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. President Bush Nominates Nebraska Health and Human Services Chief to Be Under Secretary of Agriculture
2. Workers Losing Gains from Rising Productivity
3. Welfare Reform Is Not Lifting People Out of Poverty
4. Needy School Children Get Backpacks Full of Food for Weekends
5. Low-Income Families Face Financial Challenges, Fed Chief Says
6. Barbara Ehrenreich Calls Poverty “Moral Issue” and Urges Advancing Common Good
7. Consumer’s Ability to Control Calorie Intake from Away-From-Home Foods Key to Anti-Obesity Efforts
8. Parents Can Cultivate Preference for Vegetables in Children with Healthy Menus
9. Children Look for “Fun” in Food, Study Says
10. Bank Partners with Anti-Hunger Organization to Fight Hunger in Vermont
11. Editorial - Minnesota: Affordable Housing, Food Stamp and Summer Food Outreach Would Diminish Increased Hunger
12. Hunger and Poverty Increasing in Kansas City Metropolitan Area
13. Rhode Island: School’s Rejection of Free Breakfast for All Students Spurs Public Disapproval
14. Massachusetts: Rep. McGovern and former Sen. McGovern Kick Off Free Summer Meal Program in Worcester
15. Oregon: Jackson County Opens Summer Meal Sites Featuring Salad Bars and Vegetarian Choices
16. California Governor Proposes Investments in Physical Education and Nutrition
17. Pennsylvania Schools Gear Up for Healthier Menus and Vending Machines
18. School Gardening Projects Educate Students About Healthy Nutrition
19. Heart of the City Farmers’ Market in San Francisco Has Become Mecca for Low-Income Customers

1. President Bush Nominates Nebraska Health and Human Services Chief to Be Under Secretary of Agriculture

(Personnel Announcement, whitehouse.gov, June 16, 2006)

President George W. Bush announced his intention to nominate Nancy Montanez-Johner, of Nebraska, to be Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services and Member of the Board of Directors of the Commodity Credit Corporation. Montanez-Johner currently serves as Director of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to this, she was the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Chief Executive Officer for the Western Service Area.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/06/20060615-7.html

2. Workers Losing Gains from Rising Productivity

(“Why Those Pay Hikes Are Not Going Very Far,” csmonitor.com, June 2, 2006)

The average American paycheck is getting bigger, but inflation has been rising, too, emptying consumers’ pockets. Last month’s average hourly earnings of $16.68 were below the peak they reached in 2003, after adjusting for inflation. “It’s been remarkable how little the wages have moved” as the current economic recovery has progressed, says John Challenger of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Workers are now gaining less from rising productivity than they did in the past. In the 1960s and 1970s, hourly earnings grew 1.9 percent a year, adjusted for inflation. From 1985-2004, they grew just 1.3 percent a year, even though productivity was increasing at a similar pace of more than 2 percent. The benefits of productivity increasingly go to investors in the form of higher profits, rather than to workers.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0602/p01s03-usec.html

3. Welfare Reform Is Not Lifting People Out of Poverty

(“From Welfare to Work But Still Not Making It,” cleveland.com, June 4, 2006)

The 1996 welfare reform law reduced the number of American families receiving government checks from 3.9 million in 1997 to 1.9 million in 2005. But the tenants of the homeless shelter at the West Side Catholic Center in Cleveland, Ohio, who no longer receive assistance under the tough new welfare rules and have ended up depending on charity, exemplify the shortcomings of this law. Jack Frech, director of Job & Family Services in Ohio’s rural Athens County, says that “what we see are an increasing number of people who are showing up at food pantries and soup kitchens who have jobs. They’re not able to buy food and pay their bills with the income they have from working.” In Milwaukee County, Wis., most welfare recipients were still struggling and only a small minority managed to escape poverty. That study also found that parents unable to pay bills were more likely to lose their children to foster care. Margy Waller, a researcher for the Center for Community Change in Washington, D.C., reviewed welfare spending in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. She found that a third of those who received cash assistance in 2004 lived in a family that included a full-time worker. A significant number of people were still so poor they qualified for a government check. Waller also pointed out that people receiving non-cash benefits such as day care or bus passes are not counted in states’ caseload numbers, which leads to misleading numbers as to how many people are being served. “If we don’t build public understanding with accurate reporting about how these dollars are used, federal policy makers will cut those dollars and things will only get worse for working families,” Waller says.

http://tinyurl.com/n7fx4

4. Needy School Children Get Backpacks Full of Food for Weekends

(“Meal Plan for Hungry Kids, ‘Backpack Clubs’ Try to Fill a Gap,” wsj.com, June 14, 2006)

The Wall Street Journal launched a series, “Poverty: The New Search and Solutions,” with a story about school “Backpack Clubs,” which give backpacks filled with food to thousands of needy students in 30 states around the country to take home every Friday for the weekend. “Without this food, I don’t know what we would do,” says the mother of Cody and Cherokee Lozano, who are members of the Backpack Club at Douglas Elementary School in Tyler, Texas. “On their shoulders, the children carry the backpacks as well as the weight of America’s hunger paradox: want amid plenty. The backpacks are an emergency fix.” While Washington has little appetite for addressing poverty on the governmental level, small-scale anti-hunger efforts are not able to cure poverty. Instead, they attempt “to make life better for those who live in poverty or to test new approaches to a very old problem.” A recent survey by America’s Second Harvest showed that people relying on food pantries and kitchens are largely represented by working families whose incomes are too small to make ends meet. “Every day, we touch people who have to make hard choices about food: pay medical bills or buy food, repair car or buy food,” says Robert Bush of the East Texas Food Bank. “On Friday at lunch, I see a kind of panic in some children that I didn’t see before. They eat as much as they can,” describes Kim Matthews, youth-services coordinator in the Chapel Hill ( Texas) school district. “Then on Monday at breakfast, they not only eat the food on their tray, but the food on the trays of the five kids next to them.”

http://tinyurl.com/rfdqw (subscription required)

5. Low-Income Families Face Financial Challenges, Fed Chief Says

(“Bernanke: Most Households Manage Money Well; Low Income Families Struggle,” usatoday.com, June 13, 2006)

Although most American households are managing their finances well, lower-income families “generally have less of a cushion to absorb unanticipated expenses or to deal with adverse circumstances, such as the loss of employment or a serious health problem,” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said at a conference in Washington, D.C. last week. Bernanke made his observations as families are coping with higher borrowing costs and soaring energy prices. In 2004, lowest income households had a median net worth of only $7,500, compared to the median of $93,000 for all other respondents in a recent Federal Reserve survey. The survey found that low-income families were significantly less likely to have a checking or savings accounts. The Fed chief said that these families also were less able than others to manage their debts and that this problem can be helped through financial education and community economic development initiatives.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/fed/2006-06-13-bernanke_x.htm

6. Barbara Ehrenreich Calls Poverty “Moral Issue” and Urges Advancing Common Good

(“Poverty a 'Moral Issue' In 2006 Elections, Author Says,” cnsnews.com, June 14, 2006)

At the annual Take Back America conference in Washington, D.C., Barbara Ehrenreich, author of the bestselling “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America,” said the gap between rich and poor is a “moral issue” and criticized conservatives who argue that poverty is a natural result of capitalism or a product of immoral behavior. Ehrenreich pointed to flat wages accompanied by rising consumer prices and a policy of tax cuts that are financed by “cuts in Medicaid and other programs for the poor.” The author criticized the division “between the gated communities on one end and the tenements and trailer parks on the other end”; encouraged the audience to make poverty a moral issue; and called for advancing the common good.

http://tinyurl.com/jchnq

7. Consumer’s Ability to Control Calorie Intake from Away-From-Home Foods Key to Anti-Obesity Efforts

(“FDA Receives Keystone Forum Report on Away-From-Home Foods,” fda.gov, June 2, 2006)

A new report, “Keystone Forum on Away-From-Home Foods: Opportunities for Preventing Weight Gain and Obesity,” received by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), provides expert recommendations about helping consumers manage calorie intake from foods prepared and purchased away-from-home. “The recommendations may help industry members, educators, researchers, government, and health care professionals take steps to reduce the obesity rate and the health and economic burdens that come with it,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach. According to FDA, “the impact of away-from-home foods is significant,” as Americans spend 46 percent of their food budgets on non-home-made foods, responsible for 32 percent of their calorie intake. The recommendations relate to: understanding and influencing consumer behavior; increasing the availability of lower-calorie products, menu items, and meals; and providing consumers with nutrition information.

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01379.html

Also see http://www.keystone.org/spp/documents/Forum_Report_FINAL_5-30-06.pdf
(Keystone report)

8. Parents Can Cultivate Preference for Vegetables in Children with Healthy Menus

(“Meat and Fish Taste ‘Inherited’,” news.bbc.co.uk, June 13, 2006)

Research suggests that children basically inherit their taste for high-protein food like meat and fish. At the same time, Cancer Research UK found that a taste for vegetables and puddings to a larger extent is the result of the menu provided by parents. The study, based on more than 200 pairs of same-sex twins and published in the Journal of Physiology and Behaviour, also showed that girls were more likely to enjoy vegetables than boys. According to lead researcher Professor Jane Wardle, it was not clear why environmental factors were more influential in determining preferences for fruit, vegetables and puddings, but the greater variety of choice available in these categories, unlike in meat or fish, might play a role. Wardle said the findings suggested that parents could have a profound impact on their children’s diet, and steering them towards healthy options could set a blueprint for life.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5073196.stm

9. Children Look for “Fun” in Food, Study Says

(“Kids Want Fun in Foods, Not Just Health, Says Study,” foodnavigator-usa.com, June 12, 2006)

More than half of children surveyed say they wish they could have more fun when eating their meals and snacks, according to a national study by a marketing group, Just Kid Inc. The study analyzed a child’s point of view of what is fun when it comes to food. Most children ages 2 to 12 agree that fun food includes the ability to eat it with fingers, “dip or scoop it.” Children also like to be able to take a product with them. They prefer products with filling or frosting, as well as ones with an interesting shape and color. “The key to getting kids to eat more nutritious meals is to inject the same levels of taste and fun they experience when consuming less healthy snacks,” said group president George Carey. Food manufacturers should not overlook what really matters to children.

10. Bank Partners with Anti-Hunger Organization to Fight Hunger in Vermont

(“Bank and Agency Partner to Fight Hunger,” burlingtonfreepress, June 14, 2006)

“It’s amazing how many kids are hungry, and even more amazing that nobody notices,” said 12-year-old Nickolas Johnson of Barre, Vt., making the case for investing in eradicating hunger among Vermont children at a news conference called to announce a new initiative of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger and the Northfield Savings Bank Foundation. Robert Dostis of the Campaign explained that the agency will spend $450,000 provided by the foundation to help groups assess on a town-by-town basis what he calls “the nutritional safety net,” with a focus on free and reduced-price breakfasts and lunches at schools, emergency food shelves and nutrition education. “Wherever the holes in the safety net are, we will help the communities put together work plans to address them,” Dostis said. Nineteen thousand Vermont children live in food insecure households where parents skip meals to save food for their children, run out of food periodically and limit purchases in ways that make a healthy, balanced diet impossible. Gov. Jim Douglas has appointed a task force to research the state’s hunger problem and applauded the partnership between the bank and the anti-hunger organization.

http://tinyurl.com/mxq2v

11. Editorial - Minnesota: Affordable Housing, Food Stamp and Summer Food Outreach Would Diminish Increased Hunger

(“A Troubling Sign of Increased Hunger,” startribune.com, June 9, 2006)

The economic recovery should make it easier for Americans to make ends meet, but “the high cost of those ends outstrips family incomes, as a recent Hunger Solutions Minnesota report shows,” writes this editorial in the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, Minn. A “jaw-dropping” increase in food shelf use in the western suburbs, especially among seniors and working people, means “more must be done to improve employment, create affordable housing and get food support services to the needy.” Food shelf visits grew by an average of 80 percent between 2000 and 2005, compared to a 45 percent increase statewide. The report underscores the need to spread the word about food stamps. The state’s outreach efforts have resulted in reaching more (71 percent) of those eligible for benefits. “Still, more must be done to make application easier and carry less stigma for the other 29 percent.” Other recommendations include raising awareness about summer food programs and the Earned Income Tax Credit. “The ultimate goal [is] … reducing poverty,” which will help families to provide food on their own.

http://www.startribune.com/561/story/484365.html

12. Hunger and Poverty Increasing in Kansas City Metropolitan Area

(“Studies Show More Go Hungry in Johnson County,” zwire.com, June 15, 2006)

A study by the Kansas City food bank, Harvesters, found that 25 percent more people sought emergency food in and around the Kansas City metropolitan area in 2005 than in 2001. “The face of hunger in Greater Kansas City is increasingly the face of a child,” said Harvesters Community Relations Manager Karen Siebert. Forty eight percent of client households had one working adult. The rising need is the same in adjacent Johnson County, according to Bob Balla, director of Village Presbyterian Church Food Pantry and Clothes Closet. Balla said setbacks, including job losses or illness, drive people to food shelves. “I have had more than a handful of executives come who have lost jobs, run through their unemployment benefits and savings, and don’t know which way to turn,” he observed. Based on a United Community Services report, one out of six people in Johnson County was poor in 2004, whereas in 1990 it was one out of 11. In the 2005-06 school year, 12,400 students received free or reduced-price school lunches, 74 percent more than in the year 2000-01.

http://tinyurl.com/qv33z

Also see http://tinyurl.com/qggmy (Harvesters’ findings for Greater Kansas City)

http://www.ucsjoco.org/documents/PovertyinJohnsonCounty2-06.pdf (“Poverty in Johnson County” report by the United Community Services of Johnson County, Kan.)

13. Rhode Island: School’s Rejection of Free Breakfast for All Students Spurs Public Disapproval

(“School Committee Nixes Free Breakfast for All Students,” newportdailynews.com, June 14, 2006)

The Newport (R.I.) School Committee rejected a proposal to offer free school breakfasts to all students, not just those from low-income families whose school meals are paid for by the government. Henry Shelton of the Campaign to End Childhood Poverty pointed to the statistics that show the local Pawtucket School Department made a profit of $24,236 on its universal free breakfast program through the end of May last school year. A group of local residents expressed strong support for the program. “This would help all our children to success,” said the Rev. Ernest B. Gibbons Jr. “Look at the facts and figures for other communities in Rhode Island. It has worked in these communities.” J. Clement Cicilline of the Newport County Community Mental Health Center stated that “children need a nutritious breakfast. There is a connection between nourishment and a child’s capacity to learn. We should use every resource we have to help kids learn.” At Sullivan School, 83.3 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price breakfasts, and the rate of such students for all Newport schools is 49.1 percent.

http://tinyurl.com/nf9c6 (subscription required)

See more on this issue in the FRAC digest: http://www.frac.org/html/news/newsdigest/05.15.06.html#15

14. Massachusetts: Rep. McGovern and former Sen. McGovern Kick Off Free Summer Meal Program in Worcester

(“Healthy Eating on Menu of City Program,” telegram.com, June 3, 2006)

“My mom and dad tried to make me eat healthy food, but I didn’t like it,” said 9-year-old Darlyn Llanos, who recently took part in a pilot nutrition program at her Elm Park Community School in Worcester, Mass. “Now that I started to try it, I like it.” School officials hope that children will express the same appreciation toward a free summer meal program kicked off with the support of U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, and former senator and presidential candidate George S. McGovern. The program will serve meals and snacks to students at more than 20 parks and pool sites around Worcester. “I hope we’ll see the day when no child, anywhere around the world, has to cry himself or herself to sleep because of hunger,” said George McGovern at the event. He stressed that hunger is a solvable problem, and ending it should be everyone’s long-term goal. Rep. McGovern called Worcester a prime example of what’s right with the government, because its officials made such a strong effort to spearhead the feeding program. “The children of our community will be better off,” he said.

http://tinyurl.com/lmcvr

15. Oregon: Jackson County Opens Summer Meal Sites Featuring Salad Bars and Vegetarian Choices

(“Schools, Programs Offer Free Meals During Summer,” mailtribune.com, June 15, 2006)

Eight schools and four affordable-housing developments will host the Summer Food Service Program in Jackson County, Ore., to try to fill the gap in services for low-income children who rely on free and reduced-price meals offered in most county schools during the school year. The program will offer both breakfast and lunch and will target neighborhoods where poverty rates are higher than the state average. Many sites will offer several entrée choices and salad bars and some sites will have vegetarian options. Most of the schools operate the programs in association with summer activities like those run by the Boys and Girls Club. “The ones just open for food don’t do as well when they don’t have activities,” said Jeff Ashmun of Sodexho, which provides food services in the Medford and Phoenix-Talent school district. “Kids do better when they are well fed,” Ashmun explained. “They are less likely to do things detrimental to their future.”

http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2006/0615/local/stories/school_lunches.htm

16. California Governor Proposes Investments in Physical Education and Nutrition

(“California Governor Schwarzenegger Urges Legislature to Restore His Budget Proposal to Fund Arts, Music and PE Programs Serving California Students,” allamericanpatriots.com, June 14, 2006)

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed investing $335 million in school physical education (PE) to improve students’ health and respond to the obesity crisis in California. His 2006-2007 budget plan allocates $250 million to purchase PE equipment and supplies and $85 million to hire new PE instructors and to provide staff development for new and current teachers. A recent study by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy found that more than half of the schools assessed are not meeting current minimum physical fitness standards. The governor’s budget also includes a $38 million increase in funding for the School Nutrition Program. In 2005, Schwarzenegger provided nearly $20 million to increase the amount of fruits and vegetables served in the school breakfast program and banned the sale of junk food and unhealthy beverages at California’s schools.

http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/m-news+article+storyid-15184.html

17. Pennsylvania Schools Gear Up for Healthier Menus and Vending Machines

(“East Neighborhoods: Schools Promote Healthy Eating and Snacking,” post-gazette.com, June 15, 2006)

Unhealthy beverages are likely to be eliminated by the new wellness policies adopted by Pennsylvania schools in response to the Child Nutrition and Reauthorization Act of 2004. A number of districts have been implementing the new practices over the past 18 months, said Sharon Fissel, director of policy services for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, which has developed a model for districts to use as they create their own policies. “This is something that I’ve seen school districts really embrace, not because it was required, but because it would benefit the students,” Ms. Fissel said. Many districts will be offering baked chips, granola bars and fruit snacks instead of high-fat snacks, and leaner meats and pizzas with wheat flour crusts for lunch. In the Plum Borough School District, “pop machines” will be replaced by “water machines” and “juice machines.” The Penn Hills School District, whenever possible, will start serving fresh fruits and vegetables and water, milk or 100 percent fruit juice at school parties. The Penn-Trafford School District might include electives in gym classes that allow students at middle and high schools to choose an aerobic activity over a team sport, which often relegates some students to the sidelines. Throughout the schools, there will be posters about choosing foods wisely.

http://post-gazette.com/pg/06166/698254-56.stm

18. School Gardening Projects Educate Students About Healthy Nutrition

(“Education Blooms in School Gardens,” thejournalnews.com, June 7, 2006)

At dozens of New York schools throughout the Lower Hudson Valley, students are digging in the schoolyard soil, and planting vegetables and flowers in projects that teach them biology and also educate them about healthy nutrition. Gardening helps children to connect with the land and learn the nutritional benefits of fresh produce. Aileen Wright, the nurse at Summit Park Elementary School in New City, said the school gardening project gives her a chance to talk to students about healthy food choices. Vegetables grown by students at the Rockland Country Day School in Congers are used at the school’s cafeteria. “Many kids today have no connection to growing food,” Headmaster Jim Handlin said. “They think food somehow just appears in grocery stores. Our gardens get them involved in the cycle of nature.” Some gardening projects were funded by school district education foundations and supported by local businesses, parents and students.

http://tinyurl.com/ruubf

19. Heart of the City Farmers’ Market in San Francisco Has Become Mecca for Low-Income Customers

(“Green Heart of the City Turns 25,” sfgate.com, June 14, 2006)

The Heart of the City Farmers’ Market in San Francisco celebrates its 25th anniversary this week. Unlike many upscale farm produce outlets, Heart of the City has been known to bring fresh produce to inner-city dwellers at affordable prices and attract flocks of customers from all over the Bay Area. The market, started in 1981 by 12 farmers who manned stalls on Sundays, now accepts payments on Electronic Benefit Transfer cards used by people enrolled in the Food Stamp and WIC programs to buy food. It has expanded to at least 60 farmers selling their produce at 98 stalls on Sundays and Wednesdays.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/14/FDGC7JCQMJ1.DTL