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. Kids Count Shows Progress of ‘90s Stalled, Children Now Treading Water
2. Agriculture Under Secretary Eric Bost Confirmed As Ambassador to South Africa
3. New Federal Welfare Rules Set to Reduce Support, Move More People from Welfare to Work
4. Senators Protest Cutting Food Stamps and Other Programs to Pay for Veterans’ Credit Monitoring
5. Op-Ed: Path to Citizenship for Deserving Immigrants Will Lift Millions of Workers from Poverty
6. Prekindergarten Classes Are More Likely in Schools Where More Children Receive Free or Reduced-Price Lunches
7. Op-Ed: Unified, Coordinated New York City Food System Needed to Fight Hunger and Obesity
8. Alabama: More Than Half of Students in State Schools Come from Low-Income Families
9. Missouri: Government Data Show Increase in Breastfed Babies and Decrease in Anemic Children Among Participants in WIC Program
10. Florida: Polk County WIC Program Educates Clients About Healthy Portion Size
11. New Hampshire Governor Accepts Welfare Bill to Meet Federal Rules
12. Ohio: Cleveland Leaders Discuss Ways to Reduce Concentrated Poverty
13. Op-Ed: Milwaukee Anti-Poverty Committee Aims at “Bold Action” in Tackling Poverty
14. Missouri State Agencies Help Local School Districts Develop School Wellness Policies
15. Missouri: State Workshops Give Schools Direction and Ideas for Creating Wellness Policies
16. Montana: Missoula County Schools Have Stronger Nutrition Policy Standards Than State’s Average
17. Wisconsin: Oshkosh School District Initiates Breakfast Programs
18. Texas: Houston School District Unveils Plan to Serve Free Breakfast to All Students
19. Ohio: USDA Official Promotes Children’s Food Programs
20. Ohio: Summer Food Participation Is Still Too Low
21. Michigan Lags in Number of Summer Meal Sites and Parent Awareness About Their Existence
22. Wisconsin: Milwaukee Summer Meal Program Adds Dinner at Nine Sites
23. Ohio: Toledo Farmers’ Market Opens Doors to Food Stamp Shoppers
24. California First Lady Plans to Promote Food Stamp Use at Farmers’ Market

1. Kids Count Shows Progress of ‘90s Stalled, Children Now Treading Water

(“Fewer Teens Have Babies or Dropout, but More Live in Poverty,” usatoday.com, June 27, 2006)

Health and income indicators for American children and teens are no longer improving as much as they did in the 1990s, according to the 17th annual Kids Count report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Fewer teenagers are having babies or dropping out of high school since the start of the decade, but slightly more live in poverty with parents who don't work year round, the report says. Now, children are “treading water,” said foundation President Doug Nelson. In the 1990s, there were nationwide improvements in eight of the 10 measurements, when the economy was strong, government-sponsored health care for children was expanded and welfare reform helped move hundreds of thousands of families from welfare to work, the study points out. “We’re not talking about a catastrophe or the bottom falling out of anything, but we’ve still got to do some poverty-rate reduction,” Nelson added. The report measures each state’s progress on 10 important statistics, reflecting children’s well-being. New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Minnesota and Iowa scored the best. Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina and Tennessee did the worst. In 2004, more than 13 million, about 18 percent, lived in poverty, a slight increase from 17 percent in 2000. Compared to the prior year, the nation improved in four areas out of 10, declined in three and stayed the same in three, with most of the changes being small.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-06-27-kids-pregnancy-dropout_x.htm?csp=34

Also see http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/sld/databook.jsp (2006 Kids Count Data Book)

2. Agriculture Under Secretary Eric Bost Confirmed As Ambassador to South Africa

(Congressional Record – Senate, frwebgate.access.gpo.gov, June 29, 2006)

The U.S. Senate confirmed U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Eric M. Bost to be ambassador to the Republic of South Africa on June 29, 2006.

3. New Federal Welfare Rules Set to Reduce Support, Move More People from Welfare to Work

(“New Rules Force States to Curb Welfare Rolls,” nytimes.com, June 28, 2006)

New federal welfare rules following on changes made by the budget law signed in February will require states to move many more poor people from welfare to work and represent the biggest changes in welfare policy since 1996. Since then the number of welfare recipients has decreased more than 60 percent, from 12.2 million to 4.4 million people, most of whom left welfare in the first years, before the 2001 recession. Federal and state officials say they expect the new rules to speed the decline. The rules require states to verify and document the number of hours worked by welfare recipients and mandate that 50 percent of adult welfare recipients work or enroll in training. In 2004, only about 32 percent of adults on welfare worked. Some state officials and anti-poverty groups say the new work requirements are unrealistic. The new rules set a uniform definition of 12 acceptable types of work activity, including subsidized and unsubsidized employment, community service, on-the-job training, job search and vocational education training, which limits states’ prior flexibility in adopting their own definitions of work. As in 1996, many Democrats say the welfare law creates the perverse incentive.

http://tinyurl.com/e8sk3

4. Senators Protest Cutting Food Stamps and Other Programs to Pay for Veterans’ Credit Monitoring

(“Senators Criticize Payment Plan for Monitoring Veterans’ Credit,” nytimes.com, June 28, 2006)

Senators Patrick Leahy and Patty Murray criticized a White House plan to cut funding for food stamps, student loans and farmers in order to pay for credit monitoring for 17.5 million veterans whose personal data were on a computer stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs analyst last month. The data, taken home without permission and stored in a laptop, include veterans’ birthdays and Social Security numbers. “It’s outrageous to first expose millions of Americans to credit fraud and identity theft, and then try to cut food stamps, student loans and youth programs to pay for it,” said Murray. The Department of Veterans Affairs offered to pay for one year of free credit monitoring, with the costs, estimated at $160.5 million, coming from veteran benefit accounts. After criticism in the Senate, the agency withdrew its offer. The White House Office of Management then issued a letter that recommended paying for credit monitoring by taking about $130 million from food stamps and other programs. According to the president’s administration, it did not want to raise new money for this payment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/29/washington/29vets.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

(Editor’s note: On June 29 the Veterans Administration announced that the computer had been recovered and it appeared that the database on it was intact and not accessed after the theft.)

5. Op-Ed: Path to Citizenship for Deserving Immigrants Will Lift Millions of Workers from Poverty

(“Path to Citizenship and Out of Poverty,” projo.com, June 26, 2006)

The idea of creating a path to citizenship “applies to people who came here illegally but have lived within the law since then, held jobs, paid taxes” and who, after paying a fine, would become rightful naturalized citizens, under the more welcoming approach to immigration reform, writes Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute in The Providence Journal, R.I. Restoring respect for the law and opening an opportunity to participate in American democracy are important reasons why the path to citizenship is important; but citizenship is also a path out of poverty for millions of immigrant workers. While 9.8 percent of naturalized citizens are poor, the poverty rate for non-citizens is 21.6 percent. “An important reason for this difference is the benefits conferred by citizenship and the disadvantages associated with lack of citizenship. It is simply much easier to integrate economically, not to mention culturally and socially, if one is a citizen,” Bernstein writes. “The policy implications should be obvious. We must not let ourselves become a nation of permanent illegal immigrants, who toil in the shadows; nor should we become a nation of ‘guest workers.’”

http://tinyurl.com/z4h6s

6. Prekindergarten Classes Are More Likely in Schools Where More Children Receive Free or Reduced-Price Lunches

(“Public Schools with Prekindergarten and Special Education Prekindergarten Programs,” childtrendsdatabank.org, June 28, 2006)

Prekindergarten classes are more likely in public schools where children are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches than in schools in wealthier areas, found a study by the Child Trends DataBank. During the 2000-2001 school year, prekindergarten classes were in 51 percent of public elementary schools which had 75 percent or more of all students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. Only one quarter of public elementary schools with less than 35 percent of all students eligible for subsidized lunch offered prekindergarten education. The study also found that schools with high levels of minority enrollment are more likely than schools with low levels of minority enrollment to offer prekindergarten classes. States’ funding towards public prekindergarten programs has increased, “a trend which may be especially beneficial for school readiness among children in low-income families.”

http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/indicators/105PublicWithPrek.cfm

7. Op-Ed: Unified, Coordinated New York City Food System Needed to Fight Hunger and Obesity

(“Chew on This: a City Agency All About Food,” nydailynews.com, June 15, 2006)

“Anyone walking down Fordham Road in the South Bronx will see two seemingly contradictory realities: Many people are noticeably overweight while many others go hungry. How do we reconcile the two facts?” writes Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, in the New York Daily News. “Both result from lack of access to nutritious food.” Nestle notes that “in poor neighborhoods, supermarkets are few and far between. The streets are packed with fast-food joints serving quick, cheap meals high in calories but low in essential nutrients, as well as bodegas that rarely offer healthier fresh and unprocessed foods. “But people and businesses in poor communities aren't the only ones making bad food choices. New York City government … with more than 20 city agencies buying and serving food in schools, hospitals and nursing homes, or supporting small food businesses - is failing us as well.” While some agencies, like schools, are improving the quality of food, “what we need is a unified, coordinated city food system that promotes better choices and in the process, combats both hunger and obesity,” Nestle argues. It would coordinate efforts by different agencies, rethink where supermarkets are sited, and oversee nutrition initiatives, such as “increasing the number of farmers’ markets in low-income communities, improving the way food stamps are accepted at farmers’ markets and linking public health insurance and school meals enrollments to the food stamp program.” A coordinated city food system agency can make New York a city in which “even the South Bronx - has an ample supply of affordable, nutritious food and where no New Yorker has to go to bed hungry.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/426598p-359862c.html

8. Alabama: More Than Half of Students in State Schools Come from Low-Income Families

(“State Faces ‘Rising Tide of Low-Income Students,’ Study Says,” al.com, June 28, 2006)

A new report by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) indicates a growing number of low-income students in Alabama schools. Dr. Joan Lord, who participated in the research, called this trend a “rising tide of low-income students.” The proportion of Alabama students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches in schools grew from 44 percent in 1990 to 54 percent in 2004. Lord said growing poverty is found throughout the South. In 11 of the 16 states evaluated by SREB, more than half the students now qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. In 1990 only two of those states were in this situation. “ Alabama has a challenge to provide support to those families,” Lord said.

http://tinyurl.com/elksm

9. Missouri: Government Data Show Increase in Breastfed Babies and Decrease in Anemic Children Among Participants in WIC Program

(“WIC Is Working in Scotland County and Across Missouri,” memphisdemocrat.com, June 1, 2006)

The Missouri WIC program is making progress in improving the health of more than 130,000 participating women, infants and children. “Statistics from the past decade show real improvements in nutrition for Missouri WIC participants,” said Phyllis Fuller, a registered dietitian with the program. Data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the past 10 years show improved figures regarding breastfeeding and anemia, two important indicators of women and children’s health. The number of breastfed babies among WIC participants increased from approximately 32 percent in 1993 to nearly 48 percent a decade later. The number of anemic children aged 3 to 5 participating in WIC decreased from 26 percent in 1993 to 16 percent in 2003. Improved nutrition provided through the program is credited with this decline. The WIC program “gives our most vulnerable children the best possible start by providing good nutrition during the critical stages of fetal and childhood development,” Fuller said.

http://memphisdemocrat.com/2006/news/060601_wic.shtml

10. Florida: Polk County WIC Program Educates Clients About Healthy Portion Size

(“Nutrition Is Focus of WIC Program,” theledger.com, June 22, 2006)

The Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program in Polk County, Fl., has started a public outreach campaign called “Be Wise About Your Portion Size.” The campaign aims to alert WIC clients about their calorie intake. One of the most important messages is how portions have increased without people being aware of their increased caloric value. Nutrition education, counseling, bulletin boards and newsletters will be used, said Susan Kistler, the Polk County Health Department’s nutrition director. Campaign materials include U.S. Department of Agriculture recommendations from the MyPyramid food guidance system.

http://tinyurl.com/j4bep

11. New Hampshire Governor Accepts Welfare Bill to Meet Federal Rules

(“Lynch Lets Welfare Reform Become Law,” concordmonitor.com, June 24, 2006)

New Hampshire Gov. Lynch allowed a welfare bill to become law without his signature, but also issued an executive order to increase child care, transportation, education and other support services not in the bill. “We need to move forward with some of the changes in this bill in order to meet new federal requirements,” explained the governor. “I strongly believe in work and moving people toward self-sufficiency, and this legislation falls short in meeting those goals.” Previously, pregnant women and mothers of children under age 2 had been exempt from work requirements, now healthy pregnant women and mothers of babies over 1 year old will have to work. The law also cuts down the time given to welfare clients to get education or deal with mental problems, substance abuse and other issues that prevent them from holding a job. Critics say the new rules are too harsh.

http://tinyurl.com/hmupb

12. Ohio: Cleveland Leaders Discuss Ways to Reduce Concentrated Poverty

(“Ignoring Poverty Won’t Solve It,” cleveland.com, June 25, 2006)

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Ohio, brought together bankers, scholars, community groups and policymakers for a two-day discussion about what could be done to break the cycle of concentrated poverty in Cleveland. Communities with concentrated poverty exhibit a whole range of poverty-associated problems such as unemployment, crime, drug abuse, breakdown of the family, poor school performance, and elevated health risks, and this maze of problems is harder to escape, explained Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson. Such communities become isolated as people of all races and classes avoid them. Wilson called for smaller classes and better teachers, for a higher minimum wage and larger earned-income tax credits, for reinvestment in vacant and abandoned urban properties, and for job programs for young men.

http://tinyurl.com/hyyk2

13. Op-Ed: Milwaukee Anti-Poverty Committee Aims at “Bold Action” in Tackling Poverty

(“It’s Time to Get Serious About Reducing Poverty in Milwaukee,” jsonline.com, June 24, 2006)

From 1970 to 2004, the percent of Milwaukeeans living below the poverty line rose from 11 percent to 26 percent, even though during the 1990s, the poverty rate fell slightly from 22 percent in 1990 census to 21 percent in 2000. “We need to figure out what we did right during the 1990s, then do it again and do it better” in order to first reduce and then eliminate poverty, write David Riemer, director of the Wisconsin Health Project, and Deborah Blanks, CEO of the Social Development Commission, in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Too many children, families and individuals in Milwaukee are living in poverty. And many who may not be classified as living in poverty by federal guidelines are still living without sufficient resources to meet their basic needs.” At the initiative of Mayor Tom Barrett, a group of local leaders from education, social services, labor and business fields will serve on an Anti-Poverty Committee. The two authors are co-chairs. The committee’s goal is to “figure out the problem, figure out the solution and take bold action.” The group will start with a forum of experts and continue with listening sessions around the city. Several directions seem clear: finding jobs for poor and unemployed people, and strengthening the system of work supports and access to health insurance.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=440213

14. Missouri State Agencies Help Local School Districts Develop School Wellness Policies

(“Joint Missouri Effort to Promote Student Wellness,” infozine.com, June 27, 2006)

Missouri agencies are working with local school districts on developing and implementing policies to promote better nutrition, fitness and health among the state’s schoolchildren, announced Gov. Matt Blunt. “The wellness choices our students make today will impact their health and quality of life well into the future,” Blunt said. “This collaborative effort to improve students’ health utilizes our agencies’ expertise to best provide resources for our local districts and students.” The collaboration is funded by a $64,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). The Department of Health and Senior Services and the University of Missouri Extension are working with DESE to initiate the project with six regional workshops for local school officials. As part of the project, 10 school districts will be chosen to receive $5,000 mini-grants to implement model wellness policies. Federal law requires all school districts to have a formal wellness policy with a focus on healthy nutrition and fitness beginning the next school year.

http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/15990/

15. Missouri: State Workshops Give Schools Direction and Ideas for Creating Wellness Policies

(“Healthy Eating Is Promoted,” news.mywebpal.com, June 28, 2006)

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) conducted a school wellness policy training in Sikeston that brought together 45 officials, including teachers, administrators, school nurses and school food service workers, from Southeast Missouri to learn how to promote healthier eating and increased physical activity in their schools. The state’s Department of Health and Senior Services and the University of Missouri Extension are collaborating with DESE to provide six regional workshops on students’ wellness for local schools. State agencies are helping school districts to get ready for the next school year when the districts will have to comply with federal law requiring schools to have wellness policies. Participants in Sikeston discussed what the law requires, Eat Smart Guidelines and funding wellness initiatives. “This is really wellness policy 101,” said Mickey Belosi, DESE supervisor. School officials “look for some new direction and this gives them ideas about it.”

http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/865/public/news729191.html

16. Montana: Missoula County Schools Have Stronger Nutrition Policy Standards Than State’s Average

(“Volunteers Look to Make School Food Healthier,” missoulian.com, June 23, 2006)

Missoula County ( Mont.) Public Schools are in the process of developing federally mandated wellness policies and are using input from groups of volunteers who participate in meetings of the Nutrition, Physical Activities and Environmental Health subcommittees. The discussions about how to improve students’ health were further stimulated by the findings of the “School Foods Report Card” by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Montana and 22 other states were given an “F” in this report. If the evaluation were performed at the school district level, however, Missoula schools would have scored higher than the state. In Montana, “school food services are controlled at the local school district level, not the state level.” The district has “existing rules for beverage sales, limits on sales at different grade levels, limits on the locations of vending machines and other sales points, and nutrition standards for food sold.” “The kids know this stuff,” said Meadow Hill Middle School nurse Bonnie Arno. “They talk about eating their vegetables, exercising, drinking water. But I don’t know if they internalize it.” The Health and Wellness advisory committee is expected to further improve the nutrition policy standards based on up-to-date research.

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/06/23/news/local/news03.txt

Also see http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/school_foods_report_card.pdf (“School Foods Report Card”)

17. Wisconsin: Oshkosh School District Initiates Breakfast Programs

(“Board to Consider New Breakfast Programs,” thenorthwestern.com, June 26, 2006)

The Oshkosh (Wis.) school board is planning to start a universal free breakfast program at two elementary schools and a regular breakfast program at Oshkosh North High School next year through a possible $47,000 Herbert Kohl School Breakfast Program Start-up Grant. The programs at Merrill and Washington will provide a free breakfast of milk, cereal and other foods to all students, regardless of family income, who will eat in their classrooms. “That puts breakfast in the face of all these children,” said Peggy West, director of food service in the Oshkosh school district. The research indicates “that you get better academic performance if you eat breakfast,” she explained.

http://tinyurl.com/gud86

18. Texas: Houston School District Unveils Plan to Serve Free Breakfast to All Students

(“HISD Proposes Opening Breakfast Program to All,” chron.com, June 23, 2006)

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) unveiled a plan that could offer free breakfast to all of its 208,000 students. It’s a worthwhile effort to make sure children don’t start the school day on an empty stomach, said HISD Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra. “Young children who eat a good breakfast perform better academically. We need to do whatever it takes to make children better learners,” Saavedra said. By implementing the program, Houston would join Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio, in offering a free breakfast to all students, regardless of their family income. “The school meal program is a successful education reform,” said Celia Hagert of the Center for Public Policy Priorities. “It leads to higher test scores, kids being able to concentrate more, fewer behavior problems.” More than 82 percent of HISD students, or 172,675 children, qualified for either free or reduced-price meals in the school year 2004-05, but only about 53,000 students a day ate free breakfast. San Antonio, South San Antonio and North Forest are among the high-poverty districts in Texas that use a federal provision that waives certain paperwork requirements if schools offer both free breakfast and lunch to all students.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3994766.html

19. Ohio: USDA Official Promotes Children’s Food Programs

(“Federal Official Gets First-Hand Look at Summer Food Program in Dayton,” daytondailynews.com, June 28, 2006)

Stanley Garnett, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Child Nutrition Division, visited child care provider Cynthia Ladd in Dayton, Ohio, while six children in Ladd’s care were scooping up a breakfast of Cheerios and blueberries at her home. In Ladd’s seven day a week child care home, Garnett is the man that helps put nutritious food on the table. USDA has a year-round nutrition program that reimburses child care providers for meals served to the children. The USDA official also came to Ohio to promote the Summer Food Service Program that allows low-income children to get free, healthy meals in the summer. “Many kids lose that ‘safety net’ [of subsidized school meals during the school year] that they have come to depend on,” said Jennifer Steiner, spokeswoman for the Children’s Hunger Alliance, an organization that works closely with the various sites offering USDA food programs. Dianne Radigan of the Alliance pointed out that during the 2004-05 school year, 25,015 kids in Montgomery County, where Dayton is located, received free or reduced-price school lunches, but last July, only 4,492 local children ate summer meals.

http://tinyurl.com/fcb6t

20. Ohio: Summer Food Participation Is Still Too Low

(“Summer Break From Meals Too,” cleveland.com, June 28, 2006)

During the school year, the majority of the half-million Ohio children at risk of hunger receive free or reduced-price lunch and breakfast at school each day, but in the summer, only about 10 percent of children eligible for subsidized meals (fewer than 50,000 students) get nutritious meals. In contrast to Ohio, nationwide, about 19 percent of children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals participate in summer nutrition programs, according to a 2005 study by the Food Research and Action Center. Ohio has made some progress over the past two years, but the state’s summer food participation is still low. “There are absolutely children going hungry because of this,” said Dianne Radigan of the Children’s Hunger Alliance. If Ohio could figure out a way to get eligible children to the summer meal tables, the state could receive nearly $37 million in additional federal dollars.

http://tinyurl.com/hsda5

21. Michigan Lags in Number of Summer Meal Sites and Parent Awareness About Their Existence

(“Detroit Goal: Feed More Kids During Summer Break,” freep.com, June 28, 2006)

Thanks to the Summer Food Service Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), hundreds of thousands of Michigan children under 18 can receive a free lunch, consisting of vegetables, fruit, meat and milk, on summer weekdays. Still, only 20 percent of needy children are receiving the free meals, because their parents do not know about the program, or because there are not enough sponsors to open meal sites in their area. Sandra Slayton, deputy regional administrator for the USDA in Chicago, visited Detroit last week to promote the summer meal program and encourage sponsorship. In Michigan, an estimated 433,476 low-income children may be at risk of hunger or poor nutrition when they stop receiving subsidized school meals in the summer. USDA reports that only 50,598 children took advantage of free summer meals served throughout the state last year.

http://tinyurl.com/hwymy

22. Wisconsin: Milwaukee Summer Meal Program Adds Dinner at Nine Sites

(“Meal Program to Expand,” jsonline.com, June 22, 2006)

Milwaukee’s free summer meal program for children has added dinner at nine more sites. A pilot program that last summer added dinners to the meals served each day produced such a great demand that federal officials want to expand the program, said Sherrie Tussler of the Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee, one of the sponsors of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Summer Food Service Program. In 2005 the summer program served 40 percent more meals than in 2004. “It really shows the level of need,” Tussler said. “Far too many children we talked to last summer claimed that the meals we served were the only meals they would eat all day.” An estimated 41 percent of Milwaukee children live in poverty. The 2006 summer meal program also will run a few weeks longer, through August 25, supported by a $125,000 grant from the Harley-Davidson Foundation. “This unique program has reduced summer hunger and given Milwaukee’s poorest children the nutrition they need to have positive, productive summers,” said Mary Anne Martiny, foundation manager.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=439893

23. Ohio: Toledo Farmers’ Market Opens Doors to Food Stamp Shoppers

(“Toledo Farmers’ Market Will Accept Food Stamps,” toledoblade.com, June 27, 2006)

The Toledo ( Ohio) Farmers’ Market will be accepting food stamps on Saturdays, providing low-income residents with low-cost, locally grown, healthy food. The market will scan Ohio Direction Cards of food stamp recipients and provide them $3 scrips that can be used to purchase food at the market. Shoppers can return unused scrips and have the value replaced on their cards. The machine that processes the cards will be provided by the federal government for free. If the pilot program proves successful, food stamps might be used at other farmers’ markets across the state, said Tina Skeldon Wozniak, president of the Lucas County Board of Commissioners.

http://tinyurl.com/z85zo

24. California First Lady Plans to Promote Food Stamp Use at Farmers’ Market

(“First Lady Maria Shriver to Make Appearance at Watsonville Market,” santacruzsentinel.com, June 23, 2006)

California’s first lady Maria Shriver is scheduled to visit the Watsonville ( Calif.) Certified Farmers Market on July 14. Shriver’s appearance is part of California Connect, a new statewide campaign to help California families gain more access to government assistance programs that aren’t used enough, said Sabrina Lockhart, a spokeswoman for the Governor’s Office. For example, the campaign urges 750,000 California residents to claim nearly $1 billion in uncollected tax refunds. In Watsonville, Shriver will promote the health benefits of fresh produce and encourage more people to use their food stamps at California farmers’ markets. New machines that accept food stamp EBT cards will be at farmers’ markets.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/June/23/local/stories/03local.htm