Food Stamp Program | National School Lunch Program
School Breakfast Program | Summer Food Service Program
WIC | CACFP | TEFAP

A GUIDE TO FOOD STAMP PROGRAM OUTREACH

I. Introduction
A. Why is food stamp outreach important?

II. Funding Sources
A. Federal Funds
B. State Funds
C. Food Stamp Outreach Programs with Alternate Sources of Funding

III. Food Stamp Outreach Activities
A. Sample Outreach Activities
B. Sample Activities for Targeting Outreach to Immigrant Populations
C. Additional Sample Outreach Activities Not Reimbursable by Federal Match

IV. Specific State Activities
• Arizona
• Connecticut
• Kentucky
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• New York
• Oregon
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Vermont
• Washington

I. Introduction

Food Stamp benefit program outreach provides information on eligibility and benefits to potentially eligible people with a primary goal of increasing participation. Outreach can also include assisting eligible individuals who have difficulty handling program procedural steps. Most Food Stamp Program outreach efforts combine general program public education campaigns with direct assistance to individual households in completing the application process (e.g., prescreening households, helping to fill out applications, providing information on applicants' rights and gathering necessary documentation).

A. Why is food stamp outreach important?

Food stamp outreach serves not only to ensure that eligible households are aware of how to obtain benefits to which they are entitled, but also helps meet larger community needs. The federal government pays the full cost of food stamp benefits and half of the administrative costs associated with them. Raising program participation through outreach efforts increases the purchasing power of low-income community residents, and contributes to the local economy.

Recent studies confirm that, despite a strong overall economy, hunger and food insecurity are prevalent in communities across the country. Thirty-one million Americans live in hunger, or on the edge of hunger -- "food insecure without hunger," meaning the household can't afford balanced, adequate diets, or parents are skipping meals so their children can eat, or the family otherwise is on the very edge of hunger because it is so poor and must take extraordinary steps to get food, such as going to a food bank.

While unemployment is low, and more adults than ever are working, wages at the bottom are still lower than wages a generation ago, when adjusted for inflation, and often are too low to support a family. When income from work is not enough, the nation's nutrition programs are essential to alleviating and eliminating hunger and food insecurity. But the low earnings of lower-income Americans have been exacerbated by the dramatic decline in food stamp participation among eligible families. Millions of families have lost food stamps over the last three years, even though they are still poor and struggling.

Some of this decline is due to Congress' enactment of the 1996 welfare law, excluding substantial groups (e.g., most legal immigrants, and many 18-50 year old childless, unemployed adults) from food stamps. Some of it is due to the growing economy and falling unemployment. But much of the drop-off is because many states that have focused on reducing cash welfare participation are failing in the task of getting poor families, including working families, the food stamps for which they are still eligible under the law. From 1995 to 1998, the number of poor Americans fell by 1.949 million but the number of food stamp beneficiaries fell by 7.207 million. Food stamp eligibility fell further in 1999. This is in significant part because poor families not being given cash welfare under the new Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) law are also being denied the chance to get food stamps for which they are still eligible. The effects of these food stamp declines show up in the USDA hunger/food insecurity numbers, which remain high in spite of a booming economy, and in the state studies showing high rates of hunger among people leaving cash welfare for low wage jobs (or no jobs) and not receiving food stamps.

More than a third of those eligible for the Food Stamp Program are not receiving benefits, according to a study released in December 1999 by Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman. The participation rate fell five percentage points between 1996 and 1997 alone. A July 1999 report prepared for USDA by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. identified lack of client information as one key barrier to participation in the Food Stamp Program. Among non-participating persons eligible for food stamp benefits surveyed in late 1996, nearly three-quarters (72%) were not aware that they were eligible. Many may not know they are eligible or may be unable to navigate the complicated application process.

Misinformation regarding Food Stamp Program eligibility requirements and program regulations is still common within communities. Program rules have been amended at various times, both increasing and decreasing the availability of benefits. Recent federal welfare reform legislation and the resulting state initiatives have added to the confusion among applicants, front-line eligibility workers and community case managers. This confusion can result in potentially eligible households not applying for benefits and/or eligibility workers incorrectly implementing regulations, thereby causing households to lose benefits.

Low-income working families, elderly households and rural populations have traditionally had particularly low food stamp participation rates. In many cases, this can be traced to administrative and systemic obstacles for the program's application process. Access to food stamp offices for these populations often is undermined by the distances needed to travel, lack of evening hours of operation, and limited public transportation within communities. The complexity of the application itself and the application process may also deter many eligible households from applying. The public stigma attached to receipt of government benefits may also be a barrier, and people may be afraid of immigration consequences.

Outreach is critical to overcome all these barriers and get hungry households the food stamps they need. Food stamp outreach programs attempt to ensure that there is a flow of accurate information regarding program eligibility requirements, train human service providers on program regulations, provide assistance to thousands of eligible households in obtaining critically needed benefits, and otherwise raise the proportion of eligible families getting the food stamps they need.

Federal funds are available for many aspects of outreach. And USDA is giving new emphasis to informational activities. In April 1999, USDA started a public education campaign about the Food Stamp Program with a toll free line (1-800-221-5689) to assist in getting eligibility information out. The agency has developed helpful informational materials, including flyers and pamphlets, accessible from the USDA website (www.fns.usda.gov/fsp). Copies for distribution can also be obtained by calling the toll free number.

II. Funding Sources

A. Federal Funds

The Food Stamp Act authorizes a 50% federal match for state funds used for activities that inform low-income households of the eligibility requirements, application procedures and benefits of the Food Stamp Program. (7 U.S.C. 2020(e)(1)(a); 2025(a))

A State agency seeking federal outreach matching funds must submit a plan to the regional USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) office, including details on the intended outreach activities, media to be used, targeted populations and geographic areas, and other organizations that would be involved in the effort. (7 C.F.R. 272.5 (c))

For FY 1999, nine states submitted a State Food Stamp Outreach Plan: Arizona, Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Tennessee, Vermont, and Washington.

The number of states conducting outreach for the Food Stamp Program through this funding mechanism has only increased by two in the last year.

Matching Funds
Current food stamp outreach regulations allow the federal match for "(1) Charges reported on a cash or accrual basis by the state agency as project costs. (2) Project costs financed with cash contributed or donated to the State agency by other non-federal public agencies and institutions. (3) Project costs represented by services and real or personal property donated by other non-Federal public agencies and institutions." (7 C.F.R. 277.4 (c))

Program costs financed with private funds donated to the state may be eligible for the federal match (7 C.F.R. 277.4 (d)). The funds must be donated to the state without restrictions that would require the state to use the funds for a particular individual or institution. The funds may not revert back to the donor's facilities for use. Private in- kind contributions are not reimbursable. "... the value of goods contributed by third parties, exclusive of State and Federal agencies are unallowable for reimbursement purposes in the Food Stamp Program." (7 C.F.R. 277.4 (e))

Activities Not Reimbursable with Federal Food Stamp Outreach Funds
FNS prohibits the use of federal matching funds for certain activities, including:

1. Acting as an authorized representative for applying, receiving food stamps at issuance or food purchasing;
2. Providing transportation to certification and issuance offices; and
3. Intervening with local food stamp offices, at the interview or other times, to advocate on behalf of specific applicants or recipients; and
4. Recruiting of individuals to participate in the FSP.
(Above text from FNS-Food Stamp Program - Matching Funds for State Agencies (April 26, 1999))

Funding Structure

• Although a state's Department of Social Services (or equivalent Food Stamp Program administering agency) will receive the matching funds, outreach programs are often administered by a different state agency (e.g., Department of Health in New York, Office of Economic Opportunity and Department on Aging & Disabilities in Vermont, Department of Public Health in Massachusetts).
• All or most of the outreach funds are typically contracted to state or regional non- profit organizations to conduct outreach programs. Typically, funds are distributed to local subcontractors, including: community action organizations, food pantries/food banks, schools, senior services agencies, faith-based agencies, emergency shelters and anti-hunger advocacy groups.

B. State Funds

Some states (e.g., California, Connecticut, New York, Washington, and Wisconsin) appropriate additional state funds for outreach activities that are not fundable with the federal matching funds, or in some cases they choose not to seek matching funds.

Wisconsin
The Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee targets low income populations at food pantries and meal programs provided in the area. Their primary outreach activities include poster, flyer, and pamphlet distribution door-to-door canvassing, trainings with pantry and meal programs, elderly and disabled populations in group settings, and outstationing County workers at feeding sites. The HTFM has distributed over 10,000 flyers in 2000 thus far and are currently evaluating the impact of their door-to-door campaign. The Task Force has increased awareness of the importance of the Food Stamp Program among County and TANF offices and among clients. Their efforts have forced W-2 agencies which administer the Food Stamp Program to devote $500,000 to a food stamp outreach campaign.

C. Food Stamp Outreach Programs with Alternate Sources of Funding

Some food stamp outreach projects utilize funding sources other than federal or state funding. For example:

• Allegheny County in Pennsylvania funds, with monies from general grants for services to adults, an outreach project at the Human Services Network, a local non-profit. The $20,000 grant covers the cost of one staff person to provide individual assistance to households in the food stamp application process.
• Rural Opportunities in Rochester, New York receives a Share Our Strength grant to provide outreach services, including food stamp outreach, to migrant and seasonal farm workers at camps in five New York counties. The group hires six outreach workers for 10 weeks during the farming season to visit the camps and organize educational events for farm workers and their families.
• California Food Policy Advocates in San Francisco, California has received grants to develop a food stamp outreach kit of information and fliers, Food Stamps Work, that is available for advocates in California and elsewhere.

III. Food Stamp Outreach Activities

A. Sample Outreach Activities

(states listed are those which utilize indicated approaches )

1. Developing simple and easy to read flyers, posters or other informational materials containing basic program eligibility guidelines, applicant rights and responsibilities, and phone numbers to call for further assistance.
(AZ, CA, CT, KY, MA, NH, NY, TN, VT, WA)

2. Maintaining networks of community agencies and enlisting them in outreach efforts:

• Training human service workers in program eligibility requirements.
• Providing agencies serving low-income populations (e.g., hospitals, community centers, shelters, food pantries) with promotional materials to distribute to clients.
• Distributing food stamp materials (posters, flyers, applications) through other government assistance program sites (e.g, WIC sites, heating assistance programs, unemployment offices, public housing offices).

(AZ, CT, KY, MA, NH, NY, TN, VT, WA)

3. Prescreening clients and assisting with the application process (e.g., filling out the application, gathering verification documents).
(CT, MA, NY, TN, VT, WA)

4. Sending outreach workers to speak to groups and potentially eligible individuals at community sites (e.g., food pantries, senior centers, town halls, housing complexes and unemployment offices).
(CT, MA, NH, NY, TN, WA)

5. Conducting media campaigns using both free and paid media outlets to reach a variety of populations and to increase the possibility that a household will be exposed to the information more than once.

• Public service announcements on TV/radio.
• Articles in human service agency newsletters.
• Interviews on community public affairs programs.
• Paid TV/radio spots.
• Direct mail campaigns which target specific geographic areas.
• Advertising on public transportation (buscards, bus shelter posters).
• Articles and ads in community newspapers and pennysavers.
• Editorials and letters to the editor.

(CT, MA, NH, NY, TN, VT, WA)

6. Developing systems to track those referred to the Food Stamp Program (e.g., making follow-up calls to applicants) to find out how many households submitted an application, how many were approved/denied, and what barriers applicants faced in the process.
(MA, NY)

7. Developing media campaigns that help to reduce the stigma and myths associated with government benefit programs and their beneficiaries.
(CT, MA, NH, NY)

8. As indicated earlier, all states except Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma operate toll-free and/or food stamp information hotlines.

B. Sample Activities For Targeting Outreach to Immigrant Populations (AZ, CT, MA, NY, TN, WA)

1. Networking and collaborating with social service agencies and cultural organizations already providing services to immigrant populations.

2. Distributing flyers translated into the languages of the targeted populations.

3. Purchasing ads, writing articles or getting interviews with media outlets serving targeted ethnic populations (radio/ TV programs and community newspapers). Contacting food stamp eligibility staff to negotiate any problems with an individual household's application.

4. Contacting churches, synagogues and other congregations with high numbers of immigrants.

C. Additional Sample Outreach Activities Not Reimbursable by Federal Match (NY, VT)

1. Providing transportation to certification and issuance offices.
2. Contacting food stamp eligibility staff to negotiate any problems with an individual household's application.

IV. Specific State Activities

Most of the outreach programs surveyed provide information/referral services and direct assistance to individual households through the application process as a primary or secondary activity, and run public education campaigns. The information gathered here is from phone interviews and surveys filled out by state administrators and local contractors, primarily advocacy organizations which help run the food stamp outreach programs in their respective states. The Texas description is based on the draft state plan for using state funds, appropriated for the first time in FY 2000, for outreach. Unlike the other activities here, the Texas plan anticipates for future activities, and has not yet been approved.

Arizona
Arizona provides $52,000 for outreach, including the federal matching funds. The Department of Economic Security contracts with Arizona Community Action to operate its outreach program.

Contractor
Arizona Community Action
2627 North 3rd Street
Phoenix, AZ 05004
Contact: Emma Figuera (602) 604-0640 e-mail: emmf@azcaa.org

Target Populations: Low-income rural families statewide, families living on the Navajo Reservation, Spanish speaking populations and rural elderly populations.

Primary Outreach Methods and Activities
Distributing flyers, newsletters and informational booklets through schools, other food assistance programs and community agencies.

Scope of the Program
Distributes 550,000 pieces of promotional literature a year in targeted areas.

Connecticut
The Connecticut Association for Human Services/Connecticut Anti Hunger Coalition has two contracts with the state to operate outreach programs for several federal food programs, including the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Child and Adult Care Feeding Program (CACFP), the Summer Food Service Program and school meals programs as well as the Food Stamp Program. The total funding between the two contracts is $130,000, with approximately half going to food stamp outreach. State monies fund those activities which are not federally reimbursable.

Contractor
Connecticut Association for Human Services/Connecticut Anti-Hunger Coalition
110 Bartholomew Ave.
Hartford, CT 06106
Contact: Hunger Outreach Worker (860) 951-2212

Target Populations: Latinos, participants leaving TANF program, the working poor, seniors and certain jobless, childless adults willing to work but facing three month cut- offs.

Primary Outreach Methods and Activities
• Presentations to potentially eligible populations and human service professionals.
• Placing outreach workers at food pantries to provide information and assistance.
• Distributing promotional materials.
• Working to resolve administrative and systemic barriers to the program.

Success and Scope of the Program
Provides information on food stamps yearly to approximately 400 human service agency staff and 5000 potential applicants across the state.

Kentucky
The Kentucky Department of Community Based Services operates the Food Stamp outreach program for the state. The Department contracts with two universities, Kentucky State University and the University of Kentucky, to conduct food stamp outreach, besides doing work in-house. It spends close to $7,000 on outreach, including the federal match.

Contact: Lane Kemp, Policy Development, Kentucky Department of Community Based Services, (502)564-7536

Target Populations: Low-income individuals and families in the state, including elderly persons, immigrants, and working persons.

Primary Outreach methods and Activities:
• Developing brochures, flyers and posters and distributing materials at places eligible persons may visit (e.g., housing projects, hospitals, grocery stores, and senior citizen organizations).
• Operating a toll-free information hotline providing callers with information on food stamp eligibility.
• Broadcasting information about food stamps in newspapers and radio announcements.
• Sending periodic notices to discontinued TANF recipients and SSI recipients encouraging them to apply for Food Stamp and Medicaid benefits.

Scope and Success of the Program
Food Stamp information is included in the Cabinet for Health Services' materials on Kentucky's Children's Health Insurance Program (KCHIP), distributed in local health departments.

Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health operates a Coordinated Food Stamp Outreach Program in which it contracts with four organizations in various parts of the state. Project Bread provides statewide outreach and support. Brockton HelpLine, Community Teamwork, Inc., and Worcester Community Action Council provide local outreach across the state. Worcester Community Action Council subcontracts to additional local organizations to cover the western region of the state. The goal of the outreach program is to increase the participation of eligible families to 85%. Approximately $500,000 in funding is distributed among the contractors.

Contractors
1. Project Bread
160 N. Washington Street
Boston, MA 02114
Contact: Karen Plattes (617) 239-2574

Target populations: Low-income people across the state, including immigrants, persons who are elderly or disabled, working poor households, and persons who incorrectly lose food stamps when cut off TANF.

Primary Outreach Methods and Activities
• Operating a toll-free information hotline providing callers with information on food stamp eligibility, pre-screening services, and referrals. (FoodSource Hotline).
• Conducting statewide paid and free advertising campaigns (TV, cable, radio, newspapers).
• Developing outreach materials for the FoodSource Hotline targeting many populations (e.g., immigrants, elderly). Materials are available in eight languages, including English, Spanish, Khmer, Vietnamese, French, and Russian.
• Providing technical support and training to other state food stamp outreach contractors.

Scope and Success of the Program
• At least 300,000- 400,000 flyers are distributed each year across the state.
• Approximately 1,500 calls came into hotline due to flyer inserts in LIHEAP renewal mailings.
• Another 700 calls came into hotline due to over 200,000 flyers being sent home by area schools.
• An estimated 8,500 individuals received food stamps from among those who called the hotline.
• Trained "Application Assistants" provide help filling out forms and gathering verification information to seniors across the state.

2. Community Action Council, Worcester

Target Populations: Each agency targets low-income populations in its respective area of the state.

Primary Outreach Methods and Activities
• Training human service providers in eligibility requirements and applicant rights.
• Building and maintaining strong community networks of human service agencies which contribute to the outreach efforts.
• Providing prescreening, referrals and direct assistance to individual households.

New Hampshire
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services operates the food stamp outreach program for the state. It spends close to $12,000 on outreach, including the federal match.

Target Populations: Elderly, families with children, the working poor, and homeless.

Primary Outreach Methods and Activities
1. Educating the community through:
• Discussions and distribution of materials about the Food Stamp Program.
• Building partnerships with local and state community organizations.
• Media campaign including public radio, newsletters, and newspapers.
2. Reducing program stigma:
• Presenting a positive program image to the general community through education that the Food Stamp Program supports nutrition, and promotes wellness, not welfare.
• Informing target populations that EBT makes participation private.
• Informing elderly or disabled individuals that they may apply from home.
3. Improving customer service in the eligibility process.
4. Improving coordination of overlapping nutrition programs.
5. Educating potential clients about the support of a spectrum of community resources, from soup kitchens and food pantries, to legal assistance and child care.

Success and Scope of the Program
• Quantifies the success of program access by assessing the ratio of food stamp recipients to potential eligible individuals, with breakouts where possible by age group and minority status.
• Distributes 7,500 Assistance Handbooks to service providers across the state. Assistance Handbooks are compendiums of community resources, including an emphasis on food stamps.
• Distributes 7,000 brochures designed to promote elder participation.

New York
Outreach for several federal food programs is conducted through the state's Nutrition Outreach and Education Program (NOEP). The program primarily funds outreach for the Food Stamp Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Summer Food Service Program and, depending on need, for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).

The 1999-2000 NOEP funding level is $1,600,000 ($1 million state funds, $600,000 federal match for food stamp outreach). The Department of Health distributes $1,300,000 to the Nutrition Consortium of New York State to subcontract with community-based agencies to conduct local outreach. $300,000 goes to the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance for its statewide food stamp TV ad campaign linked to a state benefit hotline. The un-matched state dollars provide funding for child nutrition programs outreach and for food stamp activities not reimbursed by the federal matching dollars-- providing transportation to certification and issuance offices and negotiating on behalf of specific clients.

Contractor
Nutrition Consortium of New York State
235 Lark Street
Albany, NY 12210
Contact: Edie Mesick, Executive Director, (518) 436-8757, ext. 15

The New York Department of Health contracts with the Nutrition Consortium of NYS to run the state Nutrition Outreach and Education Program (NOEP). Currently, the Nutrition Consortium subcontracts to 21 community agencies around the state to conduct outreach in 22 counties. The Consortium provides subcontractors with training and technical assistance. The subcontractors include community action organizations, food banks, faith- based agencies and anti-hunger organizations.

Target Populations: Most of the subcontractors target a wide variety of low-income populations, including the elderly, disabled persons, immigrants, working poor, newly unemployed, homeless, rural and urban populations.

Primary Outreach Methods and Activities
• Running diverse paid and free media campaigns targeted at providing information to potentially eligible populations and at reducing the stigma of the program in general.
• Providing one-on-one assistance to potentially eligible persons by providing information and prescreening services and assisting eligible households with the certification process.
• Networking with community agencies and other government assistance programs through trainings, referrals and sharing of materials.
• Documenting systemic program barriers and meeting with local and state food stamp program administrators to resolve them.

Scope and Success of Food Stamp Outreach Efforts
• Last year alone, at least 7,000 households received food stamp benefits due to the efforts of the Nutrition Consortium and its 21 subcontractors, 58 local systemic barriers were removed.
• Based on work with a portion of the unmatched state dollars, 43 new Summer Food Service Program sites were established and there was an 11,000 increase in average daily participation.

Oregon
Contractor
Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force
123 N.E. 3rd Street
Portland, OR 97232
Contact: Patti Whitney-Wise, Executive Director, (503) 963-2290

Target Populations: Low-income persons in Multnomah County, including the working poor, families, single adults with no children, elderly and disabled, immigrants, students, and homeless populations.

Primary Outreach Methods and Activities
• Operating a toll-free food stamp information hotline.
• Developing simple and easy to read posters, booklets, bookmarks and flyers including hotline number in English, Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, and Hmong.
• Developing cover sheet attachment for food stamp applications explaining process and providing information about hours, locations, eligibility guidelines and rights.
• Providing agencies serving low-income populations with outreach materials and food stamp applications.
• Conducting focus groups with potentially eligible individuals at community sites.
• Conducting public education through editorials, interviews with media.
• Out-stationing of food stamp caseworkers at food banks and other identified community sites.
• Developing systems to track food stamp applicants through hotline records, participant evaluation at outreach sites, comparing participant numbers at AFS branch offices, and tracking declines in barriers or procedural changes.

Success and Scope of the Program
• Promotional materials to be distributed through all elementary schools and selected middle schools in East Multnomah County, through East Count daycare home monitors, Headstart centers, food pantries, churches, community centers, resource centers, libraries, grocery stores, health clinics, employment offices, community colleges, laundry mats, low-income apartment complexes, senior centers, Housing Authority, Adult and Family Services, etc.
• Outreach steering committee including representatives from Multnomah County, Adult and Family Services, Oregon Food Bank, Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force and Oregon SafeNet.
• AFS is considering providing an abbreviated food stamp application for the pilot area.
• Interest by community sites to implement food stamp screening opportunities.

Tennessee
The State Department of Human Services contracts with several non-profits to conduct outreach activities. The funding for statewide outreach for Tennessee (half federal match and half private funds) is $209,975. The two biggest contractors are MANNA, which receives $30,000 for outreach; and West Tennessee Legal Services, which receives a total of $100,000 for outreach.

Contractors
1. MANNA, Inc.
211 Union Street Ste. 915
Nashville, Tennessee 37201
Contact: Dale Gray (615) 244-1133

Target Populations: Elderly and disabled persons were MANNA's primary targets for several years. MANNA now serves many more low-income working families and immigrants, and is working on "preventative outreach" with TANF participants.

Primary Outreach Methods and Activities
• Distributing information and food stamp packets at community food banks, health clinics, shelters, unemployment offices, grocery stores, farmers' markets, and job training sites.
• Providing prescreening services and direct assistance in the application process.
• Training local residents to be volunteer food stamp educators in their communities.
• Educating the community through media campaigns and PSAs.

Scope and Success of the Program
• Distribute approximately 500 applications per month and hand out over 200 brochures per month.
• Directly assist 40 families in applying for food stamps each month.
• In 1998, outreach efforts reached approximately 200,000 people through direct contact and targeted media campaigns.

2. West Tennessee Legal Services
Contact: Laura Hodge (901) 423-0616

Target Populations: Legal service clients, domestic violence victims, elderly and disabled persons, and newly unemployed persons in 17 counties of western Tennessee.

Primary Outreach Methods and Activities
• Conducting a community education campaign through workshops for potential recipients and community groups, including public housing tenants, and Head Start parents.
• Pre-screening of potential food stamp recipients.
• Distributing promotional literature, community education flyers, and website articles in client newsletters.
• Fresh Start-Life Skills Training.

Scope and Success of the Program
More modest decline in food stamp participation in Tennessee than in most other states.

Other organizations conducting Food Stamp Outreach in Tennessee

3. Legal Services of Upper East Tennessee
Contact: Eric Miller (423) 928-8311

4. Rural Legal Services
Contact: June Gibbs (865) 483-8454

Texas
Texas will begin doing food stamp outreach beginning in early 2000 and has allotted $700,000. Texas will be targeting working poor, migrants, immigrants, elderly persons, rural populations, and recipients of WIC and free and reduced price meals.

Texas will select a statewide contractor who will subcontract with community-based organizations to inform low-income populations of food stamp availability and application requirements; help with the application process; develop outreach materials; partner with grocery stores/schools/health clinics to inform people about the Food Stamp Program.

Vermont
Since 1987, the Vermont Department of Social Welfare (DSW) has conducted a food stamp outreach program. The FY 2000 program budget is $294,000, half of which is comprised of the federal match. About $67,000 of matching funds are state general fund dollars, and the remainder is a private contribution from the Vermont Community Foundation. Overseen by the Department on Aging & Disabilities and Vermont Office of Economic Opportunity, which also compiles the state outreach plan, services are carried out by 11 community-based agencies: the five Area Agencies on Aging, two Community Action Agencies, and four other organizations. (The other three Community Action Agencies in the state also conduct food stamp outreach but do not participate in the DSW outreach program.)

Contact: Mary Carlson, Vermont Office of Economic Opportunity (802) 241-2458

Target Populations: Low-income Vermonters of all ages (e.g., unemployed, working poor, functionally illiterate, disabled, elderly, and homeless persons), especially those unfamiliar with programs.

Primary Outreach Methods and Activities
• Routinely screening client circumstances to determine if they are possibly eligible for and receiving food stamps, and offering food stamp information and application help as appropriate. (Local agencies have application forms, and DSW offers free food stamp program training.)
• Outreach workers are at agency field offices, outposted to sites like family centers, churches, shelters, food shelves, senior centers and housing projects, and/or do home visits.
• DSW maintains a telephone hotline that provides some food stamp information and connects callers with the appropriate district welfare office. A statewide senior hotline based at one of the Area Agencies on Aging responds to food stamp inquiries from elderly persons. Some of the local outreach agencies also have toll-free numbers.
• Informational displays at public events (e.g., community fairs, farmers' markets, literacy fairs).
• Presentations to diverse groups (e.g., clergy associations, life skill training program participants, school faculty, tenant groups, employers, Head Start parent groups).
• Distribution of brochures or posters with tear-off slips through churches, veterans groups, meal sites, job service offices, city bus system, grocery stores, town offices, laundromats, and other locations.
• PSAs to television and print media, letters to food shelf clients not receiving food stamps.

Scope and Success of the Program
In 1999, agencies screened the circumstances of 14,043 low-income households, finding that 46% were not receiving food stamps. Program information, referrals and application help were provided to 5,634 households. These numbers do not include additional people who may have benefitted from brochures, posters, presentations or other informational techniques that did not entail a private interview with an outreach worker. A multi-agency survey of households referred found 69% applied for benefits. Among those who applied: 70% were found eligible and received benefits, only 10% were denied, and the remaining 20% had applications still pending. With monthly benefits in Vermont averaging $140 per household, outreach services to help eligible people participate can have a significant impact on the health and financial security of low-income families and lessen their need for private, charitable food assistance.

Washington
The Department of Social and Health Services is administering Washington's Food Stamp outreach program. The program was transferred from the Department of Trade and Economic Development, which provides funds for food banks and homeless shelters. The outreach plan includes contracts with six agencies across the state. These agencies subcontract with local organizations such as school sites, food banks, and food distributors, senior service agencies, health clinics, Community Action Agencies, shelters, and immigrant service organizations (to extend statewide and ensure services to the targeted population). The current budget for food stamp outreach is over $2.4 million. The funding includes $200,000 in state funds with, the balance of the state share provided through $1 million in local matches. Washington has also submitted a sanction reinvestment proposal to fund part of a combined food stamp, medical, and child care outreach media campaign for working families.

Contact: Maura Donoghue, Department of Social and Health Services (360) 413-3214

Target populations: Generally all potential food stamp recipient populations including elderly, rural, working poor, limited English speakers, and migrant seasonal farmworkers.

Primary Outreach Methods and Activities
• Face-to-face contacts with individuals to explain the Food Stamp Program, answer questions, review income and resource guidelines, refer to local food stamp offices, assist with filling out the application and gathering documentation, and review the new EBT system.
• Group presentations to potential clients/low income individuals at a variety of community agencies, including senior meal sites, senior centers, public housing, food banks, health clinics, and homeless or domestic violence centers.
• Public service announcements on radio (including Spanish-speaking radio), and TV, as well as in newspapers in English and other languages, including ethnic newspapers. Also, preparing brochures and flyers in English, Russian, Spanish and other languages.
• Staff 1-800 hotline for questions, referrals, and pre-screening for basic income and resource limits, and to arrange in-home or in-office appointments.

Scope and success of program
Outreach efforts have facilitated a positive response by food stamp recipients towards the implementation of EBT. Led to development of partnerships with local schools and food banks to increase education about the Food Stamp Program.

Contractor
1. Children's Alliance Food Policy Center
Contact: Linda Stone

Primary Outreach Methods and Activities
Coordinate meetings for the contracted Food Stamp office agencies for training, information exchanges, etc. We also organize local meetings and facilitate communication between food stamp office contractors and food stamp offices.