supply the markets with food.

6. Programs Deliver Healthy Eating Education and Exercise to Young Children
(Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, February 5, 2008)

Several programs in central New York hope to keep down the obesity rate for preschoolers. “Eat Well Play Hard” and “Hip Hop to Health Jr.” two of the projects funded by the Greater Rochester Health Foundation, are part of a $50 million package of anti-obesity projects the Foundation wants to support over the next ten years. Statistics have revealed that 12,244 children (approximately 15 percent) in one Central New York county are overweight or obese. Unpublished research shows that nutrition and health programs directed at children are effective: obesity rates are decreasing for the area’s preschoolers ages 2 to 4 involved in the WIC program. The Foundation has set a goal of lowering the preschool obesity rate by 5 percent through the health programs that will deliver lessons on nutrition, educate parents, and improve food choices at child care centers.

7. State’s Contribution to School Breakfast Program in Jeopardy
(Providence Journal, February 15, 2008)

Rhode Island’s annual contribution of $600,000 to the School Breakfast Program could be a victim of the state’s budget crisis if a proposal to cut the financing comes through. The state’s $600,000 pays for vital administrative costs, which, if eliminated, would make it almost impossible to run the program . Rhode Island KIDS COUNT deputy director Catherine B. Walsh went on record stating “The proposed elimination of state funds for the school breakfast program is likely to reduce the number of breakfasts served to low-income children.” Universal breakfast programs would most likely take the hardest hit, as they require state money and low-income participants to help with the increased food and administrative costs in providing the meal to all students. If a school doesn’t eliminate the universal breakfast program, it may find the need to raise school lunch prices. Students say the school breakfast helps them with their energy levels, and school administrators, like Principal Karen MacBeth, note “If you have a child that goes to class fed and ready to learn, it’s one less obstacle” to overcome in urban schools.

8. D.C. School Chancellor Unveils Plan to Improve Quality of School Meals
(The Washington Post, February 15, 2008)

The D.C. Office of Food and Nutrition Services wants to find an outside vendor to improve school meal quality and bring more children into the free and reduced-priced lunch programs. Students have complained about the food quality for some time, and the school system lost $10.8 million in 2007, mainly because the city hasn’t been filing for federal reimbursement. Less than half of DC’s high school students eat school lunches, significantly lower than the 70 percent of students served lunch in other urban school systems. D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee announced the school system’s search for a contractor to improve school meals, and said that schools will make sure that students to turn in federal forms for free and reduced lunches. Through reimbursements, D.C. will gain $2.49 per lunch per student to offset the $1.68 meal cost.

9. More Middle-Class Families in Minnesota Seeking Assistance
(Minneapolis Star-Tribune, February 12, 2008)

Community centers are seeing more middle class families requesting assistance, especially to help battle hunger. “It’s families with college educations, families who’ve worked before and have Nintendo at home…people who come to us in tears, having never had to ask for help before,” said Pennie Page Hight, the director of outreach for the Community Action Council of Lakeville. That county food shelves are experiencing shortages is an “early warning,” some say, that more people are struggling through a slow economy, layoffs, and a weakened home building industry in the state. Some advocates say affluence in some counties has kept them from developing safety-net measures. 275,000 Minnesotans receive food stamps, yet 200,000 more are eligible but haven’t applied for the benefit.

10. Report Recommends Broad Range of Anti-Hunger and Good Nutrition Programs in the UK
(Fade Library, January 31, 2008)

A report titled “The Links Between Diet and Behaviour: The Influence of Nutrition on Mental Health” published by the British Associate Parliamentary Food and Health Forum has compiled a list of food policy recommendations covering research, school programs, nutritional assessments, standards for institutions, and education. Some of the recommendations that match U.S. nutritional program needs are:

• Financial support for school breakfast “clubs” to provide free breakfast to children receiving free lunch;
• Raising awareness of good nutrition benefits to pregnancy;
• Dietary advice to individuals suffering mental health illnesses like depression and psychosis;
• Standardizing nutrition guidelines for prisons;
• Focusing research on the link between poor nutrition and behavior problems, especially in low-income populations; and
• Raising the overall awareness of the benefits of a balanced diet.