1. First Congressional Hearing Convened to Discuss High Food Prices
(Reuters, May 1, 2008)

“We need to find ways to bring relief to families who are feeling the squeeze of higher prices,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) at last week’s first Congressional hearing on the impact of high food prices. Price increases over the past year, including 12 percent for bread, 20 percent for milk and 30 percent for eggs, spurred leaders from the House and Senate to investigate the squeeze on most Americans, with the low-income population spending a disproportionate amount of their income on food. USDA chief economist, Joseph Glauber, told Capitol Hill that annual food inflation will come down to 2 – 2.5 percent, but “tight supplies will keep markets volatile.” (For more, see next story.) New York Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer spoke on the problem many Americans are facing daily: “When gas prices are high, families may decide to drive a little less…When food prices are high, families can’t just decide to not feed their children.” According to government data, low-income families – those with less than $20,000 a year in income – are spending more than 20 percent on food, while consumers with incomes above that amount only spend 10 percent of their income to eat.

2. No Short-Term Relief In Sight for Food Prices, USDA Tells Congress
(Market Watch, May 1, 2008)

USDA chief economist Joseph Glauber told Congress that grain and oilseed commodities will most likely remain at current levels while retail food prices will gradually come down in the next few years. Speaking before the Joint Economic Committee’s first hearing on the current high food price crisis, Glauber said food prices will rise 4 to 5 percent this year, due to global economic growth, weather, high energy costs, export restrictions and biofuels. “Of course,” he added, “future increases in retail food prices depend heavily on energy prices and other food marketing costs.”

3. Net Worth Measurements Show Enormous Gap between Blacks and Whites
(Economic Policy Institute, April 30, 2008)

This “Economic Snapshot” shows that the measure of wealth, or net worth, is an important indicator of economic security rather than the usually-cited income equality between blacks and whites. While whites in 2004 held a median amount of $118,300 in net worth, blacks only held 10 percent of that total, or $11,800 in net worth. The years since have not seen an improvement. Even at its narrowest in 1992, the median total wealth of blacks was only 16 percent of whites. The snapshot forsees the gap will widen, since black wealth is primarily in home equity, and foreclosures have disproportionately affected blacks. In looking at the four decades since Dr. Martin Luther King’s death, the snapshot finds that there has been little progress in closing the wealth gap between blacks and whites.

4. Report Shows Decrease in Life Expectancy for Some Americans
(The New York Times, April 22, 2008)

A study of all U.S. counties recently published online by PLoS shows life expectancy for four percent of men and 19 percent of women either leveled off or declined starting in 1980 (the research covered the period from 1961 to 1999). Life expectancy decreases were significant in counties across Appalachia, the Southeast, Texas, southern Midwest and along the Mississippi River, while the Northeast and Pacific Coast experienced life expectancy increases. Beginning in 1983, life span increased with wealth; before that year, income was not a factor in counties where life expectancy rose at rates above and below the mean. The study found that race may also be a factor for the post-1983 rise in life span. Life expectancy levels did not progress due to lung cancer and diabetes increases in women and HIV infection and homicide in men. Majid Ezzati, associate professor of international health at Harvard and lead author of the study, noted “What’s driving the disparity is the worsening of the worse off.… This is the first sign that not everyone is getting better.” The U.S. has the highest health spending in the world,” said Dr. Ezzati, and added that this phenomenon is “unheard of in any other developed country.”

5. Experts Say Previous Economic Recovery Was No Recovery At All
(Economic Policy Institute, May 1, 2008)

The recovery in 2001 from the last economic recession was, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute, the worst in more than 60 years for job growth. Economists John Irons and L. Josh Bivens found economic progress in six key indicators (GDP, investment, employment, compensation, wage and salary income, employment-to-population ratio) ranks the time period from 2001 to 2007 “dead last” next to nine other recovery time periods. Consumption rates and changes in the employment rate rank the years second to last. Profits ranked slightly higher, at four out of ten. A series of negative job reports and other indicators prompted the study, which finds that American workers are “worse off now…than before the last recession started.”

6. President’s Request for More Global Food Aid Only Equals a Small Fraction of Total Food Aid Delivered to U.S. Citizens
(The New York Times, May 2, 2008)

President Bush’s proposal for an increase in global food aid was meet with a positive response on Capitol Hill, with Democrats asking that the aid should go out earlier than the next fiscal year starting in October. News of the global food crisis – especially social unrest in several poor nations over food – has brought the issue to the top of Washington’s agenda. Bush proposes spending an additional $770 million in emergency food assistance; according to the White House, this is a small fraction of the $62 billion in government aid expected to be spent on domestic food programs this year, primarily in children’s nutrition programs and food stamps. The total would join $200 million from commodities released by USDA into a special trust fund, in addition to the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) $40 million in emergency aid to poor countries hit the hardest. Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Robert Casey (D-PA) are calling for the administration to immediately send an increase of $200 million in aid on top of the $350 million emergency package the administration had already proposed.

7. New York City Official Finds Matters are Worse When He Revisits Food Stamp Challenges
(New York Daily News, May 1, 2008)

Queens City Councilman Eric Gioia found it tough last year when he attempted to live off the $28 average food stamp allowance in the Food Stamp Challenge. Recently, he went shopping again with $28 – and found he could buy even less. “Last year, I lasted five days and I was out of food,” he said. “This year, I’d last three days.” His bill, after shopping for the same groceries, was $6 higher this year, amounting to a 25 percent increase. To stay within his budget, Gioia had to put several items back. “Last year was difficult,” he noted, “but this year would be impossible.” He added, "Prices have gone up so much, but the food stamp allowance hasn't changed…What choice do people have now?"

8. Kosher Soup Kitchen Serving More Meals at its Three-Year Anniversary
(Biloxi Sun Herald, April 28, 2008)

When the Masbia Soup Kitchen opened its doors three years ago, eight people showed up for food. Today, the Brooklyn, NY kosher kitchen serves 160 meals, five nights a week. The kitchen is open to everyone, symbolized by its logo representing Abraham’s tent, which was also open to anyone. Masbia’s co-founder Alexander Rapaport, said he sees neighborhood residents searching through garbage bins, in spite of the neighborhood having a high percentage of affluent residents. Across Brooklyn, the number of residents who found difficulty affording food between 2003 and 2006 rose 75 percent. Food stamp recipients in the area find that their benefits last just three weeks. They rely on soup kitchens like Masbia, or food pantries, to get them to the end of the month. But these providers can run out of food – 52 percent of Brooklyn’s emergency food services did at times during last year. Masbia’s funding comes from a culturally-significant source. New York couples about to get married make donations to the soup kitchen, a tradition dating back to the “old world” concept of a “poor man’s meal” given before the wedding; stories in the Talmud and Midrash tell of this tradition.

9. Food Stamps Help Seniors Weather High Food Costs
(Burlington Free Press, April 28, 2008)

Many seniors on fixed incomes in Vermont can take advantage of the Food Stamp Program in order to cope with rising food prices while continuing to purchase medicines and pay housing bills, according to columnist Sarah Lemnah. Seniors with medical conditions such as heart disease and diabetes who require special diets can also find food stamps beneficial. Food stamps go to more than 48,000 Vermonters each month – 22 percent of which are seniors. The average senior receives $115 each month from the program. To get more seniors enrolled in the Food Stamp Program, workers battle the stigma seniors often feel – many don’t want others to know they’re needy enough to require food stamps. Food stamps not only help the senior citizens receiving them; they also bring economic activity to local businesses and farmers. According to the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, Vermont’s Food Stamp Program has produced $106 million in economic activity to the state.

10. Food Stamps Bring Benefits to More than Just the Recipients
(Morning Star, April 27, 2008)

According to USDA, $10 of economic activity is generated by every $5 of food stamps, helping not only unemployed and low-income people, but their local communities as well. The Food Stamp Program is capable of slowing economic downturns in areas hit by layoffs, compensating for the loss of income or limited income from less well-paying jobs. In Kansas, food stamps also benefit residents hit by recent floods and tornados, seniors living on limited Social Security payments, and persons with chronic illnesses or disabilities. It's estimated that slightly over half of all Americans will receive food stamps at some point in their lives. Kansas currently provides food stamps to 85,000 individuals. (Morning Star web site not available at time of Digest mailing.)

11. Connecticut Bill Aims to Raise State’s Dismal School Breakfast Ranking
(Hartford Courant, April 27, 2008)

Two dozen elementary and middle schools in Connecticut will be required to offer breakfast if a bill moving through the state legislature is passed. FRAC research found Connecticut has the lowest rates of schools serving breakfast: among the state’s schools that participate in the federally funded school lunch program, only half also serve breakfast. In the new bill, schools with 40 percent of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals will have to offer breakfast. Currently, only schools with 80 percent of qualifying students are required to serve breakfast. “Children in many cases are not getting what they need,” he said. “It is our obligation to do what we can do to make sure that children are ready to learn on a daily basis.” The bill also calls for more outreach and grants for schools to start offering breakfast in the classroom. School food services director Greg Boulanger of Bristol town schools feels that the “ideal system” would offer free in-classroom breakfast to every student classroom in every school. Three towns have tried that as a pilot project and experienced significant jumps in participation. Summer food programs will also get a boost from the bill. Starting in 2009, school districts with 50 percent or more of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch in at least one school will be required to sponsor a summer food program. School boards, however, can opt out of this requirement.

12. Court Intervenes to Get Recipients Their Food Stamps On Time
(City Limits Weekly, April 28, 2008)

State and federal law mandates that food stamp applications must be processed within 30 days of the application date – five days for the neediest applicants – but many New York City residents are experiencing much longer wait times. And it takes just as long for current recipients to be recertified. A class action suit filed in 2004 by the New York Legal Assistance Group, the Urban Justice Center, and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice has succeeded in getting New York State to monitor the city’s compliance with state and federal law. An April l6 court settlement approved in U.S. District Court ordered noncompliance with federal and state law to end for food stamp applications filed at non-cash assistance centers. Under an agreement reached in the class action suit, New York City will submit quarterly reports on application processing, and the federal court will continue jurisdiction over the next four years. City food stamp centers, according to the agreement, are mandated to post signs in the centers that clearly provide time frames for application processing in addition to information on the public’s right to apply for the benefit. Processing delays are affecting more and more potential food stamp recipients every day, as application numbers have been climbing; between March 2007 and March 2008, the city’s Human Resources Administration reported a 9.4 percent increase in food stamp applications. Many more city residents are eligible for the program but aren’t applying. Food stamp recipient and city resident Ms. J, interviewed for this article, spoke of the frustrations she’s felt with the program and finds the court ruling to be welcome news. “Dealing with the social service system is a full-time occupation,” she said. “It’s more taxing than working five 15-hour shifts as a nurse like I used to.”

13. Food Costs Send Record Numbers of Utahns in Search of Assistance
(Deseret News, April 20, 2008)

Food stamps and other nutrition assistance programs are helping record numbers of Utah residents survive the current high food and fuel prices. In March, state residents spent $13 million in food stamps, and the Utah Food Bank has fielded twice the number of assistance calls than it did last year at this time. One military veteran of two wars said, as he stood in line at a downtown Salt Lake City food pantry, “Gas prices are so high, I can’t get food.” More residents may find it necessary to apply for food stamps, according to the nonprofit Utahns Against Hunger. Anti-hunger project coordinator Bill Tibbitts at the Crossroads Urban Center commented that “…the total impact of these rising food prices is much bigger than people realize, especially when it’s in combination with the cost of every other basic necessity going up.” While the number of visitors to Bishop’s Storehouse food bank are kept confidential by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church deacon Rev. Libby Hunter noted a “substantial increase” in visitors to Hildegarde’s Pantry.

14. Finger Scans May Replace ID Numbers in Some School Cafeterias
(Winona Daily News, April 27, 2008)

Winona, Minnesota Senior High and Central Elementary schools have implemented a novel approach to their cafeteria identification systems – students can volunteer to have their school lunch accounts debited via a finger imaging system. Replacing ID number keypads, which rapidly wear out, the finger imaging system also keeps students from giving their numbers to other students. While the system seems Orwellian to some parents, school district administrators and Educational Biometric Technology (the digital imaging business providing the technology) are quick to state that the system does not read and file fingerprints. Instead, it records a minute finger measurement and assigns a secret ID number. Numbers cannot alone identify a student, and fingerprints cannot be reproduced through the system.

15. Missouri Sued Over Failure to Comply with Food Stamp/Voter Registration Law
(Kansas City Star, April 23, 2008)

A national voter registration act (the “motor-voter” law) requires agencies offering food stamps and Medicaid to provide clients with the chance to register to vote.– but a lawsuit filed by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) alleges failure by the state’s Department of Social Services, Family Support Division, and election commissions in three jurisdictions to register voters. The suit claims that, in spite of an overall rise in food stamp applications across the state, voter registrations in the social services offices declined, from 143,135 in 1996 to 15,568 two years ago, while voter registration numbers at motor vehicle offices remained constant. “You shouldn’t have to own a car in order to be able to vote,” stated St. Louis ACORN member Barbara Williams. “It is ridiculous to me that there is a law that says ‘This is what you need to do, here is a piece of paper you need to offer,’ the person is sitting right there, so why aren’t you offering it?” she said.

16. More Snapshots of State Food and Nutrition News

Missouri: The state signed on more than 1,100 additional WIC beneficiaries since February 2007, a sign that WIC staff say reflects the current economy and increased food costs. The larger client caseload - 6,647, in comparison to last year's 5,570 - could also rise with a recent adjustment in eligibility guidelines. Julie Randolph, WIC senior nutritionist, said the program is also seeing more people seeking out their services. (Springfield News Leader, April 21, 2008)

Rising food costs and increased demand for WIC services are driving changes to the program. Over the past six months, the state's WIC participation has risen four percent while food prices rose 10 percent. (Springfield News Leader, May 3, 2008)

South Dakota: The Sioux Falls Food Pantry has seen a 25 percent increase in the number of people it served so far in 2008, while the state is serving food stamps to a record high number more than 63,000. (KELO, April 30, 2008)

Vermont: The state is experiencing a 15-year high in the number of food stamp recipients. In March, 56,000 people received food stamps; the slowing economy and high food and fuel prices are responsible for the numbers. According to State Representative Robert Dostis, the slowing economy is forcing more people to ask for help. (Barre/Montpelier Times-Argus, May 1, 2008)

Oregon: The state’s Department of Human Services (DHS) is seeing “a lot of people unemployed that we haven’t seen before.” DHS is putting out the call for people to apply for food stamps and other assistance to keep families from reaching a breaking point. The mortgage crisis and high food and fuel costs are responsible for DHS’s increase in traffic. (KDRV, April 24, 2008)

17. WIC Program Asking Recipients for Their Opinions
(KNDO, April 24, 2008)

In Washington State, WIC program participants are being asked for their views by program leaders in order to improve services. The Women, Infants and Children services office wants to improve the nutrition of WIC recipients and upgrade state office and local clinic services. The program is already making "major changes" according to preventive health supervisor Annie Goodwin. "If there's anything out there that effects [sic] the delivery of service…including the foods, this is the perfect time to be giving us that input," she added.

17. TANF Numbers Drop in Virginia While Food Stamp Numbers Rise
(Martinsville Bulletin, April 30, 2008)

This past March, approximately 16 percent of the Henry-Martinsville region in Virginia received food stamps – a total of 5,251 households comprising 11,223 people – a record number according to experts in the area. An almost comparable number of people in the area are also enrolled in Medicaid. However, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) totals have dropped, from 423 to 415 households. TANF numbers have dropped since April 2007, when 446 households were receiving that assistance. Over the same time period, food stamp numbers consistently climbed, and caseworkers have added about 460 households to the program. The rise is blamed on the current economic crisis, as high local unemployment numbers continue; many of the unemployed are also getting to the end of the unemployment benefits, forcing them to apply for additional forms of government aid.

17. Farmer’s Market Receives Help from USDA to Accept Food Stamps
(St. Joseph News Press, April 23, 2008)

The Pony Express Farmer’s Market in St. Joseph, Missouri will accept food stamps beginning May 2008. A USDA grant to the University of Missouri is helping the market, as well as 18 others across the state, finance the installation of EBT card machines that can be used to accept food stamps; the grant will also help reduce the monthly cost of running them. One EBT machine costs $1,100, and carries a $25 monthly operation fee. Through the USDA assistance, market vendors will only be charged 10 cents per transaction. The Pony Express market’s secretary commented that she heard there are 8,000 families receiving food stamps in the area. “[The EBT machine] should increase our market [sales] the first year by 15 percent…” she said.

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