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.

Issue 28, July 18, 2005

1. Breakfast Skipping by Teens Has Reached 30 Percent
2. Editorial: Don’t Cut Meals for the Poor in Order to Protect Farm Subsidies
3. Saxophone Salad and Cool Carrot Sticks: Celebrate School Lunch Week in October
4. Repealing the Estate Tax Would Affect Only a Few Wealthy Farmers and Burden the Rest
5. One in Four Women Delay or Forgo Medical Care
6. Millions of Hispanics Nearing a Penniless Retirement
7. Appalachia: Fended off Poverty, Far from Prosperity
8. California: Eligible Counties to Get “ABAWD waiver”
9. Michigan: Demand for Summer Lunch is High, Supply Low
10. Texas: Summer Meals Program Underused
11. Washington: Mayor’s Commission on Food and Nutrition Established
12. Kansas: WIC Rejuvenation Expected to Bring Community Positive Outcomes
13. Massachusetts: Mothers of One Year Olds and Disabled Persons Would Work to Receive Welfare

1. Breakfast Skipping by Teens Has Reached 30 Percent

(“Breakfast Habits, Nutritional Status, Body Weight, and Academic Performance in Children and Adolescents,” review by the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, May 2005)

This is an analysis of forty-seven studies focused on breakfast consumption by children and adolescents. Skipping this important meal is highly widespread in the United States. In 1991, eight percent were breakfast skippers in the age group of one to seven years olds; 12 percent in the age group of eight to ten; 20 percent among children 11-14; and 30 percent of teenagers 15-18. Breakfast consumption had dropped in all age groups since 1965. Not eating breakfast is more common among girls, children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, older children, and some minority groups. Research data indicate that breakfast skipping is associated with lifestyle factors (smoking, infrequent exercise, dieting, and concerns about body weight) and might be detrimental to health. Evidence suggests that children who regularly eat breakfast may improve cognitive functions related to memory, test grades, and school attendance.

http://tinyurl.com/dkocn

2. Editorial: Don’t Cut Meals for the Poor in Order to Protect Farm Subsidies

(“Editorial: Slicing the Pie/Don’t Sacrifice Food Stamps,” startribune.com, July 10, 2005)

Members of Congress from Minnesota should resist efforts to cut food stamp subsidies in disproportionately bigger amounts than the subsidies for farmers. Since last winter, when President Bush asked Congress to find $9 billion in long-term savings from federal farm and nutrition programs, the total target for cuts has shrunk to $3 billion. Farm lobbyists have made every effort to shift the remaining cuts away from crop subsidies and onto food assistance programs. Their new plan to trim farm subsidies would result in cuts about one-sixth of what the White House requested, while cuts in food stamps would be almost three times bigger. The acceptance of this plan would affect millions of families that depend more than ever on food assistance. While national poverty rates are climbing, adding at least 8 million people to the food stamp rolls in the wake of the 2001 recession, net farm income reached all-time highs in 2003 and 2004, and farm earnings this year are expected to be the second highest on record. In addition, the 2002 farm bill provided $80 billion in new agriculture spending over the next decade, whereas nutrition programs got less than 10 percent of this money. Farmers, with average household earnings above the national median, are not more deserving than families living at the poverty line who average $1/person per meal in food stamps.

http://www.startribune.com/dynamic/story.php?template=print_a&story=5497626

3. Saxophone Salad and Cool Carrot Sticks: Celebrate School Lunch Week in October

(“Music to Your Mouth: National School Lunch Week is October 10-14, 2005,” School Nutrition Association website, July 11, 2005)

School nutrition professionals are planning to celebrate National School Lunch Week October 10-14 in their effort to promote school lunch. The musical theme of this year’s event (“School Lunch: It’s Instrumental!”) is expected to grab students’ attention and help raise awareness of the important role of school nutrition programs for generations of young Americans learning, playing, and being active. The website, www.schoolnutrition.org/nslw, provides resources for National School Lunch Week enthusiasts, including menus and recipes, promotional toolkits, and templates for crafting press releases, public service announcements, and fact sheets.

http://www.asfsa.org/Index.aspx?id=1330

4. Repealing the Estate Tax Would Affect Only a Few Wealthy Farmers and Burden the Rest

(“Few Wealthy Farmers Owe Estate Taxes, Report Says,” The New York Times, July 10, 2005)

A new Congressional Budget Office study denies that there are grounds for the commonly held belief that the estate tax harms family farming. In fact, the estate tax threatens only a tiny minority of even the largest farms. In 2000, when the threshold for estate taxes was $675,000, 1,659 farm estates owed taxes. In 2006, when the threshold rises to $2 million per person, only an estimated 123 farms will pay the estate tax. Finally, in 2009, with the threshold at $3.5 million, 65 of the nation’s 2.2 million farms will be affected. Moreover, almost all of the few remaining farms subject to the tax are in estates with liquid assets sufficient to pay the tax, so farms would not have to be sold. A professor at Iowa State University said the estate tax as a threat to family farms is “a myth that has been well spun.” If Congress repealed the estate tax, only the wealthiest minority of farmers would be relieved from the estate tax burden, and the rest of farmers – and non-farmers – would pay larger tax bills in the future.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/10/politics/10tax.html? (cost is $3.95)

5. One in Four Women Delay or Forgo Medical Care

(“Women and Health Care: A National Profile,” Kaiser Family Foundation, July 2005)

More than one in four non-elderly women delay or forgo medical care due to costs, this national survey found. Among women with private health care coverage, nearly one in five (17 percent) delayed or went without care. Two-thirds of uninsured women (67 percent) reported the same. Twenty percent of women ages 18 and older said that they had not filled a prescription in the past 12 months because of the cost. Women are more likely than men to report difficulties affording medications. In addition, only 55 percent of all women discussed such important health care issues as diet, exercise, and nutrition with a health care professional in the past three years.

http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/whp070705pkg.cfm

6. Millions of Hispanics Nearing a Penniless Retirement

(“Hispanics’ Retirement Savings Lag, Study Shows," elpasotimes.com, July 14, 2005)

Hispanics lag behind other Americans saving for retirement. More than half of Hispanic households with members aged 55 to 59 do not have any savings at all, a study by the Pew Charitable Trust’s Retirement Security Project and the National Council of La Raza discovered. Only one in two Hispanics has a checking or savings account. Forty-three percent of Hispanic workers described their knowledge about investing or saving for old age as “knowing nothing,” compared to 12 percent for all workers. Hispanic Americans are nearing retirement faster than any other population group. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that the number of Hispanics 65 years or older will increase from 1.7 in 2000 to 15.2 million in the year 2050. The study’s recommendations include allowing companies to automatically enroll new employees in 401(k) accounts and letting recipients of public benefits such as food stamps and Medicaid have more money in retirement savings and still qualify for the benefits.

http://tinyurl.com/c2mbd

7. Appalachia: Fended off Poverty, Far from Prosperity

(“ Appalachia Then and Now,” courier-journal.com, July 10, 2005)

For the last 41 years, Appalachia has cut poverty among its population of 23 million by half and increased high school graduation rates by 70 percent. In 1965, there were 223 “distressed” counties whose number has been reduced to 82. Forty years and billions of dollars in public and private investments have made the difference. But unemployment, the absence of roads, and inadequate water and sewer connections have remained the largest factors limiting the region’s ability to grow. The migration from the area of high school graduates in search of better jobs is also a challenge that undermines Appalachia’s prospects for future prosperity.

http://tinyurl.com/aszco

8. California: Eligible Counties to Get “ABAWD waiver”

(“After 8 Years – A Food Stamp ABAWD Victory!” California Food Policy Advocates, July 14, 2005)

The 1996 federal welfare bill placed strict time limits (three months in three years) on benefits to ABAWDs (able-bodied adults aged 18-50 without dependents). However, states can get waivers for areas of high unemployment. For many years (with the exception of a short period during the citrus freeze in 1997), the state of California refused to use an “ABAWD waiver” to help ABAWDs get assistance. ABAWD participation plummeted. The persistence of nutrition advocates in California paid off when the state legislature passed SB 68 that automatically requires the state to seek a waiver for eligible counties to the extent permitted by federal law. This measure will provide food stamps to tens of thousands of low-income Californians each year.

http://www.cfpa.net/abawdvictory.htm

9. Michigan: Demand for Summer Lunch is High, Supply Low

(“Lunch Doesn’t Fill Hunger Gap,” The Detroit News, July 10, 2005)

The state’s summer lunch program began after the academic school year finished, but only nine percent of the 422,000 eligible children are getting free meals. The lack of awareness and a paucity of sponsors willing to offer lunch sites are among the causes. As a result, many children that might have benefited from summer food programs go hungry. According to a recent report by the Food Research and Action Center, the participation rate of children in Michigan fell 10 percent between the summers of 2003 and 2004. Michigan’s performance is among the ten bottom states. State officials are trying to catch up by launching communication efforts to attract more children to the summer lunch program, to educate parents, to partner with local nonprofits, and to make it easier for sponsors to get involved.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0507/10/A17-242167.htm

10. Texas: Summer Meals Program Underused

(“Students Missing Out on Meal Programs,” The Dallas Morning News, July 14, 2005)

Between 2000 and 2004, the number of Texan children participating in summer meal programs increased by 5.9 percent, as data from the Food Research and Action Center show. The summer food program is important: Tillie Burgin, director of Mission Arlington, remembers youth searching for food in trash bins before the program was offered. However, in 2004, still only 198,365 (8.2 percent) of the more than 2.4 million low-income children received summer food. Lack of transportation and limited summer school and program schedules are among the problems. To illustrate the latter point, North Texas sites offered meals at 2,156 sites as of late May. By June 30 that number dropped to 1,661. By July 31, only 616 sites will be operating, said Celia Hagert, a senior policy analyst from the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin. The need in summer is great, Hagert said: food stamp enrolment increases and more people come to local food pantries in the summer.

http://tinyurl.com/bt9nk

11. Washington: Mayor’s Commission on Food and Nutrition Established

(“Mayor Launches Commission on Food and Nutrition,” press-release by District of Columbia State Education Office, July 12, 2005)

Twenty-one members of the newly established Mayor’s Commission on Food and Nutrition will advise the Mayor and the Council of the District of Columbia on the policy, nature and extent of food and nutrition programs in the District. The commission will handle issues concerning food served in public, charter, and private schools, and shelters, as well as food assistance for seniors. The commission panel will also explore new ways to encourage healthy eating. ”While DC has made great strides in combating hunger, the advent of the Mayor’s Commission of Food and Nutrition will bring a more structured, collaborative approach to food and nutrition programs in the District,” acting State Education Officer Deborah Gist said. Rober Egger, Executive Director of D.C. Central Kitchen will chair the commission; Kimberly Perry, Director of D.C. Hunger Solutions will serve as the Vice-Chair.

http://www.frac.org/pdf/dc_commission.pdf

12. Kansas: WIC Rejuvenation Expected to Bring Community Positive Outcomes

(“Local SCCC Medical Graduate Takes Over County’s WIC Program,” Southwest Daily Times, July 11, 2005)

Tiffani Pothuisje, recently hired as the director of the Seward County Health Department’s WIC program, is convinced that the program makes a difference in the lives of the 480 recipients of WIC benefits in her county. “I’d like to thank the county commissioners for . . . voting this program back in,” she said. The new director plans to increase the number of WIC clients to at least 1,200 and estimates that this figure could be as high as 2000 people. With WIC, the community has healthier babies, women are educated about health and nutrition, and health costs are lower, Ms. Pothuisje stated.

http://www.swdtimes.com/swdtimes/2005/071105/story1.html

13. Massachusetts: Mothers of One Year Olds and Disabled Persons Would Work to Receive Welfare

(“Call for Welfare Revamp: Romney Bill Would Raise Work Requirements,” Lowell Sun, July 9, 2005)

Governor Romney proposed a plan that would require mothers with children over age one (the current rule is over age two) and thousands of disabled people who do not qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to work in order to receive welfare benefits. The proposal also would institute a 5-year time limit on how long a person can receive welfare benefits. While the governor thinks that his plan would “help people get out of poverty,” Deborah Harris, a lawyer with the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute says that many will not be able to meet the plan’s requirements and “they and their children will lose their subsistence benefits and become destitute.” The removal of recipients’ ability to count education toward the work requirement also received strong criticism.

http://www.lowellsun.com/front/ci_2848474

For news tips, suggestions, comments, contact Olga Doty at odoty@frac.org

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