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. More than 1.5 Million of 1.8 Million New Food Stamp Participants Were in States Hardest Hit by Hurricane Katrina
2. Homeless Hurricane Victims Say FEMA Is Not Helping
3. Spike in Heating Bills to Hit 5-Year Record
4. Republican Representative: “Juxtaposition of Cutting Taxes and Food Stamps . . . Is Not Attractive.”
5. Sen. Smith: “Congress Must Put People First” and Reject Food Stamp and Medicaid Cuts
6. Statement from Protestant Leaders: Congress Must Reject Cuts; Federal Budget Should Bring “Good News to the Poor”
7. Editorial: Growing Poverty and Hunger Should Drive Lawmakers’ Budget Decisions
8. NAACP President Calls House Bill “Reckless” and “Immoral”
9. Oregon Governor Asks Delegates to Oppose House Budget Cuts
10. Congress’ Budget Decisions Increase Gap between "Have-Nots" and "Have-Lots”
11. Op-Ed: Contempt for the Poor Is Not an American Value, Minister Writes
12. Op-Ed: Joint Action, Not Individual, Is Ultimate Answer to Growing Economic Insecurity
13. Reporters Need to Ask Why America Does Not End Hunger as Other Nations Have
14. Institute of Medicine Links Food Advertising to Increase in Childhood Obesity
15. Lawsuit Will Seek to Ban Sales of Sugary Drinks in Schools
16. Growing Programs Not Keeping Pace with Growing Hunger in Indiana
17. Massachusetts: Project Bread Reports Growing Need Outstripping Holiday Period Resource
18. Woonsocket, Rhode Island Launches Universal Breakfast Program
19. Rhode Island: Food Service Provider Campaigns to Enroll More Students in Pawtucket School Lunch Program
20. Texas: Resources Strained, Pantries Launch Initiative to Sign More People for Food Stamps
21. Private Firm’s Colorado Problems Raise Concerns in Texas about Food Stamp Plans
22. Wisconsin: Number of Cash Welfare Beneficiaries Pushed Down 36 Percent, While Food Stamp Use Grows

1. More than 1.5 Million of 1.8 Million New Food Stamp Participants Were in States Hardest Hit by Hurricane Katrina

(“Hurricane Relief Pushed Food Stamp Participation Levels up Dramatically in September 2005,” frac.org, September 12, 2005)

Food stamp participation rose by 1,771,404 people from August to September 2005 to 27,537,209, largely due to the nutrition relief needed by victims of Hurricane Katrina. Four states most affected by Hurricane Katrina ( Louisiana, Alabama, Texas and Mississippi) accounted for more than 1.51 million of the 1.77 million new cases in September. This marked the sixth monthly caseload increase in the first nine months of 2005. Food Stamp Program growth (outside the Katrina-affected states) has been reflecting continuing wage stagnation, state and local action to improve program access to the program, and the effects of the implementation of the 2002 food stamp reauthorization. The over-the-year increase (September 2004 to September 2005) was more than 2.6 million people. Outside of the four states most affected by Katrina plus Florida (whose September 2004 participation was higher than usual because of 2004 hurricanes), participation grew by 1.1 million persons over the year.

http://www.frac.org/html/news/fsp/05.09_FSP.html

2. Homeless Hurricane Victims Say FEMA Is Not Helping

(“Wearying Wait for Federal Aid in New Orleans,” nytimes.com, December 3, 2005)

At a Federal Emergency Management Agency help center in New Orleans, desperate residents, “wiped out by Hurricane Katrina and now urgently seeking government assistance,” young, middle-aged and old, spoke out about “sleeping in a truck and on a floor, living out of a car and waiting for the help that never seems to come.” Myrna Guity, 43 who lost her business and home is one of them: “You come to these FEMA centers, you sit all day. You get no answers to your questions. They're evasive. You're constantly ‘pending.’” DeLois Kramer, 43, is currently “living out of the car” with her 7-year-old daughter. “We're almost begging them, ‘Please, bring this trailer before Christmas,’” she said. Dealing with FEMA means “repeat visits for help that always seems to be just one or two documents away.” After witnessing her mother’s ordeal in help center after help center, the little Kramer girl now asks: “Are we being punished?” FEMA officials said that the agency was working as fast as it could. However, the agency, with armed guards, refused to allow a reporter into the center's interviewing room. Luis Colmenares, a local metal sculptor, lost his business which had 17 employees. His conversations with FEMA workers were “horrible,” he said. “I kept saying, 'I have nothing.’ We've got food stamps, and that's pretty much it.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/03/national/nationalspecial/03fema.html

3. Spike in Heating Bills to Hit 5-Year Record

(“Heating Bill Bump to Hit 5-year High,” usatoday.com, December 6, 2005)

The Energy Department said the increase this winter in heating bills would be the steepest in five years, despite nationwide, mild weather in October and November. Homeowners can expect a 25.7 percent increase in their winter heating costs from a year ago. If this happens, the increase will be the biggest since the 2000-2001 season. Last season, average heating bills rose 12 percent. “Should colder weather prevail, expenditures could be significantly higher,” the agency reported. Mark Wolfe of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association commented that a few percentage points would make little difference to people struggling to make ends meet. Pointing out that government heating assistance for low-income households has not kept up with the rise in costs, Wolfe said, “It’s going to be a very expensive winter. We are still looking at a potential public health crisis.” Homeowners who use natural gas (almost 55 percent of U.S. homes) are expected to pay $1,024 to heat their residences from October through March.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2005-12-06-heating-bills_x.htm

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”)

4. Republican Representative: “Juxtaposition of Cutting Taxes and Food Stamps . . . Is Not Attractive.”

(“Bush Renews Push for Extending Tax Cuts,” washingtonpost.com, December 6, 2005)

President Bush renewed his demand that Congress extend tax cuts to investment dividends and capital gains, saying these tax cuts will help the economy grow. With staunch opposition from Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), the Senate Finance Committee did not include President’s tax cuts for the rich in a tax bill that the Committee largely devoted to post-Katrina investment incentives for the Gulf Coast, charitable giving revisions, and a one-year fix to the alternative minimum tax. However, the House Ways and Means Committee approved a five-year, $56-billion tax cut that would extend the dividend and capital gains tax cuts through 2010. Moderate Republican representatives “have expressed deep misgivings about approving a measure so beneficial to affluent investors so soon after they approved a bill that would cut people off food stamps, squeeze student lenders, impose new fees on Medicaid recipients and slash federal aid for child-support enforcement.” As Rep. James Walsh (R-NY) noted, “the juxtaposition of cutting taxes and food stamps within a few days is not attractive.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/05/AR2005120500854.html

5. Sen. Smith: “Congress Must Put People First” and Reject Food Stamp and Medicaid Cuts

(“Families USA and Senator Smith to Congress: Put People First,” bend.com, November 30, 2005)

“The Congress must put people first and adopt the Senate version of the budget package,” which will both provide savings and secure “important safety-net programs” for its beneficiaries, Sen. Gordon H. Smith said at a press conference hosted by Families USA. Sen. Smith stressed that “the cuts passed by the House of Representatives would result in millions of needy Americans losing critical benefits like access to basic health care or help with feeding their families.” The House’s budget reconciliation package calls for increased co-payments for Medicaid recipients and significant cuts to the food stamp program, which would place an increased burden on America’s poor, elderly, and disabled.

http://bend.com/news/ar_view.php?ar_id=23906

6. Statement from Protestant Leaders: Congress Must Reject Cuts; Federal Budget Should Bring “Good News to the Poor”

(“Congress Should Defeat Budget Reconciliation Once and for All,” religionnews.com, December 6, 2005)

“Throughout this year we, five leaders of Christian denominations representing close to 20 million followers, have asked that the Federal Budget be recognized as a concrete statement of our nation’s values, and as such that it ‘bring good news to the poor,’” as the Savior proclaimed God had anointed him to do when he began his ministry, reads a joint statement from five mainline Protestant leaders. “At each stage of the complicated legislative process, we have viewed the budget through the lens of faith and our values and found the FY ’06 Federal Budget wanting. Now we ask that it be defeated once and for all.” The differences between the House and Senate budget cuts that Congress is considering will press Congress to make “unacceptable choices.” “How can Congress compromise on food stamps when the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that more than 222,000 people, primarily low-income working families with children and 70,000 legal immigrants, would lose food stamps if conferees follow the House budget? . . . How can Congress compromise on Medicaid provisions that will force low-income patients to forego needed health care or medications . . .” The statement stresses that “Congress continues to make decisions which benefit the rich but are paid for by the poor and most vulnerable in our land.” “We pray that Congress will use this Advent season for purposeful reflection. . . . Congress and the President should come together to present a budget that brings ‘good news to the poor,’ reflecting our nation’s historic concern for justice and the least among us.” The statement was signed by leaders of the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church.

http://www.religionnews.com/press02/PR120505B.html

7. Editorial: Growing Poverty and Hunger Should Drive Lawmakers’ Budget Decisions

(“Profiles in Pusillanimity,” nytimes.com, December 6, 2005)

“A self-proclaimed moderate Republican lawmaker” becomes “just another malleable vote” when “House G.O.P. leaders hold a budget-cutting showdown open after midnight for extended arm-twisting on the eve of their long holiday break,” writes this editorial in The New York Times about the pre-Thanksgiving House budget vote. Moderate Republicans in the House of Representatives did not stand up for saving food stamps for more than 200,000 poor Americans, which is a “shameful result.” Moderates got weeks of hometown headlines for “demanding that the poor not be punished just as another tax-cut package for the affluent was being greased for passage. Then they buckled, after winning only cosmetic changes.” “It doesn't have to be this way,” argues the newspaper. The growing poverty rates and increasing figures of homeless and hungry children in this country are “the numbers that should be driving the nation's lawmakers, not the cynical desire to carry rebellion only to the brink of victory, followed by still another last-minute cave-in.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/06/opinion/06tue3.html

8. NAACP President Calls House Bill “Reckless” and “Immoral”

(“NAACP Strongly Opposes the 2006 Budget Reconciliation Bill, Week of November 24-30, 2005,” wilmingtonjournal.blackpressusa.com, December 5, 2005)

Bruce Gordon, President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), called the House of Representatives’ budget bill “reckless and immoral.” Says Gordon, “The NAACP is concerned about excess cuts to programs that could potentially devastate low-income families at a time when the stability of the economy is uncertain.”

http://wilmingtonjournal.blackpressusa.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=64157&sID=12

9. Oregon Governor Asks Delegates to Oppose House Budget Cuts

(“Governor Asks Oregon Congressional Delegation to Resist Cuts,” bend.com, December 2, 2005)

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski sent a letter to the state’s Congressional delegation and asked them to oppose the proposed funding cuts in the 2006 Budget Reconciliation Act. The House budget bill “will decimate services for children, seniors and poor people,” wrote Governor Kulongoski. He pointed out that Oregon was rated the hungriest state in the nation when he took office. As a result of concerted effort, particularly outreach to people eligible for food stamps, Oregon now ranks 19 th in the nation in food insecurity. This progress would be undone if the proposed cuts to the food stamp program were made, affecting nearly 16,000 Oregon households. “Thank you for your efforts to date to protect Oregon’s children, seniors and poor people from additional cuts. I respectfully ask you to continue that work . . . to preserve the safety net for our most vulnerable citizens,” wrote Governor Kulongoski.

http://bend.com/news/ar_view.php?ar_id=23915

10. Congress’ Budget Decisions Increase Gap between "Have-Nots" and "Have-Lots”

(“Don't Forget Lessons of Katrina,” dailytexanonline.com, December 5, 2005)

“It seems our country, or at least our leaders, are determined to forget the lessons we could've learned from Katrina in the images of poverty and desperation we, as a nation, witnessed,” writes Joshua Huck, an anthropology student, in The Daily Texan, the University of Texas at Austin newspaper. As poverty increases and the wealthy get tax cuts, “the whole ‘trickle-down’ argument, apart from simply being poor economic logic, is getting old. . . . The fact of the matter is, the gulf between the very wealthy and very poor is growing ever larger, unhealthily stratifying this country into the ‘have-nots’ and ‘have-lots,’” points out Huck. “In a gesture of brotherly love this holiday season,” Republicans approved budget cuts that will add to the difficulty of hundreds of thousands of Americans to put food on the table. By contrast, they plan “an average of $51,000 in taxes saved per wealthy household, and to all a good night!”

http://tinyurl.com/7shdc

11. Op-Ed: Contempt for the Poor Is Not an American Value, Minister Writes

(“Americans Must Demand End to War on the Poor,” thetimesherald.com, December 3, 2005)

While the House of Representatives budget bill cuts taxes for the wealthiest people in the country, the “Senate bill is scarcely better,” writes the Rev. Charles Hoffacker, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Port Huron in the Port Huron Times Herald, Michigan. “This Senate bill would be even worse if public outcry had not led the Senators to drop initial cuts of $543 million to the Food Stamp program. Both Democrats and Republicans rallied to prevent this assault on low-income families.” Congress needs to know that “any budget, especially a national one, is a statement about priorities”, and “how we spend money demonstrates what we really believe.” Congress also “needs to be reminded by people of good will that contempt for the poor and the neglect of those in need is not an American value.”

http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051203/OPINION02/512030327/1014/OPINION

12. Op-Ed: Joint Action, Not Individual, Is Ultimate Answer to Growing Economic Insecurity

(“Precarious Lives,” motherjones.com, December 5, 2005)

Paul Rogat Loeb, the author of “The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear,” responds to an op-ed by Tad Bartimus entitled, “Advice to Retirees: Embrace the Future.” Bartimus described a change in her life when she was laid off by the Associated Press, with half of her previously promised pension, and assumed a survive-and-adapt philosophy as a way to deal with her new life. “Everywhere I go, I encounter people with once-comfortable lives who are borrowing on their houses, running up their credit cards, losing their health insurance, and generally running faster and faster to avoid the economic abyss,” writes Loeb. “The promises on which many of us have based our entire economic lives are no longer being honored. We're increasingly a winner-take-all society, where those at the top gorge on luxury consumption to an extent that makes the Robber Barons look like paupers, while those at the bottom scramble for crumbs. But the solutions Bartimus counsels are exclusively individual.” While for some people the survive-and-adapt philosophy might work in dealing with the vagaries of life, “we should also work together to help insure a future where everyone gets dealt a decent hand. . . . The problems Bartimus describes can't be solved by quietly accepting the global corporate mantra . . . It's not our individual decisions that are gutting our pensions, raising medical costs sky high, and making our lives on this rich and fruitful earth increasingly precarious. . . . Think of the moral obscenity of funding the rebuilding of New Orleans by cutting food stamps, Medicaid, and low-income energy assistance.” Bartimus guides her readers away from the most important lessons that the precarious lives of our citizens teach: people must join together and speak out about the roots of problems and choices made in their name.

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2005/12/precarious_lives.html

13. Reporters Need to Ask Why America Does Not End Hunger as Other Nations Have

(“Hunger, Almost Eliminated in the 70’s, Is Now Widespread,” niemanwatchdog.org, November 29, 2005)

Dr. J. Larry Brown, who runs the Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University, on the Nieman Watchdog Journalism Project’s website urged reporters to ask: “Why has hunger resurfaced again after being essentially eliminated in the late 1970’s?” and “Why doesn’t America end hunger like other nations have?” He urged more public attention to the problem of hunger in the United States. Brown writes that this problem is so large that “reporters often have difficulty comprehending its scope, root causes, and impact on society.” As obesity stories grab all the media’s attention, “selling editors on stories about hunger” gets tougher. Government statistics show that 38 million Americans live in households that suffer from hunger or food insecurity. The number of hungry individuals has risen by 43 percent in the past five years. Children are particularly affected by hunger, missing more days of school, being unable to process information as well and developing less well physically and emotionally.

http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ask_this.view&askthisid=00155

14. Institute of MedicineLinks Food Advertising to Increase in Childhood Obesity

(“Federal Advisory Group Calls for Change in Food Marketing to Children,” nytimes.com, December 7, 2005)

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies issued an analysis of 120 studies examining the connection between television advertising and overweight and found compelling evidence linking food advertising and the increase in childhood obesity. Food marketing, primarily on television, influenced the diets, preferences and requests of children under age 12, said Ellen A. Wartella, a member of the committee that wrote the report, “Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity?” Food marketing also has moved beyond TV to include video games that feature food products and food-related school-based marketing. The report recommends a long-term educational campaign about healthy food choices paid for by public and industry founds. If the food industry does not shift to advertising more healthful products to children, Congress should make it do so. The report also recommends that food sold in school be subject to nutritional standards. The report noted that a few companies have moved toward healthful foods. The Grocery Manufacturers of America reacted by saying that the efforts the food industry is making to respond to childhood obesity were not adequately recognized. Richard Martin, vice president for communications at the group, said he was not worried about a possible advertising ban: “The food and beverage industries are already responding because consumers want these changes.”

http://nytimes.com/2005/12/07/business/media/07kids.html

http://www.iom.edu/event.asp?id=31276 (IOM report, “Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity?”)

15. Lawsuit Will Seek to Ban Sales of Sugary Drinks in Schools

(“Lines Are Drawn for Big Suit Over Sodas,” nytimes.com, December 7, 2005)

Coke from the Coca-Cola machines at Grover Cleveland High School, Oregon, goes fast. For thirsty teenagers it is easier to poke a dollar into a machine and get a pop than to bring healthier drinks from home. This is the problem, according to Stephen Gardner, staff lawyer for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, who plans, with a group of other lawyers, to file a lawsuit that will seek to ban sales of sugary beverages in schools, because these drinks are harmful to students’ health. According to a report by the Government Accountability Office, 75 percent of all high schools, 65 percent of all middle schools, and 30 percent of elementary schools have contracts with beverage companies. Although such contracts have been promoted as a valuable source of revenue to schools, a study of 19 contracts covering 186,000 students, conducted by the Community Health Partnership in Oregon, concluded that school districts receive only $12 to $24 per student annually. Some contracts even reward schools when students purchase the least healthful options, the study found. A recent study by the American Beverage Association says that full-calorie sodas from school vending machines during normal school hours are “a very minor source of calories in the diets of American youth,” Last August the beverage industry announced that beverage companies would stop selling sugary drinks in elementary schools and would restrict regular soda sales in middle schools, but this new policy does not include high schools.

http://tinyurl.com/8lwxg

16. Growing Programs Not Keeping Pace with Growing Hunger in Indiana

(“Each of Us Can Play Role in Reducing Hunger,” indystar.com, December 5, 2005)

The Rev. Jay Height runs a faith-based community center in Indianapolis. “If you want to see what hunger looks like, just visit my community center on a Monday morning,” says Height. “For most of the kids we serve, the last meal they eat is the snack we provide during our after-school program on Friday afternoon. Many of them will not have anything to eat over the weekend. You should see how they just inhale bowls of cereal on Monday morning.” The number of Indiana residents signing up for food stamps increased by nearly 75 percent, and the number of Indiana students receiving free and reduced lunch at school rose 25 percent during the last five years. Yet, these figures do not reflect the full scale of the hunger. Pam Altmeyer of Gleaners Food Bank said, “There are more people on food stamps, but there also are more people who no longer qualify for food stamps but still need food assistance, even though they're working.” These data should play a role in “the current federal debate over food stamp eligibility guidelines and the recent state announcement that Indiana's welfare system will be contracted to a private vendor.”

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051205/OPINION/512050316/1002

17. Massachusetts: Project Bread Reports Growing Need Outstripping Holiday Period Resources

(“Project Bread Sees Struggling Food Programs in Months to Come,” prnewswire.com, December 2, 2005)

Project Bread reports from East Boston that their FoodSource Hotline, a toll-free telephone service that helps people in need of food to find it in their towns, received more calls over Thanksgiving than ever before. The non-profit even created a waiting list of 400 hungry adults, children, and seniors. “The fact that we're running out of food before Thanksgiving gives us all pause,” said Ellen Parker of Project Bread. “The emergency food programs are working harder than ever to meet a need that is larger than ever before.” These programs are no longer just serving the homeless or a family in an emergency, according to Parker. “They are setting places for the working poor, for seniors, for teens, because they or their families cannot manage the cost of living in Massachusetts. This has our resources stretched to the limit.” Gina Maniscalco, Project Bread's director of corporate relations, said, “It's heartbreaking to see elderly people, standing out in the cold, waiting for a holiday meal just because they can't both heat and eat this season.”

http://tinyurl.com/cy6wq

18. Woonsocket, Rhode Island Launches Universal Breakfast Program

(“Free Breakfast Pilot Program Gets Go-Ahead,” projo.com, December 8, 2005)

Next month, all students at the Woonsocket Middle School and Bernon Heights Elementary School in Woonsocket, Rhode Island will start receiving free breakfasts regardless of income. The School Committee unanimously voted to start a pilot program that will run from January through June and evaluate the success of free meals in boosting school breakfast participation. Carmen Boucher, co-chair of the Bernon Heights Parent Teacher Organization, said she expects her third-grade daughter, who is not eligible for free or reduced-price meals, will need little encouragement: “If it means spending time with her friends, she's going to want to do it.” Serving free breakfasts to every child is expected to reduce the stigma associated with receiving free meals on the basis of a student’s family income, and to improve children’s health and academic performance. “We're doing a pilot, because we need to collect enough participation data so that we can better understand who is eating and what effect it is having,” said School Superintendant Maureen B. Macera. School Committee members said they are excited to watch the program’s progress. If the program costs more money than expected, but shows a sharp increase in academic performance, the School Committee may decide the costs are worth it, Macera pointed out.

http://www.projo.com/education/content/projo_20051208_wsc8.17ef121a.html (registration required)

19. Rhode Island: Food Service Provider Campaigns to Enroll More Students in Pawtucket School Lunch Program

(“Pawtucket Schools and Sodexho Run Campaign to Register Students in National School Lunch Program,” frac.org, December 7-9, 2005)

Sodexho USA, the food service provider for the Pawtucket School District in Rhode Island, is campaigning to increase the participation of local children in the national school lunch program by 300-400 students who go hungry during the school day. Sodexho is urging parents to complete applications and providing helpful information about how to check their children’s eligibility. As part of the campaign, a local radio station will be broadcasting live from the Tolman High School, and students will have a chance to win prizes. “Every day I witness children who go hungry during the school day, and it’s unnecessary because a simple application could qualify them for a nutritious free or reduced-priced meal,” said Solange Morrissette of Sodexho. More than 83,000 Rhode Island children participate in the school lunch program, but participation at Tolman High School is only 33 percent.

http://www.frac.org/frac/sodexho_press.htm

20. Texas: Resources Strained, Pantries Launch Initiative to Sign More People for Food Stamps

(“Pantries Pushing Food Stamps in New Initiative,” wacotrib.com, December 6, 2005)

Texas food pantries have noticed during the past year that they not only have been feeding people in emergencies, but also supplementing nutrition of the working poor. This troublesome trend has strained their resources, the pantries say, and led them to a new solution: launching an initiative to enroll more eligible people in the food stamp program. The initiative, called Helpings: Healthy Foods for Healthy Families, is aimed at making sure that all eligible residents of McLennan County, where the food stamp participation rate is only 42 percent of those who are eligible, receive food stamps. This means the community is losing out on $33.5 million/year in federal funds. The idea for the program developed out of the McLennan County Hunger Coalition that includes approximately 30 food pantries. The initiative will be carried out by trained volunteers stationed at local pantries. These volunteers also will visit senior centers.

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2005/12/06/20051206wachelpingsprogram.html

21. Private Firm’s Colorado Problems Raise Concerns in Texas about Food Stamp Plans

(“Canceled Tech Deal Raises Alarm in State,” statesman.com, December 2, 2005)

Colorado Secretary of State Gigi Dennis canceled a $10.5 million contract with Accenture to supply voter registration software because of software bugs and concerns about timeliness. State officials are also considering whether to cancel a $40 million Accenture contract to create a system that tracks state unemployment taxes and benefits. Colorado’s trouble with Accenture has raised concerns about Texas’ almost $1 billion contract with this company. Accenture took over operation of Texas Children’s Health Insurance Program call centers in December and may begin operating Texas’ eligibility call centers for food stamps and Medicaid in 2006.

http://www.statesman.com/hp/content/metro/stories/12/2accenture.html

22. Wisconsin: Number of Cash Welfare Beneficiaries Pushed Down 36 Percent, While Food Stamp Use Grows

("W-2 Caseloads Drop 36 Percent; What’s Happened to Participants?” duluthsuperior.com, December 1, 2005)

The number of people receiving cash benefits through the state’s welfare-to-work program, Wisconsin Works (W-2), fell by 36 percent since the summer of 2004, leaving about 8,000 beneficiaries on the rolls. State officials claim an improved economy has put thousands of welfare recipients to work, but advocates for the poor maintain that W-2 is denying the needy benefits or pushing them into bad jobs. According to Amy Stear, an organizer with the Milwaukee-based labor advocacy group 9to5, National Association of Working Women, “We have families living on only food stamps in our cities (and) that translates into a pretty high level of misery for those kids and those moms.” Stear said many people have moved into low-wage jobs with few or no benefits, so they cannot afford the basics – food, shelter and clothing. During the summer of 2004, DWD got its agencies to be more aggressive in pushing recipients into jobs. The state government had projected a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall and needed to save money. Roger Quindel, a co-chair of the W-2 Monitoring Task Force for Milwaukee County, believes that fewer people participate in W-2 because the state lacks funds for this program, demonstrated by the increased use of food stamps. Statewide the number of food stamp recipients was 12 percent higher this October than the previous October. However, Stephanie Marquis, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Family Service, which runs the state’s food stamp FoodShare program, believes more people are receiving food stamps due to greater awareness of the program and simpler applications.

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/13297891.htm

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

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