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. State Agencies and Public Seek to Replace Phrase “Food Stamps”
2. Editorial: Food Stamp Program Should Be Renamed
3. Six Governors Ask Lawmakers to Save CSFP Program
4. Alternative Poverty Measure Reveals Hidden Poverty
5. Editorial: D.C. Hunger Solutions Plan to End Childhood Hunger in Nation’s Capital Announced
6. Washington, D.C.: Anti-Hunger Plan Aims to Surround Children with Healthy Food
7. Editorial: Congress Resorts to Trickery of Hiding Real Costs of Tax Cuts
8. Flattened Tax Rates Have Meant Wealth for the Wealthy But No Gains for the Rest
9. Audit Rates for Low Income Taxpayers Greater Than for Top Earners
10. Oregon Governor Honors Sen. Smith as Anti-Hunger Hero at Food Bank Event
11. Doctors and Lawyers Partner to Help Low-Income Children Stay Healthy, Obtain Needed Benefits
12. Seniors from Rural Areas Struggle in Declining Economies, Face Loss of Federal Aid
13. Obesity and Safety: Parents Have Difficulty Finding Safe, Inexpensive Car Seats for Obese Children
14. Mayor Bloomberg Changes His Mind About Helping Adult, Childless New Yorkers Receive Food Stamps
15. Column: USDA Scorches Texas for Call Center Problems Undermining State Social Service
16. Connecticut Senate Votes to Outlaw Soda in State’s Schools
17. Op-Ed – Mississippi: 7 Percent Sales Tax on Food Hurts the Poor
18. Alabama Makes History Cutting Income Taxes for Low-Income Residents
19. Editorial: Hawaii Becomes “Cruelest State” in Placing Heaviest Income Tax on Working Poor
20. National Student Partnership Helps Local Poor People Find Jobs, Apply for Assistance
21. University Students’ Farm Club Sells Fresh Produce in Low-Income Communities

1. State Agencies and Public Seek to Replace Phrase “Food Stamps”

(“The Stamp That’s Never Worn Off,” washingtonpost.com, April 14, 2006)

Across the country, agencies where people apply for food stamps have rallied against using the phrase “food stamps.” The stigma associated with the food stamps name is considered one of the main barriers to greater participation in the Food Stamp Program. “Call food stamps something else, everyone interviewed for this story said. Food stamps in actuality have not been used for decades, and even the coupons have been replaced by debit cards. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has been accepting ideas for a new program name, may rename the program as soon as the next year. One Maryland official said: “I don't think the attempt of the USDA is to change the name just because they want to have something a little zippier. Their intention is to reemphasize what the food stamps program really means, that it's a food and nutrition program.” Many states already have renamed their food stamp programs, and the phrase “food stamps” does not appear on many food benefit cards. For example, in Maryland, program participants shop with Independence cards. The changing economic landscape has resulted in more working people qualifying for and using food stamps. Their wages are not enough to pay for rising costs, the reality of which is totally different from the times of the Great Depression when the phrase “food stamps” was coined meaning assistance to the hungry and farmers. Today, the public is “more than willing” to toss out the food stamp phrase.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/13/AR2006041301928.html

2. Editorial: Food Stamp Program Should Be Renamed

(“Cancel Food Stamp Moniker,” charleston.net, April 17, 2006)

The government is considering renaming the Food Stamp Program, in which program participants now use debit cards rather than food stamps, writes this editorial in The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., referring to the same topic article in The Washington Post. The purpose of this change is to remove stigma provoked by the program’s name. “The program should be renamed since it has long been a misnomer. But officials should restrain their Orwellian impulses and keep it neutral, bland and simply descriptive.”

http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=81889&section=editorials

3. Six Governors Ask Lawmakers to Save CSFP Program

(“Governors Petition to Restore Food Aid,” abqtrib.com, April 14, 2006)

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson joined the governors of Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Montana and Oklahoma in asking Congress to preserve federal funding for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program that President Bush proposed for elimination in his FY 2007 budget plan. The governors sent a letter to House and Senate leaders saying the food program makes fiscal sense. The program provides food to low-income seniors, mothers and children under 6 years old. “I am very concerned that eliminating this program will leave our most vulnerable citizens, especially our kids, without access to healthy, nutritional foods,” Richardson said in a statement. According to the governor’s office, about 18,000 New Mexicans benefit from the program.

http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_local/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19858_4621597,00.html (please scroll down to see the article)

4. Alternative Poverty Measure Reveals Hidden Poverty

(“Who's Poor in America?” npr.org, April 19, 2006)

Since launching a “war” on poverty in the 1960s, America has made progress in reducing the number of poor people, but the poverty measurement still does not account for many factors that may lead people with incomes above the official poverty line into financial hardship. For example, for senior citizens one such factor is health care costs. If out-of-pocket medical costs were considered in the poverty calculations, with all other factors being equal, 19.3 percent of elderly Americans would fall into the ranks of the poor compared to the official figure of slightly above 10 percent. Currently, 12.5 percent of all Americans are classified as poor, but experts have argued for years that the official numbers are not accurate. A panel of experts, convened by the National Academy of Sciences in 1995, proposed to take into account cash assistance, the value of food stamps, housing subsidies and other government programs, as well as costs associated with taxes, work-related expenses, such as child care, and with geographical differences affecting the cost of housing. This method found fewer families on public assistance but many more working families to be poor. The government is unlikely to change the current poverty measure any time soon. As Amy Glasmeier of Penn State observes, “what president would want to see the poverty rate go up during his tenure?”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5343672

5. Editorial: D.C. Hunger Solutions Plan to End Childhood Hunger in Nation’s Capital Announced

(“Ending D.C. Childhood Hunger,” washingtonpost.com, April 19, 2006)

“Could it be that in Washington, D.C. – nearly six years into the 21st century – an estimated 35,000 children live in homes where they don’t always know where their next meal will come from?” asks this editorial in The Washington Post. “The answer, unfortunately, is yes …. Many start their day without breakfast and go hungry when school is closed. No city can lay claim to compassion as long as such conditions exist.” But the Partnership to End Childhood Hunger in the Nation's Capital, led by D.C. Hunger Solutions, the Food Research and Action Center, and Share Our Strength, is set to improve this situation. The partnership has joined with Mayor Anthony A. Williams and community and business leaders to announce a plan that would end childhood hunger in the District within 10 years. The plan’s long-term objective is “to put food and nutrition where children’s lives should be grounded: in their homes.” This will take “bringing more families into the food stamp program, providing public education about food and nutrition programs available to families, and increasing families’ access to fresh produce in their communities through the creation of more neighborhood markets.” Connecting nutritious meals and children remains challenging and “will require a sustained commitment by all the city’s stakeholders,” observes the newspaper.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/18/AR2006041801774.html

Also see http://www.strength.org/dchs/plan/ (D.C. Hunger Solutions, Food Research and Action Center, and Share Our StrengthPlan to End Childhood Hunger in the Nation's Capital)

6. Washington, D.C.: Anti-Hunger Plan Aims to Surround Children with Healthy Food

(“Healthier Food Is Key to Anti-Hunger Plan,” washingtonpost.com, April 19, 2006)

Maria Gomez was one of about 100 child care providers, parents and anti-hunger advocates at the Kennedy Recreation Center in Washington, D.C., where the Partnership to End Childhood Hunger in the Nation’s Capital unveiled a 10-part plan to end hunger in the District. The partnership of city government, faith-based organizations, advocacy groups and businesses came up with its comprehensive report after a year of studying how to feed an estimated 35,000 District children living on “the edge of hunger.” As Mayor Anthony A. Williams and other leaders talked about the plan, children from Adams Elementary and Little Flower Montessori schools sat on bleachers behind the podium. The plan includes initiatives like expanding the summer meals programs to offer healthier foods and providing nutritious snacks and complete dinners through afterschool child care providers. “We’re going to ensure three meals a day for every child in the District of Columbia,” said Kimberly Perry, director of D.C. Hunger Solutions. “We’re going to surround them with food where they are – at home, at school, in their communities . . . . We’re going to make sure they’re surrounded with good, healthy, affordable foods.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/18/AR2006041801650.html

7. Editorial: Congress Resorts to Trickery of Hiding Real Costs of Tax Cuts

(“Tax Gimmickry,” washingtonpost.com, April 17, 2006)

“To make their budget-busting tax policy appear less costly than it is, the [Congressional] lawmakers are resorting to a gimmick that is even more egregious than their usual tactics,” according to this editorial in The Washington Post. Seeking to extend President Bush’s capital gains and dividend tax cuts, Congress is expected to come back to this issue after the recess and will try the gimmick of hiding the cost of these cuts that primarily benefit the wealthiest Americans through an additional tax provision (on retirement savings accounts) that masks its cost “by bringing in more revenue in the short term” but which “would in the long run worsen the fiscal situation by piling on more debt.” The new smokescreen provision also benefits the rich. “A Senate rule designed to make it harder to increase the deficit would be circumvented with a maneuver that would end up increasing the deficit. And a tax cut for wealthier Americans that would cost $50 billion over 10 years would be ‘paid for’ in part by another tax cut for the well-off, which would end up costing billions more. That's amazing – even from this Congress.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/16/AR2006041600685.html

8. Flattened Tax Rates Have Meant Wealth for the Wealthy But No Gains for the Rest

(“Taxes Flatten but Deep Pockets Still Bulge,” latimes.com, April 17, 2006)

A decade ago publishing magnate Steve Forbes ran for president on a platform of a “flat” tax rate for all Americans, promising that this measure would bring prosperity to all. Many mainstream economists dismissed Forbes’ plan as simplistic. Although he could not fulfill his idea, we are now “very close to the world Forbes and other flat-tax visionaries proposed,” where “millionaires and middle-class Americans now pay taxes at almost the same rates,” but most people have not noticed any improvement in prosperity. “It’s as if Santa Claus dropped bags of money down everybody’s chimney,” said Leonard E. Burman of the Tax Policy Center. “Only he dropped extra-big bags in rich people's homes, and extra-small ones in smaller homes.” Flattened, and therefore lower, tax rates have resulted in huge increases in the wealth of the wealthy, but left most Americans behind. The Federal Reserve Board found that average family income fell by 2 percent between 2001 and 2004 after adjusting for inflation, while in the previous three-year period, average family income had grown by 17 percent. A quarter of Americans at the bottom of the wealth scale had negative net worth in 2004, driven by credit card debt and borrowing against their homes. An average chief executive made 279 times the average pay of a non-supervisory production worker in 2005, up from 229 in 2004 and 185 in 2003, according to the Center for American Progress. And the Economic Policy Institute reports that during the previous seven economic expansions, employee compensation rose four times faster than corporate profits, but in the current expansion, profits have risen three times faster than compensation. “The disparity between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else has grown …. The failure of flattened tax rates to deliver greater rewards to the mass of workers helps account for why polls show Americans are so sour about the economy,” concludes the story.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-taxday17apr17,1,6526314.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

9. Audit Rates for Low Income Taxpayers Greater Than for Top Earners

(“Only 30 Out of More Than 180,000 Millionaires Faced Traditional IRS Audits Last Year,” trac.syr.edu, March 28, 2006)

Only 30 of the 184,054 nation’s millionaires, whose individual tax returns reported income of $1 million or more, were subject to a face-to-face IRS audit in 2005, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service. (IRS later said its own numbers were not correct, but has not given out new data.) Analysis of IRS data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) reveals that “the audit rate for America’s wealthiest taxpayers is substantially lower than for the poorest.” Taxpayers reporting less than $25,000 in income were six times more likely to be subject to face-to-face audits than those reporting $200,000 or more in income. “When the simpler and far more common correspondence audits are combined with the face-to-face audits, the poor taxpayers were still almost twice as likely to be audited as the wealthy,” TRAC notes. Detailed statistics could have explained the government’s strategy, but the agency is withholding the data. These data had been available to the public for the past 30 years.

http://trac.syr.edu/tracirs/latest/147/

Also see http://trac.syr.edu/tracirs/latest/current/ (“IRS Secrecy Continues”)

10. Oregon Governor Honors Sen. Smith as Anti-Hunger Hero at Food Bank Event

(“Oregon Food Bank Honors Hunger Heroes During Oregon Hunger Awareness Week,” newsashland.com, April 14, 2006)

At an awards ceremony at the Oregon Food Bank, opening Oregon Hunger Awareness Week, April 10-15, Oregon Governor Kulongoski, a Democrat, honored U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, a Republican, with the first Jerry Tippens Advocacy Award. This award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated achievement in combating hunger. “Senator Smith … has worked tirelessly and courageously to fight federal budget cuts and help his colleagues understand the connection between those important safety-net programs and the issue of hunger,” said the governor. All Oregonians should reach out this [Hunger Awareness] week and join our effort so no Oregonian has to go to bed hungry or wonder where the next meal will come from, urged Kulongoski. Sen. Smith was instrumental in establishing the Senate Congressional Hunger Caucus. “Hunger is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. It is an American issue,” Smith stated. “I believe we all share a responsibility to do what we can to ensure that no one is hungry.”

http://www.newsashland.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=329936&cp=4296

11. Doctors and Lawyers Partner to Help Low-Income Children Stay Healthy, Obtain Needed Benefits

(“BMC to Go National with Legal Aid Program,” boston.com, April 10, 2006)

A Boston Medical Center program that helps low-income children stay healthy relies on a partnership of attorneys, physicians and social workers and has demonstrated that “sometimes lawyers, not doctors, can be the key to good health.” Backed by $2.7 million in grants, the center will expand its Boston-based Family Advocacy Program into the national Medical-Legal Partnership for Children. “By using lawyers to solve legal problems that can cause illness – from fixing faulty furnaces to navigating immigration rules that may make patients afraid to apply for food or housing assistance – doctors believe they can prevent more serious health crises, such as malnutrition, job loss, and domestic violence.” Studies show that children living in poverty suffer more health problems than their wealthier counterparts, and the program’s mission is to “encourage doctors nationwide to diagnose not only medical issues in impoverished children, but also barriers to good health that the law can remove.” Participating health centers around the nation will match patients whose families cannot afford legal services with law firms and legal aid organizations so they can get attorneys’ help free of charge.

http://tinyurl.com/zl9a2

12. Seniors from Rural Areas Struggle in Declining Economies, Face Loss of Federal Aid

(“Retiring on the Edge of Poverty in Rural America,” npr.org, April 19, 2006)

Although Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other assistance programs have helped reduce poverty among the elderly from one third of all senior Americans 40 years ago to just one in 10 seniors today, the safety net they offer is fragile. This is especially true for rural areas such as Harrison County, Ohio. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 30 percent of rural seniors are poor or nearly poor, and the rate for rural elderly women is even higher. “We’ve never seen it so bad. People are doing without medications, and they’re worried about trying to heat their homes. There’s just more and more need,” says Suzanne Bauer of the Senior Center in Cadiz, Harrison County. The young go elsewhere in search of a better life, which decreases the county’s ability to raise taxes for funding programs for the poor. Left behind, seniors are struggling to survive by relying on programs like the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, whose food boxes are distributed by centers like the one in Cadiz. The county hopes to revive the area by building a big ethanol plant, but hopes run low among the seniors who rely on the food program that could soon disappear due to federal budget cuts.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5342818

13. Obesity and Safety: Parents Have Difficulty Finding Safe, Inexpensive Car Seats for Obese Children

(“Too Few Car Seats For America's Obese Kids,” forbes.com, April 3, 2006)

A study published in the April issue of Pediatrics shows that parents of nearly 283,000 children aged 1 to 6 would have difficulty finding a safe child safety seat because of children’s combined age and weight. The authors focused on child seats because technicians at the Children's Safety Center, which loans and sells inexpensive seats to low-income families, took notice of the number of obese children who exceeded the upper weight limit for car seats. Every year more than 1.5 million American children get into motor vehicle crashes that are responsible for 23 percent of the deaths from injuries among infants and 30 percent of those among preschool-aged children. Child seats are required by law. Meanwhile, “if a child is large or obese, the seats are very expensive, which hits hardest the lower socioeconomic groups and minorities,” said Dr. Maja Djordjevic, director of pediatrics at Nyack Hospital in Nyack, N.Y. “It’s just out of their reach.”

http://www.forbes.com

Also see http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/117/4/1197
(“Tipping the Scales: Obese Children and Child Safety Seats,” Pediatrics )

14. Mayor Bloomberg Changes His Mind About Helping Adult, Childless New Yorkers Receive Food Stamps

(“Bloomberg Nixes Effort to Expand Food Stamp Program,” nysun.com, April 18, 2006)

Despite an earlier announcement by New York City social services administration, Mayor Bloomberg will not seek the federal waiver that eases food stamp eligibility requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents. The decision was made “in a rare display of internal disagreement at City Hall.” Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs and the commissioner for Human Resources Administration, Verna Eggleston, reportedly supported the waiver. “Welfare advocates who began the day excited about the report ended the day expressing shock at City Hall's decision to abandon the waiver request.” The waiver would have made it easier for thousands of New Yorkers aged 18-49 who do not have dependent children and without the waiver subject to a three-month limit in food stamps. “Rep. Anthony Weiner said: “I think it’s just the politics of being tough. I think they chose the appearance of being tough over the reality of doing the right thing and that's regrettable.” City Council Member Bill de Blasio pointed out that “cities and counties all around New York State take this waiver, including Republican-led counties.” “Not seeking the waiver or putting it off until next year is a very bad mistake, commented James Weill of the Food Research and Action Center. “The waiver would let the food stamp program in the city reach more unemployed, desperately needy people.”

http://www.nysun.com/article/31143?access=657272

New York Mayor Seeks to Ease Food Stamp Eligibility for Able-Bodied Adults

(“Mayor Seeks to Lower a Barrier for Food Stamps,” nytimes.com, April 17, 2006)

(Editor’s note: This story is from the day before the story above, and reports the announcement which was revealed one day later.)

The Bloomberg administration is seeking and expects approval of a waiver of the rule that imposes a three-month limit on food stamps in any three-year period for able-bodied adults without dependents. The waiver would affect low-income New Yorkers ages 18 to 49 who are not responsible for a child or incapacitated relative and would make it easier for them to qualify for food stamps. The law allows states to request such a waiver for areas with high unemployment rates, and most eligible big cities, like Chicago, Seattle and Washington, already have the waiver. New York has been “one of the only cities in the country eligible for the waiver that has not had it,” according to Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Advocates for the poor have long been pointing out that the three-month limit is too stringent. “People can take six months and even a year to find new jobs,” said James D. Weill of the Food Research and Action Center. “To say you can only have three months of food-stamp benefits is egregiously harsh and not a sensible public policy.” The waiver request represents a significant departure from the welfare policies of the Giuliani era, when applications for food stamps and Medicaid were routinely delayed or denied in ways that were found to violate federal law. Lawrence M. Mead III, a conservative scholar of welfare at New York University, said he did not believe that easier access to food stamps would discourage people from working.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/nyregion/17welfare.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

15. Column: USDA Scorches Texas for Call Center Problems Undermining State Social Service

(“USDA Letter to State Welfare Bosses Shows Call Centers’ Problems,” mysanantonio.com, April 16, 2006)

A “scorching letter” from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service preceded the announcement by Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) head Albert Hawkins that the state’s new call center system run by Bermuda-based contractor, Accenture, would not be rolled out as planned, writes Carlos Guerra in the San Antonio Express-News. The new system was launched in January with the Midland call center screening applications for food stamps, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and long-term care. Among the concerns identified by USDA Regional Administrator William Ludwig were “the high percentage of cases that are returned to the vendor because of missing information and errors (40 percent)” and the lack of case file documentation. Moreover, instead of the 5 percent of callers HHSC expected would hang up, 54.5 percent dropped their calls because of endless waits. Operators were not adequately trained. There were multiple reports of “botched and lost applications, and erroneous denials of benefits.” Also enrollment in Texas’ social services safety net programs have plummeted. In three months, 21,000 children lost CHIP coverage, and an additional 79,000 lost Medicaid. USDA concluded that the centers were “sending clients to the wrong certification office; … not providing information on the complaint process to clients who complained of rude treatment; … and incorrect information (was given) about the appointment process.”

16. Connecticut Senate Votes to Outlaw Soda in State’s Schools

(“Connecticut Senate Votes to Ban Soda Sales in the State's Schools,” nytimes.com, April 21, 2006)

The Connecticut Senate approved legislation that bans the sale of soda in the state’s schools and plans to “lobby hard” to win its approval in the House of Representatives. The new bill aims at reducing childhood obesity by forbidding schools to sell regular or diet soda or sports drinks like Gatorade. Such drinks would be allowed for sale only at concession stands during school-sponsored events after school and on weekends. The bill also would require vending machine menus to include only low-fat and nonfat milk, soy or rice milk, and 100-percent fruit and vegetable drinks. Last year, Governor M. Jodi Rell vetoed a school nutrition bill, saying that the state should not impose nutrition and physical education standards on local schools. This year she is expected to sign the new version, which reduces state mandates and provides extra money for school lunch programs that offer healthy snacks approved by the Connecticut Department of Education. If enacted, the Connecticut bill would be among the most sweeping such school nutrition regulations in the nation, along with the laws in California, Maine and several other states that limit or prohibit the sales of soda, candy and other unhealthy products.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/21/nyregion/21coke.html

17. Op-Ed – Mississippi: 7 Percent Sales Tax on Food Hurts the Poor

(“Poor Don’t Need Food Tax Relief, Do They?” clarionledger.com, April 16, 2006)

“It's a tired political myth in Mississippi that food stamps take care of the poor and working poor,” writes Sid Salter in The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss. Haley Barbour, the governor of the poorest state in the union, and other opponents of cutting the state’s sales tax on food argue that, since food stamps provide food for poor people, “the state should collect 7 percent sales tax on the sale of food to make sure everyone in Mississippi contributes to the state’s tax revenues …. Never mind that the state has the highest sales tax on groceries in the nation and among the lowest cigarette taxes in America.” The low cigarette tax both forgoes tax revenue and incurs public health expenditures for the ravages of smoking. A study by the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University shows that only 83,000 Mississippi households and 176,000 children received federal food stamps in FY 2003. Meanwhile, 386,534 or 51 percent of the state’s 759,020 children were classified as “low income.” Also food stamp benefits average 91 cents per meal, so recipient families have to purchase (and pay sales tax on) additional food.

http://tinyurl.com/mjaye

18. Alabama Makes History Cutting Income Taxes for Low-Income Residents

(“Alabama Gives Up Dubious Taxing Honor,” montgomeryadvertiser.com, April 13, 2006)

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley signed legislation that will reduce state income taxes by $60 million annually, mostly benefiting low-income Alabamians. A two-parent family of four making $20,000 a year will save $245 starting next year. The governor called the new measure “the most sweeping reform of Alabama’s tax system in our history.” The sponsor of the bill, Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, worked seven years on legislation to relieve the state’s working poor from heavy income taxes. Under the old law, Alabama began taxing income at $4,600, ranking No. 1 in taxing the working poor. The new law raises the taxable income threshold to $12,600. Nick Johnson of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said Alabama made such substantial improvement in its tax structure that “it’s hard to say anything bad about it. There are not very many states that have made this kind of progress in one fell swoop,” Johnson noted.

http://tinyurl.com/lw823

19. Editorial: Hawaii Becomes “Cruelest State”in Placing Heaviest Income Tax on Working Poor

(“Ease Tax Burden on Hawaii’s Working Poor,” starbulletin.com, April 16, 2006)

“Tax reform signed into law in Alabama has lifted it from being the nation’s cruelest state toward the working poor, replaced in that spot by Hawaii …. The Legislature needs … to erase this shameful stain from Hawaii's reputation,” argues this editorial in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Alabama Governor Bob Riley called the old law “immoral,” as the state used to take $538 in state taxes from households living at the federal poverty level of $19,961 per year. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (SBPP), Hawaii now levies the heaviest taxes on the income of poverty-level, three- and four-member families, at $373 and $470 respectively. CBPP reports that only Kentucky’s ($858) and Oregon’s ($813) taxes are higher than Hawaii’s $808 tax on families of four with an income of $24,951, or 25 percent above the poverty line.

http://starbulletin.com/2006/04/16/editorial/editorial01.html

20. National Student Partnership Helps Local Poor People Find Jobs, Apply for Assistance

(“Student Volunteers Help Locals Step by Step,” yaleherald.com, April 8, 2006)

Started by two Yale undergraduates in New Haven, Conn., in 1998, the National Student Partnerships (NSP), which helps low-income people find jobs and housing or navigate complicated governmental paperwork, has gone national with offices in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and other cities. “We help people in a number of ways, from writing resumes to securing food stamps to filling out income tax returns,” Sarah Hunt, an NSP coordinator, said. The offices are staffed with student volunteers who build personal relationships with members of local communities. “You learn to see something like applying for a job from a new perspective,” explained Laura Gaynon, a volunteer from the NSP-New Haven office.

http://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=4676

21. University Students’ Farm Club Sells Fresh Produce in Low-Income Communities

(“Wesleyans Long Lane Farm Growing Up – and Out,” wesleyan.edu, April 17, 2006)

The Long Lane Farm Club of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., was created in 2004 to give students an opportunity to learn about food security issues. The club’s small organic vegetable garden has been thriving. The club will have a farm stand in low-income neighborhoods and will be able to accept food stamps. Produce that does not sell will go to soup kitchens. The students plan to partner with Snow Elementary School in Middletown to “get kids out in the farm to work, play, learn about farming and plants, and taste-test a few vegetables.”

http://www.wesleyan.edu/newsletter/campus/0406longlane.html