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.Child Nutrition Reauthorization Headed Toward Short-Term Extension
(CQ Today Online News, September 8, 2009)

Congress will likely extend the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act, which expires September 30. The federal government spends about $15 billion a year for nutrition programs covered under the law, which help millions of low-income children and pregnant women. But simply renewing the current law is not enough, according to FRAC President Jim Weill. The “recession has underscored both the many strengths and the still remaining weaknesses of the nation’s child nutrition programs in responding to child hunger and family food security,” he noted, and added that lawmakers need to move quickly to expand the current law either this year or early next year. Some lawmakers and advocates want to strengthen the law, but Congress has been focused on economic recovery, health care reform, food safety and climate change. Renewing the law is a priority on the Hill. “There have been several hearings on the subject,” said Senate Agriculture spokesman Grant Gustafson, “and member and staff-level meetings continue to move this legislation forward.” Congress will be challenged to find the additional $1 billion a year for programs – proposed by President Barack Obama –since the money is subject to pay-as-you-go rules. In 2004, both the House and Senate renewed by voice vote the law (PL 108-265), after the law was extended for a short time.

2. FRAC Urban SNAP/Food Stamp Report Ranks Participation in 24 U.S. Cities
(North County Times, September 16, 2009)

According to FRAC’s recently-released report on SNAP/Food Stamp participation in the 24 large metropolitan areas, San Diego County ranked lowest, with only one-third (99,000) of eligible residents enrolled in the program. The figures are based on 2007 statistics, the latest available from the U.S. Census Bureau. The report, according to FRAC’s Jen Adach, is meant to give a snapshot of program participation across the country. Officials in San Diego County maintain that their SNAP/Food Stamp participation has gained ground in the past few years. In August 2008, 148,000 residents received SNAP/Food Stamps, an increase from 133,000 in May. Others note that the increase in the county is due more to the current economic situation. “It’s the pressure at the door that has forced a little more people into the system,” said Bill Oswald, a professor of sociology at Springfield College in San Diego. San Diego County has streamlined the application process and increased advertising, and is working to increase enrollment by 50,000 by June 2012. Denver had the second lowest enrollment, at 43 percent of eligible residents, and in Los Angeles County, 50 percent of those eligible are receiving SNAP/Food Stamps.

3. New Bill Aims at Increasing School Lunch Participation
(The Nation, September 15, 2009)

Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison has introduced legislation in the House allowing children to receive free lunch if their families earn up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level ($40,793 for a family of four). Currently, 130 percent of the poverty level is the cut off line. About 54,000 additional low-income children in Minnesota would receive free lunch. Senator Al Franken will sponsor a companion bill in the Senate. The bill comes at a time when the U.S. Census reports that in 2008, median income in the nation experienced the largest one-year decline since 1967, and poverty experienced the largest one-year rise since 1991. “We feel [children] need access to nutritious meals and snacks – especially now when so many families are struggling under the weight of the recession,” said Crystal FitzSimons, director of School and Out-of-School Time Programs at the Food Research and Action Center. The National School Lunch Program “is designed to help kids focus on their education and stay in school,” noted Rep. Ellison, vice chair of the Progressive Caucus. “It’s about a return on investment,” said Sen. Franken. “There should be no bigger priority than the well-being of our children. A kid who’s hungry can’t learn, can’t grow, and can’t realize her potential. This is just one of the common-sense steps we can take to make sure they’re prepared for a twenty-first century economy.” Many research studies have shown that hungry children can be more easily distracted in class and have issues with retaining information, noted Colleen Moriarty, executive director of Hunger Solutions Minnesota. A second bill to be introduced by Ellison would prohibit collection agencies from going after families in order to collect overdue school meal accounts, and keep schools from substituting meals (like cheese sandwiches) for children with outstanding meal balances. It’s likely that these bills may end up being a part of the upcoming Child Nutrition Act Reauthorization. Noted FitzSimons, “FRAC’s focus on child nutrition reauthorization is to ensure that more lower-income children have access to nutritious meals, whether they’re at school…in child care, orsummer programs, or after school programs.” President Obama proposed a $1 billion annual increase in funding for the child nutrition programs – up for renewal in the Child Nutrition Act – in line with his commitment to end child hunger by 2015.

4. SNAP/Food Stamp Numbers Rise Among Employed Families
(Financial Times, September 4, 2009)

About 40 percent of families on SNAP/Food Stamps have “earned income,” up from 25 percent two years ago, notes the Financial Times. This is a “stark sign that the recession is inflicting pain on the employed as well as the newly jobless,” writes Sarah O’Connor. Usually the increase in SNAP/Food Stamp participation is linked to a sharp rise in unemployment. The U.S. unemployed rate hit 9.7 percent.

5. Oregon County Makes Sure SNAP/Food Stamps Get to Needy
(The Spotlight, September 16, 2009)

Only about 342 Columbia County, Ore. residents eligible for SNAP/Food Stamps aren’t receiving the benefit, while 7,579 people in the county are taking advantage of the program. The local office of the state’s Department of Health Services has been working hard to get SNAP/Food Stamps quickly to those in need. “We get you in and out within an hour – if you’re prepared when you come in, you’ll have benefits when you leave,” said Pam Ruddell, who manages the local office. “You can go to the store,” she added. One recent applicant noted “It was actually a very positive experience,” and for many of the applicants, this is their first time signing up. Ruddell has been able to increase participation by hiring additional staff, changing the intake process, and reaching out through libraries, schools and a Community Action Team. Since August 2008, the county experienced a 30 percent increase in SNAP/Food Stamp enrollment; statewide, there’s only been a 10 percent yearly increase in enrollment since 2002.

6. Few New Orleans Residents Applying in Advance for Disaster SNAP/Food Stamps
(blog.nola.com, September 3, 2009)

Only 4,584 residents in Louisiana’s Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes have this year taken advantage of a new system that allows eligible SNAP/Food Stamp households to apply in advance for the disaster-related form of the benefit. After Hurricane Gustav last year, 155,000 households in the parishes qualified for disaster SNAP/Food Stamps, and the Department of Social Services had a huge backlog of applications. The department this year is allowing low and moderate-income residents to pre-apply for the benefit. After a storm, applicants would still have to have a face-to-face interview to receive the benefit, but officials plan to get SNAP/Food Stamp benefits loaded onto EBT cards within one day instead of three days. While the advance applications are not available in SNAP/Food Stamp offices, they are available online at www.dss.la.gov and www.getagameplan.org, or by calling 1-888-524-3578.

7. Colorado Food Bank Helps Needy Fill Out SNAP/Food Stamp Applications
(The Coloradoan, September 16, 2009)

The Food Bank of Larimer County, Colorado is used to serving 9,000 clients each month but in September 2008 started serving 10,500 – a number that increased to 11,000 in October and has not dropped below that figure, according to executive director Amy Pezzani. To help the many needy in the county, the food bank has trained an intern to help clients fill out the 27-page SNAP/Food Stamp application. Pezzani figures the county is losing out on between $7 and $8 million in unclaimed SNAP/Food Stamps. “Obviously, it provides people with a safety net, but there’s also a benefit to having them go to the store,” said Pezzani. “When they go to the store, they are spending money, and that helps create jobs.” Colorado has the highest number of people eligible for but not receiving SNAP/Food Stamps.

8. Ohio County Sees Record SNAP/Food Stamp Enrollment, While Bankruptcies Spike in Number
(Business Courier of Cincinnati, September 14, 2009)

Record numbers of Hamilton, Ohio clients seeking SNAP/Food Stamps, Medicaid, and cash assistance are turning to the county’s Department of Job and Family Services for aid, and the number of people receiving SNAP/Food Stamps is up to 100,000, according to Michael Boehmer of the agency. Each month, 55,000 people come to the agency’s waiting room, up from 40,000. “If you come by about noon, it’s just packed. Sometimes lines will be out the door,” said Boehmer. Making meeting the demands tougher is the fact that the county laid off a third of its staff over the past year. Across Ohio and Kentucky, bankruptcy filings are up – 23 percent in Kentucky and 20 percent in Ohio for the year ending June 30. In Indiana, bankruptcies are up 28 percent over the same period. The three states are among the nation’s top 10 for filings among 1,000 residents, according to U.S. courts data.

9. Florida County Uses Stimulus Funds to Help Residents Access SNAP/Food Stamps
(Ocala Star-Banner, September 16, 2009)

About 75 Marion County, Fla. residents will gain temporary employment in a project funded through $6 million in federal stimulus money. The funds will help create a new Department of Children and Families call center in Marion County, which will not only provide employment but will also help connect residents to information on SNAP/Food Stamps, Medicaid and other social services. The current call centers have been swamped with requests. The project, approved by the state’s Legislative Budget Commission in mid-September, is one of the first of its kind in the state to use economic recovery funding.

10. Washington State Organizations, Schools Battle Obstacles to Provide Summer Meals; Child Nutrition Reauthorization Can Help
(Spokesman-Review, August 29, 2009)

Despite budget cuts, lack of financial and logistical help, low reimbursement rates and potential sponsor fear of administrative red tape, “104 school districts, nine cities and parks departments, 25 food banks, churches and other nonprofits, and six tribes [in Washington State] negotiated the USDA paperwork needed to provide summer meals to kids,” notes Linda Stone, senior food policy coordinator of the Children’s Alliance in this op-ed. The state legislature provided $170,000 for Meals for Kids startup grants and extra funds for meals served. Not all children are participating, however. Of the 280,000 children receiving free and reduced-price lunch in the 2007-08 school year, only 13 percent received free meals during the summer of 2008. And now, “the pressures of the recession are, paradoxically, eating away at the Summer Food programs even as the need is rising,” notes Stone. Summer meals get cut as schools cut or shorten summer school, and as other organizations trim their budgets. The upcoming Child Nutrition Reauthorization can provide the opportunity for lawmakers to reduce unnecessary paperwork and increase meal reimbursements. It can also improve the area eligibility test so school districts can offer summer meals if 40 percent of their children are eligible for free or reduced-price meals rather than the current 50 percent. This change alone, Stone notes, would add 300 new eligible sites in the state. “[T]he spike in hunger over the summer is something we shouldn’t tolerate,” Stone concludes. “Not now when the recession is pushing up the child poverty rate in our state. Not ever.”

11. New WIC Food Package Starts October 1 in Florida
(WCTV, September 3, 2009)

WIC’s new food package, which “helps reinforce key nutrition messages such as eat more fruits and vegetables, decrease saturated fat and cholesterol intake, and increase whole grains and fiber,” notes Annette Phelps of the state’s Division of Family Health Services, goes into effect October 1 in Florida. The changes will benefit more than 500,000 women, infants and children who participate in WIC across the state. In addition, the new package strengthens breastfeeding promotion and support messages. WIC participants receive food checks specifying what foods can be purchased, and can be redeemed at the more than 2,000 authorized grocery stores in the state.

12. Maryland Grocery Store Re-Applies to Accept WIC Customers
(Gazette.net, September 9, 2009)

Last year, the federal government denied a WIC license to the Kensington, Maryland Safeway because its prices on staples exceeded 125 percent of those charged at other area grocery stores. The Safeway has re-applied for a license. “We’re bound by regulation to keep our prices competitive,” said Deborah Morgan of the Maryland WIC program. In the county, there are 64 eligible WIC vendors but only one in the Kensington zip code. The nearest stores accepting WIC are 1.2 to 4 miles away; there are sixteen Safeway stores that are WIC vendors in the county. The Kensington Safeway posted signs in English and Spanish that it was not a WIC vendor, since 20 people a week were inquiring about the program. “They were just coming in and shopping and didn’t find out (WIC was not accepted) until they got to the check stand,” said Safeway spokesman Craig Muckle. “We’re interested in serving WIC clients so we did reapply,” he noted.

13. Chicago Food Assistance Information Goes Online
(Chicago Tribune, September 2, 2009)

A new Web site – www.Direct2Food.org – provides Chicago-are residents with information on SNAP/Food Stamp offices, food pantries, soup kitchens, and home-delivered meals, and may help those struggling residents feed their families. By entering their zip code on the site and answering a few questions, users can instantly call up a tailored list of programs they may be eligible to receive. The Web site’s database contains more than 1,100 assistance listings for Cook County and surrounding areas.

14. Farmers’ Market Opening Near White House
(Reuters, September 10, 2009)

The nonprofit organization FRESHFARM Markets opened a farmers’ market on the 800 block of Vermont Avenue, NW, near the White House in Washington, D.C. FRESHFARM saw this as an opportunity to place a market close to where policy discussions on food, health and the environment are taking place. “I hope this farmers’ market will inspire cities and communities throughout our country and the world to transform public spaces into marketplaces filled with healthy, local foods from family farms,” said Bernadine Prince, FRESHFARM’s co-director. The downtown D.C. market will be open on Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., September 17 through October 29.

15. Chicago Food Desert to Get Grocery Store
(Gazette Chicago, September 2009)

Pete’s Fresh Market will open a new store by June 2011 in West Haven, a community in Chicago lacking a major grocery store. “The community has waited for this for a very long time,” said Mary Bonome, commissioner of the City Department of Community Development. “This is one of eight food deserts in the city, and today we’re announcing that it’s closing.” Building should begin in June 2010, and the store will provide jobs for local residents. “We go where the big companies have left behind,” said Endy Zemenides, an attorney for the grocery chain which employs 10,000 people in Chicago. “We’re very happy to be here,” he noted.