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. Food Stamp Participation in August Was Up by 362,000 People Over Month
2. American Incomes Decline Despite President’s Tax Cuts Intended to Make Things Better
3. Retiring Baby Boomers Could Crush Current Social Benefit Systems
4. Editorial: Public Colleges Overlook Low-Income Students, Serving as “Engines of Inequality”
5. Refund Anticipation Loans Can Hurt People Filing for Earned Income Tax Credit
6. New York City’s Welfare Chief Admits to Shortcomings in Social Services and Growing Need for Food Assistance
7. Wyoming Does Not Recognize Poverty and Hunger When It Sees Them, State Official Says
8. Vermont: Official Hunger Statistics Are No Surprise in Montpelier
9. New York: More New Yorkers Going to Bed Hungry
10. Vermont: Group Launches New Project to Fight Childhood Hunger in Washington County
11. New Jersey: Many Families Struggling to Put Food on Table
12. Maryland College Students Take Hunger Stress Test
13. Op-Ed – California: Nontraditional Food Stamp Office Hours and Alternative Application Sites Will Connect More Needy People with Food
14. Colorado Farmers’ Market Association Will Equip 30 Markets to Accept Food Stamp Cards
15. Illinois: Five Towns Will Test Program That Expedites Food Stamp Access
16. Texas: New Agriculture Commissioner Might Revise School Lunchroom Rules
17. Kansas: Salina School District Strives to Offer Breakfast to More Students
18. Colorado Laws Targeting Undocumented Immigrants Add More Barriers to Program Participation
19. Missouri: Columbia School Helps Poverty-Stricken Students to Prepare Them for Learning

1. Food Stamp Participation in August Was Up by 362,000 People Over Month

(“Food Stamp Participation in August Up Over Month; 362,000 More People Participated in August 2006 Than in August 2005, But Many Eligible People Missed,” frac.org, November 21, 2006)

In August 2006, more than 26 million participated in the Food Stamp Program, an increase of 136,800 people from the previous month. The overall caseload for August 2006 was 362,308 persons higher than the prior August and nearly 8.4 million persons higher than in August 2001. Nonetheless, the program still is missing nearly four in ten eligible people. The Food Stamp Program growth in recent years reflects continuing wage stagnation, state and local action to improve access to the program, and the effects of the implementation of the 2002 food stamp reauthorization. Participation has risen in 55 of the last 68 months, but in only three of the last eight months. Compared to a year earlier, participation in August 2005 rose in all but 12 states in August 2006.

http://www.frac.org/html/news/fsp/2006.8_FSP.html

2. American Incomes Decline Despite President’s Tax Cuts Intended to Make Things Better

(“’04 Income in U.S. Was Below 2000 Level,” nytimes.com, November 28, 2006)

Analysis of new IRS data by The New York Times found that despite significant gains in 2004, the total income Americans reported to the government, adjusted for inflation, was still below its peak in 2000. Since 2004 and until recent months, the income of the typical American household has grown at such a slow pace that it had barely kept ahead of inflation. The tax cuts, promoted by President Bush as the best way to stimulate economic growth, contributed to a big decline in individual income tax receipts, which fell at a rate 14 times that of the drop in incomes. According to an IRS report, in 2004 individual income tax receipts were 21.6 percent smaller than in 2000 and even smaller than they were in 1997. In 2004, the poorest 60 million Americans reported average incomes of less than $7 a day each. The official poverty line that same year was $27 a day for a single adult of working age and $42 a day for a household with one child. The bottom 60 percent of Americans made on average less than 95 cents in 2004 for each dollar they reported in 1979, the oldest year examined by the agency. “A third of the entire national increase in reported income went to the top 1 percent — and more than half of that went to the top tenth of 1 percent, whose average incomes soared so much that for each dollar, adjusted for inflation, that they had in 1979 they had $3.48 in 2004,” reports the newspaper.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/business/28tax.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

3. Retiring Baby Boomers Could Crush Current Social Benefit Systems

(“Web Sites Aim to Trim Benefits Process,” clarionledger.com, November 25, 2006)

Retiring baby boomers soon are expected to flood social benefit programs, increasing the demand for food stamps, housing assistance, Medicaid and other benefits. In response, city halls and state governments have been developing Web sites to allow people to apply for benefits online rather than make them wait long lines in the office. “If we don’t change those systems now we’re going to be hurting when the crush comes,” warned Paul Taylor of the Center for Digital Government. “Oftentimes, people need multiple programs that are most often administered by separate agencies, having different forms, different procedures you have to follow, different places you need to go,” said New York City Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs. New York City followed similar programs in Utah and Louisiana by starting ACCESS NYC, a system that allows people to use one Web site to determine their eligibility for 21 different programs. At least 30 other states are considering proposals to initiate similar projects.

http://tinyurl.com/yd39uw

4. Editorial: Public Colleges Overlook Low-Income Students, Serving as “Engines of Inequality”

(“Public Colleges as ‘Engines of Inequality,’” nytimes.com, November 23, 2006)

Now it’s time for Democrats to act on their promise to reduce the cost of college that has contributed to pricing millions of poor and working-class Americans out of higher education, writes this editorial in The New York Times. In addition to boosting the value of the federal Pell Grant program, “policy changes will also be required in the states, where public universities have been choking off college access and upward mobility for the poor by shifting away from the traditional need-based aid formula to a so-called merit formula that heavily favors affluent students,” argues the newspaper. An “eye-opening” report released by the Education Trust shows that even high-performing low-income students are much less likely to attend college than their high-income counterparts and are less likely to graduate if they do attend. In recent years, public flagship and research universities more than quadrupled aid to students whose families earn over $100,000 and, on average, awarded affluent students larger grants than those from low- or middle-income families. Colleges compete for “high-income, high-achieving students who would otherwise attend college elsewhere, while overlooking low-income students who are perfectly able to succeed at college but whose options are far more narrow.” These are ominous facts at a time when a college degree opens the door to the middle class, the newspaper writes. “Unless the country reverses this trend, upward mobility through public higher education will pretty much come to a halt.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/23/opinion/23thu3.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogi

Also see http://tinyurl.com/vleqs (“Fostering Inequality,” boston.com, November 26, 2006)

5. Refund Anticipation Loans Can Hurt People Filing for Earned Income Tax Credit

(“Group’s Take on ‘Holiday Loans’: Stay Away,” suntimes.com, November 26, 2006)

Two nationwide tax preparers have begun offering new loan products, backed by future tax returns. According to the Woodstock Institute, this kind of Refund Anticipation Loan can eat away hundreds of dollars from individual returns. “Tax preparers are moving into the payday loan business,” said Marva Williams of Woodstock. “We strongly urge consumers to stay away from these expensive loans this holiday season, just as they would avoid a payday loan.” The holiday loans are a variation of RAL, a short-term loan backed by a tax refund, with annual interest rates ranging from 40 percent to more than 700 percent. Woodstock Institute spokesman Tom Feltner said that RALs are mostly used by the working poor who claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Feltner said 54 percent of people claiming EITC in Chicago minority area communities took RALs, compared to only 17 percent of RALs users among those who didn’t claim it. “It’s another case of consumers going farther and farther out on a limb,” pointed out Mark McCarthy of DePaul University. “Anybody with any means won’t take advantage of this,” he said.

http://www.suntimes.com/business/currency/150476,CST-FIN-c-ral27.article

6. New York City ’s Welfare Chief Admits to Shortcomings in Social Services and Growing Need for Food Assistance

(“City’s Welfare Chief Concedes Need for Food Aid Is Growing,” select.nytimes.com, November 21, 2006)

Verna Eggleston, New York City’s top welfare official, offered a frank assessment of shortcomings in social services in her testimony before Councilman Bill de Blasio at a hearing discussing hunger in the city. She described offices with antiquated computers and caseworkers overwhelmed by paperwork and lacking adequate training. Eggleston also acknowledged that the need for food and nutrition assistance is growing, to the point that her own employees are resorting to food from charities between paychecks. Food insecurity in New York State rose 10.4 percent in 2003-2005 from 9.4 percent in 2000-2002, according to USDA. Eggleston said her agency, joined by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and Food Change, has begun accepting food stamps applications over the Internet. The agency will conduct a food stamp outreach campaign during the holiday season, including bus and subway advertising, brochure distribution and visits to large soup kitchens and pantries to help people with applications.

http://tinyurl.com/y6gdc8 (subscription or purchase required)

7. Wyoming Does Not Recognize Poverty and Hunger When It Sees Them, State Official Says

(“Wyo Hunger Grows Along with Economy,” jacksonholestartrib.com, November 26, 2006)

More than one in 10 Wyoming households had difficulty getting enough food last year, according to an annual report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “It reflects everything in the national economy between those who have and those who don’t, and Wyoming is a microcosm of that,” said Rodger McDaniel of the Wyoming Department of Family Services. Wyoming does not recognize poverty and hunger when it sees them, he said. The number of food insecure households has increased over the past decade even though the state’s economy has grown. Wyoming’s economy has improved, but it hasn’t improved equitably, McDaniel stressed. “Skyrocketing utility costs and fuel costs for transportation have put a huge pinch on low-income families. Still about one-third of the jobs in the state pay a wage that won’t lift a family out of poverty,” he observed. Wyoming ranks fifth in its workers having more than one job, and many of them report food insecurity. “People work multiple jobs and cannot make enough to put food on the table for children,” McDaniel said.

http://tinyurl.com/yxyyab

8. Vermont: Official Hunger Statistics Are No Surprise in Montpelier

(“Food, Conversation and Hope,” timesargus.com, November 27, 2006)

A lot of people who come to church soup kitchens in Montpelier, Vt., have jobs but are living close to the edge. “In Vermont, how many of us are a couple of paychecks from welfare anyway?” asks Rev. David Hall, rector of Christ Church. “What if your car breaks down or you have to buy tires or you have to buy school supplies or your kids need new boots and all of a sudden you don’t have money to make it?” Dr. Beth Ann Maier, a longtime volunteer at Christ Episcopal Church’s soup kitchen, says the number of people eating there has risen. “We’ve kept statistics and we definitely have seen increases. It was running around 45 people a week for several years, but it has bopped up around 60 as an average. It took quite a hike this year.” The recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report on food insecurity in America revealed that 9.5 percent of Vermont households fell into the category of “food insecure,” with 3.9 percent considered to have “very low food security” last year. Food insecure households are so limited in resources to buy food that they are running out of food, or reducing the quality of food their family eats, or feeding their children unbalanced diets, or skipping meals so at least children can eat, according to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC).

http://tinyurl.com/y4xb8w

9. New York: More New Yorkers Going to Bed Hungry

(“Report: One In Six New Yorkers Goes Hungry,” ny1.com, November 28, 2006)

More than 1.2 million New Yorkers, or one in six people, can’t afford adequate food, according to a survey released by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger (NYCCAH). The number of hungry people is growing despite the fact that the unemployment rate is falling and the economy is doing well. “There was an 11 percent rise in people going to pantries and kitchens over the last year,” said NYCCAH President Joel Berg. “New York State was the only state in the entire United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau where both poverty increased and income increased in 2005, making us the poster child for inequality,” said Berg. The coalition says wages are not keeping up with the city’s cost of living. It urges lawmakers to provide more funding for emergency food as well as to adjust tax policies to close the gap between the poor and the middle class.

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=64502

10. Vermont: Group Launches New Project to Fight Childhood Hunger in Washington County

(“Group Sets Goal to Trim Rise in Childhood Hunger,” timesargus.com, November 30, 2006)

The Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger met with experts and community leaders to mark the launch of a three-year project to develop a comprehensive program for eliminating childhood hunger in Washington County, Vt. The Community Hunger Assessment, Intervention and Resources (CHAIR) program created by the group and by Northfield Savings Bank, is designed to encourage greater use of federal and state food programs, coordinate the efforts of emergency food and other agencies with similar missions and increase nutrition training and education. Montpelier mayor Mary Hooper said one goal of the project is to call attention to the existence of hunger in central Vermont, despite the area’s prosperity. Hunger is a hidden problem that needs to come “out of the closet,” she said. In Washington County, about 7.6 percent of the population lives below the federal poverty level. For children under five, this figure is 11 percent. Only about 54 percent of the households eligible for food stamps participate in the program, according to CHAIR members. CHAIR will work to ensure that those who qualify for assistance programs are enrolled in them, and strive to reduce the number of Vermonters who need them as a broader goal. Project organizers hope their plan eventually can be adopted statewide.

http://tinyurl.com/yclngf

11. New Jersey: Many Families Struggling to Put Food on Table

(“More City Kids Living in Poverty,” nj.com, November 23, 2006)

One-third of the children, or 34 percent, in 10 of New Jersey’s poorest and biggest cities were living in poverty last year, compared with 12 percent of children statewide, according to the New Jersey City Kids Count, an annual report of child well-being by Annie E. Casey Foundation. The poorest city, Camden, had a child poverty rate of 58 percent and a median family income of $16,547. “A lot of families in this state can’t afford to put a turkey on the table,” said Nancy Parello, the Kids Count coordinator for the Association for Children of New Jersey. The children’s poverty rate in New Jersey increased 5 percent from 1999, when 29 percent of the urban children were in poverty. Over the same period, the median income of families with children in the 10 biggest and poorest cities decreased slightly, to $30,110, while the median income among families throughout the state rose by more than $10,000 to $76,120 in 2005. Parello said expansion of the earned income tax credit would help these families recoup up to 10 percent or more of their incomes.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1164260442312610.xml&coll=1

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

12. Maryland College Students Take Hunger Stress Test

(“Hunger for Knowledge,” hometownannapolis.com, November 26, 2006)

Adrianne Saba was among Anne Arundel (Md.) Community College students who participated in a Hunger Stress Test organized as part of the college’s Hunger Awareness Week. Test participants had to live on $5 a day or $35 for an entire week, the maximum amount of money one person would receive under the Food Stamp Program in Maryland. Saba, who subsisted on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cheap pasta and bread, said she was “tired all the time.” The experience made her daydream about her favorite foods and empathize with what people on food stamps have to do to survive. “I was definitely hungry,” said another student, Patrick Kane. “Towards the last three days, I could feel it in my body. My face was drawn,” he added. “I’m tickled to death the (college is) looking into it,” said Bruce Michalec of the Anne Arundel County Food and Resource Bank about the test. “People need to have this awareness.” It’s often hard for students to understand why people can’t overcome a crisis, explained Associate Professor of Human Services Beth Potter, who organized the project. If people don’t know where their next meal is coming from, it’s difficult to deal with other issues, she said.

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2006/11_26-16/LIF

13. Op-Ed – California: Nontraditional Food Stamp Office Hours and Alternative Application Sites Will Connect More Needy People with Food

(“Put Food Stamps on the Table,” contracostatimes.com, November 25, 2006)

Californians “have a responsibility to insist that the government improve program access and increase participation in the federal food stamp program,” writes Berkeley (Calif.) resident Barbara Williams in the Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek, Calif. The state is plagued by food insecurity and hunger, ranking last in the nation in food stamp participation, according to a recent report by USDA. “This clearly sends a strong message that we are not effectively reaching those in need,” argues Williams. Research shows that the time-consuming application process and re-certification requirements are major barriers to food stamp use. “Lack of knowledge about the program, expected low benefits, stigma, confusion about changing eligibility rules, and limited English language skills also limit food stamp usage,” Williams says. “The working poor may be at a particular disadvantage as it may be difficult for them to access the food stamp office during business hours.” Williams suggests offering nontraditional food stamp office hours and alternative application sites such as food banks that clients frequent. “Linking food stamps with health outreach and programs such as Medi-Cal also needs to be actively considered,” she points out.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/opinion/16095928.htm

14. Colorado Farmers’ Market Association Will Equip 30 Markets to Accept Food Stamp Cards

(“Grant Could Assist Farmers, Food-Stamp Recipients,” rockymountainnews.com, November 22, 2006)

The Colorado Farmers’ Market Association has received a $57,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to bring wireless EBT technology to 30 of the state’s farmers’ markets next year. Food stamp recipients who use EBT cards to shop for food will be able to use them at the markets equipped with the technology. There will be one card processing machine for the market and a token or scrip that vendors could redeem for cash. Food stamp customers will get access to healthy, homegrown and affordable food choices, said Sally Haines of the association. A similar program in Iowa started last year resulted in a sales increase between 10 percent and 15 percent for 10 participating farmers, and the number of participants has grown to 93 farmers this year, according to Jan Walters of the Iowa Farmers Market Project. Haines said the association has gotten interest from Colorado’s small towns and big cities alike.

http://tinyurl.com/yxwyca

15. Illinois: Five Towns Will Test Program That Expedites Food Stamp Access

(“When Hunger Can’t Wait,” chicagotribune.com, November 22, 2006)

A two-year pilot program, dubbed Express Stamps and launched in Illinois, aims at streamlining the application process for the Food Stamp Program and making it easier and more accessible to more low-income families. The program expedites the process of applying for food aid by allowing people to sign up for food stamps at local food pantries via the Internet and letting them make purchases within a few days, said officials of the Faith Food Pantry in Zion, one of five towns chosen to test the program. The program is a collaboration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the state Department of Human Services, America’s Second Harvest and the Northern Illinois Food Bank. On average in Illinois, it takes two visits and five hours to complete the application, which can include a 12-page form, said Doug O’Brien of America’s Second Harvest, and up to 30 days might pass before customers can access the money in their accounts. With Express Stamps, successful applicants are supposed to get a code in the mail within two or three days to activate the [food stamp] card by phone, explained Ollice Holden of USDA.

16. Texas: New Agriculture Commissioner Might Revise School Lunchroom Rules

(“New Lunchroom Standards to Receive a Second Look Under Incoming Official,” chron.com, November 21, 2006)

With changes approved by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, the state is set to phase in increasingly strict school lunchroom rules over the next four years. The rules include a ban on sports drinks in elementary schools next year, eliminating deep frying in all schools by 2009 and banning sodas in high schools that same year. However, Combs successor, Sen. Todd Staples, wants to add more emphasis on nutrition education in the classroom and to review the school food plan that some consider too strict. In 2005, the state charged 40 schools nearly $50,000 for violations including treating students to lollipops during a class presentation and serving french fries too often. While those violations were mostly accidental, said state Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Beverly Boyd, next year the agency plans to increase fines for “flagrant violations.” Some districts are opting out of the lunchroom rules entirely, forgoing government reimbursement for the right to make their own decisions about which food to serve at schools. Roger D. Hanagriff, a Sam Houston State University professor, believes that the state’s plan is making students healthier. His research demonstrates a dramatic drop in calories and fat in school meals.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4350371.html

17. Kansas: Salina School District Strives to Offer Breakfast to More Students

(“Rise and Shine,” saljournal.com, November 26, 2006)

The Salina (Kan.) School District served 900,164 lunches, but just 225,790 breakfasts in the past school year. Even among students who qualify for free meals, fewer than half as many students eat school breakfast as lunch. “We want breakfast to be there for the working parent, or the busy parent,” said Cindy Foley, the director of food and nutrition services. While for some students and parents, having breakfast at school is a matter of convenience, for others, it’s clearly more than a matter of time, said Cottonwood Principal Jerry Baxa. “Mondays, we have a lot longer lines for breakfast. Kids are coming back after a weekend, and sometimes there’s not much to eat at home,” Baxa said. Foley pointed to numerous hurdles to serving school breakfasts. Breakfast is usually served before school and children have to arrive earlier, but bus schedules are planned to get them to school right before the bell. Districts around the country, Foley said, are experimenting with alternatives, such as serving breakfast in class, having a breakfast break about an hour into the school day, or even passing out breakfasts on school buses.

http://www.saljournal.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=8856&format=html

18. Colorado Laws Targeting Undocumented Immigrants Add More Barriers to Program Participation

(“Agencies, Businesses Share Confusion Over Colorado’s Immigration Laws,” longmontfyi.com, November 24, 2006)

Social service providers and nonprofit leaders in Colorado are confused by the new state laws that make it more difficult for undocumented immigrants to receive public benefits. Since August, county officials have been receiving state memos contradicting previous instructions on how to interpret the laws. One law, HB1023, prohibits state, county and city agencies as well as nonprofits from providing public benefits to undocumented residents older than 17 years. Exempt services include emergency healthcare, immunization, K-12 education, soup kitchens, short-term shelter and prenatal care. Boulder County funds more than 100 area nonprofits and hires numerous contractors. The employees of those organizations and many of the clients will soon be required to prove their legal status. Meanwhile, the state already has changed the documentation requirements four times, said attorney H. Lawrence Hoyt. A Colorado driver’s license or state ID card currently qualifies a recipient for benefits, while a U.S. passport and U.S. birth certificate do not, Hoyt said. According to Paula McKee, director of Boulder County Social Services, document requirements for food stamps, Medicaid and other assistance vary so greatly and change so quickly, she doesn’t even want to list them publicly, afraid of deterring people from applying. “My biggest concern is for people who are lawfully present but face more bureaucracy and an increased number of barriers,” said McKee.

http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=11363

19. Missouri: Columbia School Helps Poverty-Stricken Students to Prepare Them for Learning

(“A School’s Struggle,” columbiamissourian.com, November 29, 2006)

At lunchtime at Field Elementary School in Columbia, Mo., students don’t fight and don’t even raise their voices above a whisper, but sit down and eat. “When I first came here, it was a disaster. I hated to come into this lunchroom,” said Willie Mae Hall, who supervises the lunch hour. At Field, 79 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. One in five students is learning English as the second language. Last year only half the students who began the school year at Field finished it. The school is on a list of “schools needing improvement” under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, making its officials work extra hard to improve test scores and also help students struggling with poverty-related issues. The school offers free breakfast every morning, and the district picks up students from homeless families whenever it’s possible. Hall keeps a stack of shoes, coats and other basic necessities for students who appear to need them and fills many backpacks with peanut butter crackers, fruit snacks, cookies and soap before every weekend. “I can see the change. I don’t care what that MAP score says,” Hall said. “It’s not just about teaching anymore,” explained Assistant Principal Troy Hogg. “There’s a lot more to education.”

http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=23077