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. House Releases CNR Bill
(FRAC, June 10, 2010; CNN, June 10, 2010)

House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) released his bill for Child Nutrition Reauthorization on June 10. “America’s children should not have to go hungry and they should have access to healthy foods year round, even when school children are on summer break,” said Miller. He was joined at the bill’s unveiling by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, television chef Rachael Ray, and advocates. The Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010 includes provisions to expand access to the child nutrition programs and improvements to the quality of meals and snacks served. In a statement on the bill, FRAC President Jim Weill said: “A strong Child Nutrition bill is a key step in reaching the President’s goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015 and in reducing childhood obesity. FRAC is committed to working with Representative Miller and members of the House and Senate to continue to fight for the best possible bill and continuing to move toward President Obama’s goal of $1 billion/year of improvements in these effective programs that boost children’s health and learning. We applaud Chairman Miller, Subcommittee Chair Carolyn McCarthy, and Subcommittee Ranking Member Todd Platts for their leadership on this bill.”
Bill highlights: http://frac.org/Legislative/action_center/house_cnr_bill_2010_highlights.htm

2. Minnesota Expands SNAP/Food Stamp Eligibility as Outreach Helps to Sign Up More Recipients
(Minneapolis Star-Tribune, May 25, 2010)

About 70,000 more Minnesotans will be eligible for SNAP/Food Stamps because of new state legislation that raises the income limit for eligibility and removes the asset limit. A family of three can now make $30,000 a year and still receive SNAP/Food Stamps – the former limit was $24,000 a year. Eliminating the asset test keeps potential recipients from having to deplete their savings in order to qualify. Advocates have been able to increase SNAP/Food Stamp outreach after receiving state funding last year to establish the Minnesota Food Helpline, which directs callers to SNAP/Food Stamps and other assistance, and hire outreach workers. Second Harvest Heartland and Catholic Charities employ the outreach staff, who screen clients at food pantries across the state. A study by Second Harvest Heartland found that Minnesota ranks in the bottom ten of states with eligible people enrolled in SNAP/Food Stamps, but the state spends more money administering the program than all but five states. “Food stamps are much more discreet [for customers],” said food stamp outreach worker Ali Gardner at the Woodbury Lutheran Church food shelf. “They can use them at Cub, Lunds, anyplace. Plus, they help alleviate the need for food shelves.” Rob Zeaske, executive director of Second Harvest, noted that it’s time to promote the federal nutrition program. “We’re missing the impact of one of the nation’s largest hunger-fighting tools,” he said. “The program exists. It’s funded. It’s dramatically underutilized. That’s what we’re trying to fix.” Advocates support SNAP/Food Stamp use because they contribute millions of dollars into local economies. SNAP/Food Stamps are “a long-term solution instead of emergency help,” said one recipient, a 26-year-old mother who recently lost her job.

3. DeLauro Joins USDA Official at School Lunch Visit
(New Haven Independent, May 18, 2010)

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and USDA’s administrator for special nutrition programs, Audrey Rowe, visited Barnard School in New Haven, Conn. recently, taking the time to support Child Nutrition Reauthorization. DeLauro and Rowe would like to see children on government aid programs like Medicaid and TANF be automatically signed up for free or reduced-price school meals. The state loses out on $8.4 million in school meal reimbursements each year because many children eligible for subsidized meals don’t sign up. DeLauro and Rowe noted they would like to see children who are receiving Medicaid or TANF be automatically enrolled in school breakfast and lunch. Improvements to the Child Nutrition Act not only address child hunger but also focus on childhood obesity and health. “If that isn’t a priority and a necessity, I don’t know what our values are,” said DeLauro. The visit was part of Rowe’s U.S. tour promoting First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign against childhood obesity.

4. NYC Plans Budget-Cutting Changes to School Lunches
(The Wall Street Journal, June 8, 2010)

In order to cut costs, New York City plans to cut the number of schools where all students receive free lunch, as well as cut down on the number of hot meal choices students get each day. In addition, the city plans to cut 276 food service workers, although many schools are short-staffed and find it tough to provide healthy food choices. The city estimates these cuts would save $23.7 million a year. The changes will “improve efficiency,” said a Department of Education spokeswoman, who added that the agency has “been improving the quality of meals since 2004.” Elizabeth Puccini, a parent who heads up a coalition of parents concerned with making schools more environmentally friendly, is worried the changes will increase disparities among schools. She said there’s a trend in the city where low-poverty schools are able to create big changes in school meals, due mainly to activist parents, while high-poverty schools are left with unhealthy meals. “I think what is developing is a very unfair system,” said Puccini. “It will become a real food-justice issue.”

5. More Summer Meal Sites Open in Colorado School District
(KKTV, June 7, 2010)

Colorado’s School District 60 in Pueblo will open 10 summer lunch sites this year, up from five schools open for meals last summer. Three of this year’s sites will also offer breakfast. More than 10 percent of the district’s 18,000 students are expected to eat breakfast or lunch at one of the sites this summer; in Pueblo, 800 participated one recent Monday. When the district began offering free summer meals in 1987, every school opened for lunch. However, turnout was too low, and the program reduced the number of sites to keep from sinking financially.

6. Hunger is a Children’s Health Problem
(Baltimore Sun, June 1, 2010)

“In the United States, hunger is a health problem,” write Maureen Black, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and David Paige, M.D., professor in the Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “It cuts the chances that children can succeed when they get to school. And it affects more people than you think.” Hungry children (those without access to regular meals) are sicker, show developmental delay signs, and are more likely to be hospitalized, according to data on 36,000 U.S. children (5,000 in Baltimore, Md.) by Children’s HealthWatch. And one out of four households with children today is “food insecure.” Adequate nutrition during pregnancy and infancy improves health along the whole lifespan, reduces disparities, and prevents health problems (which is much easier than curing them). A recently-launched initiative in Baltimore titled “B-more for Healthy Babies” aims to ensure the city’s babies are born healthy and are ready to thrive.

7. Kentucky Chef Returns from White House Inspired to Meet President’s 2015 Goal
(WLKY, June 7, 2010)

“It was an amazing opportunity to be invited to the White House and also to represent not only Louisville, but the state of Kentucky,” said Chef Derek Spendlove, who was one of 500 food specialists from across the country who met with First Lady Michelle Obama on childhood hunger. “There’s so much hunger going on in our school systems today, that we really have to address it,” he said. Nutritionists, principals, teacher and students converged at the White House for the meeting; the First Lady charged them with meeting the President’s goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015. “Michelle Obama is really about children,” Spendlove noted. “She really is passionate about food hunger, nutrition, obesity.”

8. Food Insecurity Extends to Children in Food Secure Households
(HealthCanal.com, May 25, 2010)

A recent University of Missouri (MU) study found that children can still experience food insecurity even in food secure households and despite food assistance programs. The researchers examined, among other factors, racial comparisons among vulnerable households, SNAP/Food Stamp participation, and informal food assistance. They found that SNAP/Food Stamp participation increased children’s food security in Caucasian households but not African-American households. The study categorized children as food insecure if, in the last year, they did not eat enough, did not eat for a day, skipped a meal or were hungry because their family lacked sufficient money to afford enough food. “We found that household food security does not equate to food security for children within those households,” said study author ManSoo Yu, assistant professor in the MU School of Social Work and Master of Public Health Program. “Therefore, children who experience food insecurity may live in households that are defined as food secure.” Yu recommends that policymakers improve the response of SNAP/Food Stamps and other programs to the needs of families in different communities, and advocates that informal and community-based programs focus more on the nutritional needs of children.

9. Florida City Ordinance Limits Number of Meals Homeless Shelters May Serve
(Independent Florida Alligator, June 8, 2010)

An ordinance in Gainesville, Fla. limits the number of meals homeless shelters may serve, and residents continued to voice concerns about it at a recent City Commission meeting. The city’s code contains a section on soup kitchens and limits to 130 the number of daily meals they may serve. In 2009, the city threatened to shut down St. Francis House for violating the ordinance, prompting social workers and church members to question the strict enforcement. At the meeting, Assistant City Commissioner Fred Murry listed SNAP/Food Stamps as one of the options for people needing food. Murry also referenced the Arbor House and the Salvation Army as other options. Miriam Elliot, who formerly worked at St. Francis, noted that Arbor House is not open to the public and that the Salvation Army does not start serving meals until 4:30 p.m. The 1993 city code amendment also restricts the number of people who can spend the night in a shelter.