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. Oregon – Op-Ed: Food Stamp Cuts Hit Those Who Barely Manage to Get By
2. Op-Ed: Human Impact of Budget Cuts – It’s Enough to Make You Lose Your Appetite
3. Op-Ed: People Waited for Emergency Food Stamps with Dignity; Shoppers Did Not Do the Same
4. Louisiana: Emergency Food Stamps Boost Grocery Sales and Let Food Bank Stay Well-Stocked
5. Food Stamp Cuts Would “Backpedal” Success in Helping Working Poor
6. Editorial – California: Food Stamp Cuts “Ought to Be Killed”
7. USDA Announces RFP for $1 Million in Food Stamp Outreach Grants for Community and Faith-based Organizations
8. Congress’ Heat-or-Eat Dilemma Threatens Low-Income Maine Residents
9. Editorial: Congress Fails the Poor by not Providing Heating Aid
10. Editorial: Budget Reconciliation Negotiators Should Follow Senate Bill as to the Poor
11. Op-Ed: Tax Cuts Not Helping Economy for Average American
12. Editorial: Congress Should Not Cut Food Stamps
13. Editorial: Tax Cuts for Wealthy at Poor’s Expense Are “Shameful”
14. Op-Ed: Louisiana Poor Bear the Brunt of Efforts to “Starve the Beast” of Federal and Local Government
15. Necessary Acknowledgement of “Two Americas” Has Not Yet Come
16. Op-Ed: Iowans Struggle to Put Food on Table
17. Food Stamp Budget Turns out Insufficient When Policymakers Try to Live on It
18. New York: Letters to the Editor Urge Opposition to Food Stamp Cuts
19. Op-Ed – New Jersey: Fighting Poverty Is a Matter of Justice
20. Indiana Needs to Expand Anti-Hunger Programs, Study Finds
21. Op-Ed: Hunger is Growing in New York City
22. New York City's New Food Stamp Law Slow to Implement
23. Donations Down, But Need Still High for Northern Kentucky's Charities

1. Oregon – Op-Ed: Food Stamp Cuts Hit Those Who Barely Manage to Get By

(“Food Stamp Cuts,” oregonlive.com, November 27, 2005)

Linda Ridings became disabled because of an illness that ended her successful career as an accountant. She and her 6-year-old son, who has some developmental disabilities, survive on her Social Security disability, the Oregon Health Plan covering her son, food stamps, and free school lunches. The budget approved by the House of Representatives could take away this family’s food stamps, some of Linda’s son health care benefits and also affect her housing support, writes David Sarasohn in The Oregonian. The House's cuts “will have a disproportionate impact in Oregon,” according to Ellen Vollinger of the Food Research and Action Center. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) is among those concerned with this impact and is speaking out about his determination to stop the House bill. In addition to cutting benefits for legal immigrants, the House proposed cuts back on “categorical eligibility” that allows some people to receive food stamps due to their participation in other programs for the needy. “ Oregon is one of 11 states stressing the “categorical eligibility” strategy,” notes Sarasohn. “As a result, says the Oregon Food Bank, the cuts would eliminate 15,400 Oregon households, including 11,000 Oregon kids – such as Ridings’ 6-year-old.” Although Oregon made progress in fighting hunger, largely because it has signed up more people for food stamps, hunger is on the rise nationwide. “On food stamps, the impact is mostly on people just managing to keep their heads above the poverty line – and it seems a strange time to be making any nutrition cuts.”

http://tinyurl.com/8uyxe

2. Op-Ed: Human Impact of Budget Cuts – It’s Enough to Make You Lose Your Appetite

(“Trying to Pull a Fast One,” philly.com, November 29, 2005)

“Don't let your shopping frenzy or the holiday goodies you'll eat and drink in coming weeks distract you from the Scroogelike agenda that Congress is trying to implement. House leaders have tried to downplay the human impact of these budget cuts, but that's tough to do when you're taking away food, health-care and child-care supports from families struggling to make ends meet,” writes Kathy Fisher of Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth in the Philadelphia Daily News. The big cuts in the food stamp program would take food stamps away from more than 200,000 low-income people, primarily working families. Combined with Medicaid, child support enforcement, and child care programs, the affected families’ meager incomes would shrink even more with higher out-of-pocket health costs and with fewer child support dollars. Notwithstanding the human impact of the cuts, the House plans to reduce taxes for people with million dollar incomes who do not have to worry about putting food on the table or paying more for heating their homes. “Lost your appetite yet? . . . . The one thing we can be thankful for is that the House cuts are not yet law,” Fisher points out.

3. Op-Ed: People Waited for Emergency Food Stamps with Dignity; Shoppers Did Not Do the Same

(“Wilma Was a Wimp Compared to Black Friday,” miami.com, November 29, 2005)

In the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma, “ South Floridians waited long hours for gasoline, water, ice and emergency food stamps. . . . Dimly lit grocery stores, illuminated by emergency lights, sold hungry customers their remaining stock of nonperishable foods. . . . No one was trampled,” recalls Fred Grimm in his Miami Herald opinion piece. But then came “Black Friday” – the day after Thanksgiving sales. “The restraint we showed waiting for food, water, gas and ice vanished at the prospect of $48.88 Shuffles or $398 laptops or $77 four-megapixel digital cameras. If someone stands between us and bargains for electronic paraphernalia, then we trample.” A shopper who waited through the night at a Wal-Mart in west St. Petersburg for a chance to buy a $378 Hewlett-Packard laptop, was pinned against a glass door and terrified by the wild mob scene when the store opened. An off-duty security policeman in Beaumont, Texas doused frenzied Wal-Mart shoppers with pepper spray. Police in Elkton, Md., broke up a mob of rowdy Xbox shoppers. “Throughout the post-Wilma stress, we clung to a certain bottom-line code of civilized conduct. We refrained from Third World mob scenes. No one was trampled.”

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13279773.htm

4. Louisiana: Emergency Food Stamps Boost Grocery Sales and Let Food Bank Stay Well-Stocked

(“Houma food bank is full: usual patrons have hurricane food stamps,” nola.com, November 23, 2005)

The shelves of the food bank in the city of Houma, Louisiana are well-stocked despite the influx of people into the parish. For the first time in recent memory, the Good Samaritan Food Bank had enough supplies to feed needy families over Thanksgiving. This is because so many local residents received disaster food stamps and now have the means to shop for groceries. Donald Rouse, owner of a supermarket chain, said sales have been considerably higher over the past few months at the 15 chain’s stores in southern Louisiana. “At one point sales were up 93 percent, right after the storm. They are up now . . . somewhere around 35 percent over the same time last year,” Rouse said. He explains it by the fact that more people are using food stamps and more people are living in the area than before the hurricane.

http://tinyurl.com/ao6ve

5. Food Stamp Cuts Would “Backpedal” Success in Helping Working Poor

(“States' Food-Stamp Fight Intensifies,” online.wsj.com, December 5, 2005)

Efforts to help the working poor conflict with proposals of the Bush administration and House Republicans who believe the government should reduce food stamp benefits. Since the 1996 welfare reform pushed many people off other assistance programs, some states have been signing up more low-income families for food stamps with a new emphasis on food stamps as a nutrition program for the working poor. “I think we've seen a positive attitude in general. This is really a nutrition – not a welfare – program,” says Jean Daniel, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Participation among eligible people fell from 75 percent before the 1996 law to 53 percent in 2001, according to Mathematica Policy Research, but outreach increased the rate to 56 percent in 2003. Efforts to improve nutrition for low-income Americans, however, are “colliding with Congress's drive to attack red ink in the federal budget.” While the Senate budget bill spared food stamps, the House bill would cut the program by $700 million. The Oregon Food Bank once again will see a client overload, as it did after the welfare reform, if the House bill is enacted, worries Cassandra Garrison, food bank manager. Illnesses linked to malnutrition could also rise, she says. Barbara Van Burgel, acting director for the integrated access and support programs in Maine's Department of Health and Human Services, is concerned about cutting government help at a time when families face high heating costs, particularly in the Northern states. Moreover, because food stamp recipients often are enrolled automatically in other anti-poverty programs, such as school lunches, Medicaid, and energy assistance, many would leave those programs if they had to apply separately, points out Garrison. “So it basically backpedals the success we've had in the last couple of years” helping low-income families fight poverty and keep them working, she says.

http://tinyurl.com/b9eor

6. Editorial – California: Food Stamp Cuts “Ought to Be Killed”

(“As We See It: One Cutback Too Many,” santacruzsentinel.com, November 30, 2005)

A decision by the House of Representatives to cut back the food-stamp program “ought to be killed,” argues this editorial in the Santa Cruz Sentinel in Santa Cruz, California. The Senate passed a different version of the budget-cutting bill that did not touch food stamps. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) is aiming for “zero” cuts, including food stamps, according to his spokesman. Gov. Schwarzenegger has submitted a letter of opposition to the House cuts with the California congressional delegation. The cuts will remove food stamp benefits from many legal immigrants in California by increasing their waiting period to become eligible, which would only further stress the state’s budget. “We can't believe that cutting off food programs to the poor is the best way to go,” writes the newspaper. “There's got to be another way. . . . After all, food banks and other charities across the country have risen up to protest the cuts. Second Harvest Food Bank here in Santa Cruz County is among those who have filed their protest.” Willy Elliott-McCrea of the Second Harvest Food Bank pointed out that “without a strong food stamp program, we can't begin to fill the need. It is imperative that these cuts to food stamps be reversed.”

http://tinyurl.com/a6t8x

7. USDA Announces RFP for $1 Million in Food Stamp Outreach Grants for Community and Faith-based Organizations

(“USDA Announces the Availability of $1 Million in Food Stamp Outreach Grants,” usda.gov, November 20, 2005)

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns “announced the availability of at least $1 million in grants for public and private entities” and various types of organizations to improve awareness of the food stamp program among low-income households. “These grants will help to ensure that the working poor, immigrants, and elderly are accessing food stamp benefits,” said Johanns. “Private, nonprofit groups, including faith-based and community organizations, play an important role in helping those in need to learn about and access critical nutrition assistance.” USDA's Food and Nutrition Service plans to award the money to community and faith-based organizations or public agencies, other than food stamp state and local agencies, for community-based outreach and education programs targeted to potential food stamp recipients. The food stamp program provides crucial support to needy households and a boost to local economies, since every food stamp dollar generates nearly twice that in community spending. The solicitation includes checklists, templates, tools and lists of resources to assist potential applicants complete their proposals and can be found online at http://www.grants.gov or on the FNS website at http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/grants.htm.

http://tinyurl.com/atmg8

8. Congress’ Heat-or-Eat Dilemma Threatens Low-Income Maine Residents

(“Congress Gives Poor Cold Shoulder,” blackenterprise.com, November 27, 2005)

As heating oil prices are projected to be 30 percent higher this season than last, people unable to afford food and shelter are in a more vulnerable position this fall. “Low-income seniors, people with disabilities and others likely will struggle to heat their homes, purchase necessary prescription drugs and pay for groceries,” Maine's Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins told U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns. They have asked him to let Maine adjust for higher heating costs in the amount of food stamp benefits. No decision has been forthcoming. The House of Representatives, however, has proposed to cut funds for food stamps. Thomas Allen, a House Budget Committee member, called Republican lawmakers’ decisions a mistake that slashes children's ability to grow up healthy and strong.

http://tinyurl.com/964u4

9. Editorial: Congress Fails the Poor by not Providing Heating Aid

(“As the Winter Looms,” nytimes.com, November 29, 2005)

As the winter looms, Congress has not yet managed to approve any money to help poor Americans pay for their heating bills, editorializes The New York Times. “They failed to pass the bill that included $2 billion in home heating subsidies . . . last spring. They also failed to come up with the additional $3 billion that is needed to cover the big price jumps in various fuels since Hurricane Katrina.” A majority of senators support heating subsidies, but such subsidy approval needed a supermajority vote, which did not occur. Besides adding an extra billion dollars for heating assistance to one bill by cutting a billion from other anti-poverty programs, the House by and large ignored the issue. “The intended recipients of federal heating subsidies include millions of low-income Americans who are old and disabled, as well as poor families with children . . . . people who cannot afford heat often make trade-offs that risk their health or safety: deciding between heating or eating, between heat or medicine, between turning on the heat or resorting to oven flames or dangerous kerosene heaters.” Congressional leaders exerted far more energy in passing more tax cuts for investors, at a cost far beyond the cost of heating aid, stresses the newspaper.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/29/opinion/29tue2.html

Also see http://www.frac.org/html/news/energy_paper05.html
(FRAC analysis, "Heat and Eat: Using Federal Nutrition Programs to Cushion the Shock of Skyrocketing Heating Bills")

10. Editorial: Budget Reconciliation Negotiators Should Follow Senate Bill as to the Poor

(“Ease Budget Blows,” centredaily.com, November 27, 2005)

“If Congress is touched at all by the Thanksgiving spirit during its holiday break, it will return to Washington next month and soften the impact of proposed budget cuts aimed at the poor,” writes the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pennsylvania. Neither the Senate’s nor the House of Representatives’ budget bill “cuts enough fat where it should be cut.” The savings could be found in pork-barrel transportation projects and unnecessary military weapons programs. Changes in the House bill meant to appease moderates made little improvement in a bad package of food stamp cuts. The Senate bill does less harm to those in need, and budget reconciliation negotiators “should lean” in this direction.

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/opinion/13263211.htm

11. Op-Ed: Tax Cuts Not Helping Economy for Average American

(“And the Poor Get Stuffed Again,” seattlepi.nwsource.com, November 30, 2005)

“It was bad enough [for the House of Representatives] to slash money for higher education, food stamps, pension insurance and Medicaid, just as the lights were barely flickering back on in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans and the Gulf Coast,” writes Derrick Z. Jackson in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. These cuts are “only a precursor” to billions in tax cuts for the wealthy, supposedly designed to boost the economy. “United for a Fair Economy, a “think tank known for keeping track of the outrageous pay gaps between workers and CEOs, has a new report that shows that the Bush tax cuts already enacted have not produced new jobs or otherwise raised the standard of living. If anything, the cuts have depressed the economy for the average American.” Bush’s tax plan promised to create 1.4 million jobs, in addition to the 4.1 million jobs projected over an 18-month span in 2003-2004. In August 2005, there were 3.1 million fewer people working than in 2001, according to a report in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review. Since 2001, “median household income has declined, poverty has increased, the percentage of Americans without employer-based health insurance has increased and the percentage of people receiving employer-based pension benefits has declined. This is despite a national work ethic in which we work 213 hours more a year, or five weeks more, than our counterparts in the industrialized world.“

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/250185_jackson30.html

12. Editorial: Congress Should Not Cut Food Stamps

(“Helping the Hungry,” battlecreekenquirer.com, November 25, 2005)

“As many of us sit back today and recover from our Thanksgiving feasts, it might be a good time to consider those who did not enjoy a bountiful meal on Thursday,” writes the Battle Creek Inquirer in Battle Creek, Michigan. Recent government data show 11.9 percent of Americans in 2004 did not have enough food to eat, and this number has grown for five consecutive years. “Few would argue that it is nearly impossible to raise a family on minimum wages. Food stamps help such low-income working families get by without becoming totally dependent on the government.” The House of Representatives, however, approved $700 million in food stamp cuts. The people that would suffer from this measure are “barely scraping by with jobs that pay either the minimum wage or slightly more. Food stamps help them stretch their budgets as they struggle to support their families.” The Senate did not cut food stamps in its version of the budget bill and Senate Agriculture Chairman Chambliss has said “he aims to eliminate cuts in food stamps as the two chambers iron out their budget differences. We hope that happens.”

http://tinyurl.com/dwjyk

13. Editorial: Tax Cuts for Wealthy at Poor’s Expense Are “Shameful”

(“Food Stamp Cuts – Congress Takes Food from Children to Pay for New Round of Tax Cuts,” timberjay.com, November 29, 2005)

As Americans feast on lavish holiday meals, they “should all take a moment to consider that a growing number of our fellow Americans, most of them children, will be going without a full table,” write the Timberjay News in Tower, Minnesota. Congress has cut funds for food stamps, the country’s primary food assistance program, even though the government recently released a report about increased food insecurity in the country. Republicans argue that entitlement spending needs restraint, but this argument fails when it comes to food stamps – a “remarkably” efficient program with a “far better record than most other federal programs.” While Congress “literally takes food from the mouths of children,” it proposes to pass another round of tax cuts for the rich. “The wealthy get tax cuts, and the poor have to help pay for them. That’s the reality in America in 2005, and it’s shameful.” This “stunning” lack of charity is “all the more shocking” as it comes from people fond of exhibiting their religious fervor. “Perhaps they should quit talking about their beliefs, and start living them for a change.”

http://www.timberjay.com/current.php?article=2016

14. Op-Ed: Louisiana Poor Bear the Brunt of Efforts to “Starve the Beast” of Federal and Local Government

(“Starving The Beast,” washingtonpost.com, November, 29, 2005)

While many Republicans aim to “starve the beast” of federal government – shrinking it and letting states and private enterprise take up the slack – in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana the beast is already dead, writes Jennifer Moses in The Washington Post. Even before the devastation caused by hurricanes, Louisiana was at the center “of the most profound poverty in the nation, along with all the social ills that poverty breeds.” For example, school teacher pay ranked 46 th in the nation. Now signs of hope such as afterschool and job training programs have evaporated. Obligated by law to balance the state’s books, the Louisiana governor has had to slash an already “pathetically small” budget. “In keeping with Washington's own philosophy of hurting the hurting, the poor are bearing the brunt of it, with deep cuts in Medicaid, hospitals, nursing homes and health care for the indigent, and additional cuts in education and social services. As for the evacuees – with tens of thousands still living in hotel rooms, it's only the lucky ones who are being housed in those spiffy new FEMA travel trailers, all of which are miles from bus lines, services, schools and jobs.” Yet, Congress is about to embark on another starving-the-beast effort: “to slash billions from Medicaid, food stamps and student loan programs to finance billions in tax cuts for people who can afford to buy private jets.”

http://tinyurl.com/ax92w

15. Necessary Acknowledgement of “Two Americas” Has Not Yet Come

(“’The two Americas,’” bergen.com, November 28, 2005)

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has not yet started a debate on what Sen. John Edwards calls “the two Americas.” As always, the poor will be remembered this holiday season, but a larger discussion about how to change government policies and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor is not taking place. In the richest nation on earth, a growing number of its people “might as well be living in a far poorer place.” According to the United Nations, infant mortality, which has been rising in the United States for the last five years, now is equal to the infant mortality rate in Malaysia. Poverty is growing and the poor “are largely trapped.” The chances of low-income Americans moving up from the economic class of their parents are lower than in France, Germany, Canada, Sweden, and other nations. Tax cuts for the wealthy and food stamp cuts for the poor ignore the warning bells. “Unless we acknowledge that entrenched, grinding poverty is far more prevalent in America than we care to admit - and that the current direction of government policy is making things even worse - we cannot hope to have a national discussion that will produce substantive solutions,” writes this editorial in The Record of Northern New Jersey.

http://tinyurl.com/dch29

16. Op-Ed: Iowans Struggle to Put Food on Table

(“Lack of Food Carries Many Consequences,” desmoinesregister.com, November 27, 2005)

“For low-income Iowans today, growth in the economy has had little impact. . . . For families with children, it is not uncommon for a husband and wife to work three minimum-wage jobs to make ends meet,” writes Karen Ford of the Food Bank of Iowa in The Des Moines Register. For seniors, “heating costs, rent and prescription drugs are eating away at whatever retirement income is available.” Studies show that in times of financial crunch the first thing people sacrifice is food. Meanwhile, hunger has the serious consequences of preventing children from developing into healthy and educated adults and preventing adults from living a dignified life. Food stamps, school lunch and breakfast programs, and WIC help alleviate hunger but do not reach everyone. Food banks and other food charities still fill in the gaps. Yet, Ford wonders: “In the 1970s, hunger was close to being eliminated. Back in 1982, when the Food Bank opened, who would have believed that more Iowans in 2005 would be faced with decisions of ‘heat or eat’?”

http://tinyurl.com/9f8qr

17. Food Stamp Budget Turns out Insufficient When Policymakers Try to Live on It

(“Policymakers Try Poorer Lifestyle,” durangoherald.com, November 28, 2005)

Some Colorado policymakers who agreed to live on a food stamp budget for one month are finding it a difficult task. “It was really eye-opening how quickly that went away,” said State Rep. Mark Larson, R-Cortez, about an $114/month food stamp budget for him and his wife. “I had to think what were the repercussions if I exceed that budget in two weeks and had to go two weeks without it.” Rep. Larson is participating in the “Walk a Mile” program that began November 3 in Colorado and was funded by a $1,000 grant from the University of Washington, where the idea of pairing legislators with working poor people so the former can try a poorer lifestyle originated. Five elected officials took part in the Durango, Colorado program. One was La Plata County commissioner Wally White, who relied on food stamps while unemployed 30 years ago: “I think it's much tougher now than it was 30 years ago – especially here, with good jobs tough to find and housing so expensive.” Eight low-income residents responded to program fliers, but three were turned away because there were not enough policymakers to pair off with them. Durango City Councilor Renee Parsons, who was allowed to spend $104 on food, said she began to feel tired after a couple of weeks of living on such a tight budget, because she ate less. By contrast, a low-income participant Lorrie Hawkins, a full-time loan officer for a mortgage broker, and her three children have to eat on a tight budget all the time, relying on food stamps, child care and Medicaid help to supplement her earnings.

http://tinyurl.com/dsumo

18. New York: Letters to the Editor Urge Opposition to Food Stamp Cuts

(“House Has Its Priorities Upside-down, Backward” and “Budget Cuts Should Not Target Food Stamps,” syracuse.com, November 27, 2005)

“Congress needs to change its priorities. Yes, we need to reduce the deficit, but not at the expense of helpless people,” writes Sally W. Johnston, advocate for people with disabilities, to the editor of The Post-Standard in Syracuse, NY. The House of Representatives’ $50 billion cut in food stamps, health care and other assistance for children, the elderly, and people with disabilities represents these wrong priorities.

“Today nearly 38 million Americans are food insecure - hungry or at risk of hunger - including almost 14 million children. And these numbers have been rising for five consecutive years!” The cuts to the food stamp program are “not responsible or fair,” writes Thomas F. Slater of Food Bank of Central New York in the same publication. In New York State, more than one in 10 households worry about finding enough to eat, and for them, food stamps provide a hunger safety net. “The families of Central New York need their leaders in Congress to help reduce hunger and to oppose policies that would drain badly-needed resources from our communities.”

http://tinyurl.com/73p5d

19. Op-Ed – New Jersey: Fighting Poverty Is a Matter of Justice

(“Efforts to Help Needy Must Extend beyond Holidays,” app.com, November 30, 2005)

“Can we see the two beautiful children whose mother must be away 18 hours a day working two different eight-hour jobs simply to maintain a one-room apartment? . . . . Noble as helping with a holiday meal may be, individually and together we need to do much more to address poverty,” writes Melville D. Miller Jr., president of Legal Services of New Jersey, which houses the Poverty Research Institute, in The Asbury Park Press. In New Jersey to truly escape poverty and have an adequate income for a family of four requires a full-time job that pays at least $16 per hour. This is much more than many New Jerseyans earn. “For nearly all those who suffer from it, poverty is neither a matter of choice nor personal failure.” But it is easy to slip into poverty because of a job loss, illness or disability, domestic violence, lack of education, or a sudden financial catastrophe such as major medical bills. “Compassion and charity are important. They are the most fundamental human responses,“ points out Miller Jr. “But they are not enough. The typical causes of poverty require more sustained societal responses. To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr., none of us can live with justice until all have justice.”

http://tinyurl.com/8bq7y

20. Indiana Needs to Expand Anti-Hunger Programs, Study Finds

(“Ending Hunger in Indiana: Coalition Has Some Ideas,” indystar.com, November 25, 2005)

With poverty on the rise, Indiana needs to expand and improve its anti-hunger programs, such as food stamps and school breakfast and lunch programs, according to a report released by the Indiana Coalition on Housing and Homeless Issues. As winter approaches and heating costs are expected to skyrocket, even more Indiana families will be forced to make the “heat or eat” decision. Report author Jill Nielsen urges program expansions that would not require additional state dollars but rather use federal funds. The report also argues for public-private partnerships to educate low-income people about existing benefits, and recommends that Indiana make the school breakfast program available to all students. Families moving out of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program should be allowed to keep receiving food stamps for at least five months to ease their welfare-to-work transition. “Hunger is an income problem. People don't have enough money to buy the food that they need,” Nielsen said.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005511250428

http://tinyurl.com/7s52b (“Ensuring a Hunger-Free Indiana,” a report by the Indiana Coalition on Housing and Homeless Issues)

Also see http://www.frac.org/html/news/energy_paper05.html (FRAC analysis, “Heat and Eat: Using Federal Nutrition Programs to Cushion the Shock of Skyrocketing Heating Bills”)

21. Op-Ed: Hunger is Growing in New York City

(“’Tis Season to Care for Less Well off,” nydailynews.com, November 27, 2005)

Not everyone in New York City “will have something to celebrate or enough to celebrate with” this Christmas, writes Albor Ruiz in the New YorkDaily News. Hunger is still on the rise in the city, according to “The Hunger Squeeze: Skyrocketing Prices, Sinking Wages Increase Hunger in New York City,” a new report by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. “The fact that the richest city in the history of the world has one in seven residents [1.2 million people] faced with going hungry or lacking sufficient access to food should shock our political and business leaders into action,” said Joel Berg, the coalition's executive director. The report refers to a Community Service Society study that shows that the lowest-paid one third of New Yorkers saw their wage and salary earnings fall 5.2% from 1999-2000 to 2003-2004 (from $10,693 to $10,133). The food pantry at St. Bartholomew's Church in midtown Manhattan estimates that it will serve 14 percent more people in 2005 than it did in 2004, but government agencies have provided less food and money in the same time period. Forty-seven percent of food pantries and soup kitchens “had no choice but to ration food by turning people away, reducing portion sizes and limiting hours of operation” because “they could not get enough food, money, staff and volunteers.” ”It is truly unbelievable that the House of Representatives just voted to make this situation even worse, cutting the food stamp program and health care for low-income Americans just to pay for more tax cuts for the rich,” said Berg.

22. New York City’s New Food Stamp Law Slow to Implement

(“City Agency Bucks Food Stamp Law,” nynewsday.com, November 30, 2005)

“The Bloomberg administration is refusing to carry out the terms of a new law aimed at encouraging more New Yorkers to apply for food stamps, as it considers a court challenge to the measure.” At a recent New York City Council hearing, Human Resources Administration Commissioner Verna Eggleston and City Councilman Eric Gioia “got into a shouting match when Gioia questioned her about how the agency is adjusting” to a new City Council enacted law, effective in November, which requires the city to distribute food stamp applications in food pantries and soup kitchens. Gioia asked, “How many soup kitchens and food pantries are there?” Eggleston replied, “We don't know.” Then Gioia said, “If you don't know how many there are, how do you know if it's been a success or a failure?” Also passed in August were laws requiring the city to allow people to apply for food stamps online and relaxing some rules requiring applicants to appear in person. The city is already working on online applications and recently got a $1-million federal grant to invest in Internet outreach.

http://tinyurl.com/c7eqq

23. Donations Down, But Need Still High for Northern Kentucky's Charities

(“Having Faith in Our Neighbors,” challengernky.com, November 28, 2005)

This holiday season, Northern Kentucky's faith-based nonprofits have reported as much as a 50-percent decrease in donations as more people instead help causes assisting tsunami victims in Asia and hurricane victims along the Gulf Coast. While donations are down this fall, the Fairhaven Rescue Mission provides meals and grocery and clothing vouchers to more people than it has served in its 31-year history. Difficulties in obtaining government commodities – such as canned meats and vegetables, fruit, cheese and bread – have only exacerbated this situation, according to Tom Dorman of Action Ministries, which operates a food pantry in Latonia. In the past, the pantry offered 22 commodities. Now it offers only one item – boxed raisins. Dorman and other nonprofit directors were disappointed with the House of Representatives’ budget votes that might result in cuts for food stamps and other social programs. “Politics aside, people in need should not starve,” said Dorman.

http://tinyurl.com/9gsfh

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

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