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. Treasury Secretary Sets Wide Gap Between Rich and Poor as Nation’s Economic Challenge
2. American Children Abandon Healthier Eating Habits When They Grow Older, Study Finds
3. Report Presents State Estimates for Food Stamp Participation Rates in 2002 and 2003 for All Eligible People and Working Poor
4. School Nutrition Association Reviews Wellness Policies Passed by 100 Largest School Districts
5. Healthy Schools Program Offers Healthy Schools Criteria and Competitive Food Guidelines
6. Congresswoman Matsui Advocates Importance of Summer Food Service Program
7. States Are in “Low-Grade Panic” Trying to Comply With New Welfare Rules
8. Op-Ed: Earned Income Tax Credit Is “Both Efficient and Effective” in Moving People From Poverty
9. Food Stamp Challenge: Middle-Class Couple Tries to Survive on Food Stamps
10. Washington, D.C.: Emerson Hunger Fellows Boost Summer Food Program With Fun Ads
11. Texas: Storm Victims in El Paso Need Urgent Help
12. Op-Ed: Missouri Governor Should Request Disaster Food Stamp Program to Provide Food to Storm Victims
13. Hawaii Senior Produce Program Undergoes Reinvention to Serve More Clients
14. North Carolina Farmers’ Market Program Will Have Farmers in 33 Counties Accept Food Stamps by Sep. 2008
15. Editorial: Washington State Lags Behind Nation in Providing Summer Meals to Hungry Children
16. Louisiana State University AgCenter Explains Benefits of School Breakfast
17. Arizona: Phoenix Elementary Students Get Breakfast in Classroom
18. Mississippi Office of Healthy Schools Puts Forward “Health is Academic” Initiative
19. California Hospitals Are Not Active Enough in Encouraging Mothers to Breastfeed
20. Nebraska: Rising Costs Squeeze Families’ Budgets, Sending More People to Food Pantry Shelves

1. Treasury Secretary Sets Wide Gap Between Rich and Poor as Nation’s Economic Challenge

(“New Treasury Head Eyes Rising Inequality,” csmonitor.com, August 3, 2006)

In contrast to his predecessors, the new Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson has made the wide gap between rich and poor Americans one of the nation’s top, long-term economic challenges. “Amid this country’s strong economic expansion, many Americans simply aren’t feeling the benefits,” Paulson said during his first major public speech. “Their increases in wages are being eaten up by high energy prices and rising healthcare costs, among others.” Placing an emphasis on the wage gap may reflect efforts to reach across party lines to Democrats concerned about wage inequality to resume a “serious discussion of entitlement reforms before Bush’s term ends.” It also may signal that Paulson, a former chief executive of the investment bank Goldman Sachs, “wants to be Treasury secretary for all Americans, not just the wealthy” and that the issue itself has acquired an urgency since “a sharp rich-poor divide augurs poorly for achieving the political unity needed to keep the nation on solid economic footing.” John Schmitt of the Center for Economic and Policy Research says beyond job training, there are other remedies available to employers to narrow the gap, including raising the minimum wage, creating a workplace friendlier to labor unions and making Medicare available to all employers.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0803/p03s03-usec.html

2. American Children Abandon Healthier Eating Habits When They Grow Older, Study Finds

(“Older Children Veer off Food Pyramid, Study,” foodnavigator-usa.com, August 9, 2006)

While children eat more as they grow older, they eat less healthy food and stray from dietary guidelines, according to researchers at the University of Alabama. Their study, published in the August issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, analyzed food consumption patterns based on data from 7,000 American children between the ages of 2 and 3 and 4 and 8 to calculate “food group adherence scores” that provide “information on over-consumption and under-consumption of food groups compared to the USDA Food Guide recommendations.” Children’s adherence to the recommended food patterns lessens with age, and this tendency continues throughout their high school years when teenagers have more freedom to buy snacks and abandon healthier eating habits. Researchers said small increases in fruit and vegetable consumption could dramatically improve the quality of children’s diets.

http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=69754&m=1FNU809&c=xqdjukrrlerzutg

3. Report Presents State Estimates for Food Stamp Participation Rates in 2002 and 2003 for All Eligible People and Working Poor

(“Empirical Bayes Shrinkage Estimates of State Food Stamp Participation Rates in 2002-2003 for All Eligible People and for the Working Poor,” mathematica-mpr.com, July 2006)

This report conducted by Mathematica Policy Research presents estimates that measure the need for the Food Stamp Program in each state in 2002 and 2003 by calculating the number of people eligible for the program. The estimated food stamp participation rates measure the program’s performance in reaching its target population in the states and also measure the overall effectiveness of the program, which in FY 2005 served 25 million people in an average month. Besides the participation rate estimates for all eligible persons, the report contains estimates of participation rates for the working poor, who were eligible for food stamps and lived in households in which someone earned income from a job. The method used in the study allowed the researchers to derive estimates that are “substantially more precise than direct sample estimates from the Current Population Survey or the Survey of Income and Program Participation, the best sources of current data on household incomes used to model program eligibility.”

http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/pdfs/empbayes0203.pdf

4. School Nutrition Association Reviews Wellness Policies Passed by 100 Largest School Districts

(“Nation’s Largest School Districts Developing Healthier School Environments,” schoolnutrition.org, August 10, 2006)

A review of the wellness policies of most of the nation’s 100 largest school districts by enrollment finds that they are requiring nutrition education, adding recess and tightening nutrition standards. Of these districts, which educate 23 percent of American students, more than 94 percent have passed a local wellness policy that addresses nutrition standards for a la carte foods and beverages, according to an analysis conducted by the School Nutrition Association (SNA). The review finds that requiring school breakfast service, often in the classroom or through hallway kiosks, and offering summer food service programs are among the major themes of the nutrition standards provisions. SNA reported that of the top 100 school districts, 79 percent have approved a local wellness policy as of August 7, 2006; 10 percent have not yet approved a local wellness policy, but the school board has scheduled a final vote on a draft policy for the upcoming weeks; and 11 percent had not yet submitted a policy to SNA for their analysis. 

http://www.schoolnutrition.org/Index.aspx?id=2077

Also see http://www.frac.org/pdf/wellness_guide2006.pdf (FRAC’s guide, “School Wellness Policy and Practice: Meeting the Needs of Low-Income Students”)

5. Healthy Schools Program Offers Healthy Schools Criteria and Competitive Food Guidelines

(Healthy Schools Criteria and Competitive Food Guidelines, HealthierGeneration.org, August 2006)

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program released its Healthy Schools Criteria and Competitive Food Guidelines in conjunction with its first forum for schools selected for its phase one pilot program. A joint project of the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Healthy Schools Program is designed to help schools become healthier places for both students and teachers. The key objectives of the program focus on putting healthy foods and beverages into vending machines and cafeterias; increasing opportunities for students to exercise and play; and providing resources for teachers and staff to become healthy role models. Any school in the United States can become a part of the Healthy Schools Program and receive access to the Healthy Schools criteria, web-based information and telephone assistance.

http://www.healthiergeneration.org/engine/renderpage.asp?pid=s010

Also see http://www.healthiergeneration.org/engine/renderpage.asp?pid=s040 (Healthy Schools Criteria)

http://www.healthiergeneration.org/engine/renderpage.asp?pid=s042 (Competitive Food Guidelines)

6. Congresswoman Matsui Advocates Importance of Summer Food Service Program

(“Congresswoman Matsui Encouraged Sacramento Families to Take Advantage of Free Summer Lunch Program,” californiachronicle.com, August 9, 2006)

Rep. Doris O. Matsui, D-Calif., urged Sacramento families to use the free summer lunch program and expressed her support for the program on a tour of the Teichert Boys and Girls Club with the club’s sponsor and namesake, Fred Teichert. The club participates in the federal Summer Food Service Program and provides free meals to its members and to any child under 18 who is hungry. Matsui highlighted the importance of eating nutritious meals, saying that children need nutritious lunches to do better in school. “That’s why I am a strong advocate of the free lunch program - for the school year and the summer,” said Matsui. “In this room are future doctors, scientists, astronauts, athletes, and teachers. Healthy meals are one of the keys to achieving those goals. I want all of you to meet your potential,” she said to an audience of children. Matsui joined with her colleagues in Congress to urge an increase in federal funding to $306 million – 5 percent more than the last year – for the federal National School Lunch Program.

http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=12282

7. States Are in “Low-Grade Panic” Trying to Comply With New Welfare Rules

(“Welfare Changes a Burden to States,” washingtonpost.com, August 7, 2006)

The new welfare rules that require states to move more welfare clients to work are discouraging activities, such as study and health programs, that might help struggling families and individuals become independent. In 1996, “the law decentralized welfare, handing states a lump sum of money and the freedom to design their own programs of temporary help for poor families. Ten years later, the government is tightening the federal reins.” By Oct. 1, states must figure out how to comply with the rules, but many are having trouble adjusting to the limits on the length of time welfare clients can devote to fighting drug addictions, mental illnesses or getting an education. To avoid federal penalties for having too many welfare cases, some states are exploring the idea of moving certain groups of welfare clients into separate, state-funded programs to insulate them from the new rules. In Maine, welfare officials are debating whether to ask lawmakers to preserve Parents as Scholars as a separate state program. Virtually all welfare clients who graduated from college through this initiative did not return to welfare. Some states are trying to change how their welfare clients spend their time. In Maryland, Marshall Cupe, a case manager in Prince George’s County’s Family Investment Division, is combing through his 400 cases to try to shift people into subsidized jobs, volunteer work or other activities the government will recognize. “States are kind of in a low-grade panic,” said Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/06/AR2006080600879.html

8. Op-Ed: Earned Income Tax Credit Is “Both Efficient and Effective” in Moving People From Poverty

(“This Government Program Actually Works,” seattlepi.nwsource.com, August 6, 2006)

“Many government programs have largely been successful, delivering results,” writes Mark Trahant, editorial page editor, in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. As an example, he points to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which helps low-income working families by refunding money from income or payroll taxes. Trahant is referring to a new study published in the National Bureau of Economic Research Digest that says the program “successfully meets its explicit goal of encouraging low-income parents to go to work by, in effect, lowering their tax rate and providing a financial bonus for that work effort.” In 2002, EITC helped 4.9 million people, including 2.7 million children, break out of poverty. Single mothers in their early 30s with a high school diploma and with fewer than two children benefit from the program the most, qualifying for a federal subsidy equal up to 4.1 percent of their income. EITC is “a government program that moves people from welfare to work – that is both efficient and effective. This is government doing what it says it will do – and producing results that can be measured,” notes Trahant.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/280126_trahant06.html

9. Food Stamp Challenge: Middle-Class Couple Tries to Survive on Food Stamps

(“Dietary Restrictions,” citypaper.net, August 10, 2006)

Philadelphia City Paper reporter, Doron Taussig, and his wife participated in the “Food Stamp Challenge,” a campaign organized by the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger in which middle-class people lived for a week on food stamps. Taussig and his wife used the maximum allowable food stamp benefit of $46.34 for a household of two people for five days worth of food, which came to $1.55 per meal for each person. They drove to a grocery store (which, Taussig notes, might not be an option for many actual food stamp recipients), spent the money on pasta, discounted cereal, eggs, chicken drumsticks and some other simple products and started a week of “relative deprivation.” Food was “no longer fun,” and they missed the foods they were accustomed to. By Thursday, they felt starved because the few dollars left after their shopping could not cover numerous supplementary items like sodas or snacks on the run they typically would buy in addition to basic groceries. Taussig’s wife did not even want to go running because she feared that losing calories from exercising would only make her hungrier. In the end, the couple could not withstand the temptation to go out for dinner on Friday. “Living on food stamps is possible, especially if you have access to an affordable grocery store, but it’s also exceedingly unpleasant: monotonous, unhealthy, enervating, and … fragile,” concludes Taussig.

http://citypaper.net/articles/2006-08-10/cb.shtml

10. Washington, D.C.: Emerson Hunger Fellows Boost Summer Food Program With Fun Ads 

A full page color ad featuring drawings by D.C. participants in the Summer Food Program ran in the Washington Post Express on Aug. 11. The piece resulted from the project that the 12th class of the Congressional Hunger Center’s Emerson Hunger Fellows initiated with the D.C. State Education Office to boost participation in summer meals programs. “Working closely with the D.C. State Education Office, we coordinated drawing and poetry contests for children ages five to 18 at summer meals sites throughout the District,” explained Former FRAC Fellow Larisa Bowman. “We asked the children to artistically express why healthy eating is important to them. After collecting the drawing and poetry entries, we as a class of Fellows then selected several winning pieces to be turned into print and radio advertisements by the D.C. State Education Office. Over the next few weeks, these ads will be displayed in local newspapers and heard on local radio stations across D.C.”

http://www.hungercenter.org/national/12thclassremarks.htm (transcript of Larisa Bowman’s remarks)

For more information about the project, including samples of artwork, see
http://www.hungercenter.org/national/news.htm
http://www.hungercenter.org/national/healthyfooddrawings.htm

11. Texas: Storm Victims in El Paso Need Urgent Help

(“El Paso Officials Say FEMA Aid Threshold Met,” chron.com, August 10, 2006)

A series of storms in El Paso, Texas, completely destroyed 300 homes and left more than $100 million in damages, according to El Paso Mayor John Cook. The city met the $25 million damage requirement for Federal Emergency Management Agency aid, but FEMA’s help is not a guarantee, Cook said. President Bush must declare El Paso a federal disaster area before any federal money comes to the area. Cook and El Paso County Judge Dolores Briones said contingency plans are being developed to help El Paso residents whose homes and property were either destroyed or severely damaged. Some of those plans call for state legislators to help secure low-interest loans and ease state restrictions on applications for food stamps for storm victims.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4109634.html

12. Op-Ed: Missouri Governor Should Request Disaster Food Stamp Program to Provide Food to Storm Victims

(“Blunt Needs to Request Disaster Food Stamp Program,” stlamerican.com, August 2, 2006)

After hundreds of thousands of St. Louis area residents lost all their food in their refrigerators and freezers during recent storm power outages, Gov. Matt Blunt needs to request the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allow the state to implement a Disaster Food Stamp Program, writes Christine Shine, a Hunger Task Force coordinator for the Missouri Association for Social Welfare, in The St. Louis American. “This program has been proven to be life-saving, cost-saving and time-saving in previous disasters” such as Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 attack in New York City and the 1993 flood in Missouri. The program can help low-income residents, including those who usually do not qualify for food stamps, to replace their food supply and get back on their feet. For food stamp recipients, the program automatically replaces the benefits lost due to disaster-related food spoilage within an affected zip code, alleviating red tape that Missourians “have to fight through now to get their Food Stamps replaced,” Shine notes. “By automatically replacing Food Stamps, the state workers … will not have to continue dealing with long lines of people going through the state offices to fill out new forms. This alleviates the state agency’s workload and, in turn, saves the state money.”

13. Hawaii Senior Produce Program Undergoes Reinvention to Serve More Clients

(”Food Bank to Feed All Kaua‘i Seniors, Regardless of Age, Income,” kauaiworld.com, August 3, 2006)

The Kaua‘i Food Bank in Nawiliwili, Hawaii, is revising its Senior Produce Program to feed Kaua‘i’s seniors. “Under the current program, the [U.S. Department of Agriculture’s] grant pays for $300 per senior annually,” said food bank director Judy Lenthall. “In 2007, that amount will be reduced to $50 per senior per year.” This cut in funding led the food bank to revisit the program to come up with a better system. Food bank workers now are preparing clients for the changes. “If I qualify for food stamps, I can use the money I save to buy medicines,” one lady said at a senior center presentation, a comment that the food bank was happy to hear because it encourages clients to sign up for food stamps. The revised program will be distributing fresh produce year-round instead of six months a year and will eliminate the age and income restrictions that were necessary in order to comply with grant requirements. Payment for produce through the program will be done in cash, by check or with food stamps, Lenthall said.

http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2006/08/04/news/news04.txt

14. North Carolina Farmers’ Market Program Will Have Farmers in 33 Counties Accept Food Stamps by Sep. 2008

(“Farmers Markets Get Friendly to Food Stamps,” newsobserver.com, July 24, 2006)

In Durham County, N.C., about 1,000 households receiving food stamps live within a mile of the Durham Farmers’ Market, but they cannot buy fresh fruits and vegetables sold in the market because it does not accept food stamp electronic benefit cards. A test program, “21st Century Farmers’ Markets,” is being set up to change that by building “a link between agriculture and those who are most in need of food,” said Robert Andrew Smith of Leaflight, a nonprofit working on the program with support from the state departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services. “There are not a lot of grocery stores in the downtown, low-income areas,” said Selena Sullivan of DINE for LIFE, a Durham County Health Department food stamp nutrition education program. “Those that exist may not have a good selection of fresh fruits and vegetables at a reasonable price.” The test program will provide food stamp recipients access to fresh food and will allow local farmers to cash in on more than $850 million in food stamp benefits distributed annually across North Carolina. Leaflight hopes to have farmers in 33 counties accepting food stamp cards by Sep. 2008.

http://www.newsobserver.com/145/story/463741.html

15. Editorial: Washington State Lags Behind Nation in Providing Summer Meals to Hungry Children

(“Hunger Knows No Season,” seattletimes.nwsource.com, August 6, 2006)

According to the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, more than 230,000 Washington school children, or one out of three, qualify for free or reduced-price school meals, but only 14 percent, or 35,000 children, receive free summer meals. These numbers “underscore how for many children, the lazy, hazy days of summer are marked by gnawing pangs of hunger,” writes this editorial in The Seattle Times. Although Seattle operates the federally funded Summer Sack Lunch program at more than 120 sites, the need for local subsidies “makes the entire program vulnerable to local budgets. A 100-year-old summer food program that operated in 25 to 30 Spokane parks was recently eliminated to balance the city budget.” Washington’s participation in summer meal programs lags behind the nation, according to the Food Research and Action Center’s 2006 report titled “Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation.” The state should take advantage of a simplified summer food program designed by the government to cut red tape and encourage more rural areas and small towns to sign up. “In addition, a state law requires summer schools with 50 percent of their enrollment eligible for free and reduced-price meals to offer a daily meal,” the newspaper points out.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2003176076_fooded06.html

16. Louisiana State University AgCenter Explains Benefits of School Breakfast

(“Skipping Breakfast Impairs Learning,” sttammany.com, July 14, 2006)

The rush to school and work often leads to excluding breakfast from the morning routine. “Surveys show that as many as 48 percent of girls and 32 percent of boys do not eat breakfast every day,” points out this column by the Louisiana State University AgCenter. Eating breakfast improves students’ problem-solving ability, mental performance, memory and mood. Students think faster and clearer and have better recall, says LSU AgCenter nutritionist Dr. Beth Reames, adding that “breakfast eaters also score higher on tests and have better concentration and muscle coordination.”Hungry children cannot do their best because even short-term hunger decreases attention span and ability to concentrate. Students become easily distracted, fidgety, irritable and tired. Children who eat breakfast are less likely to miss school because of illness than children who do not eat in the morning. “School breakfast is the best option to provide a balanced meal every school morning. … A balanced breakfast such as fruit, cereal and low-fat milk gives a sustained release of energy, which delays symptoms of hunger for several hours.”

http://www.sttammany.com/news-detail/article/532/skipping-bre.html

17. Arizona: Phoenix Elementary Students Get Breakfast in Classroom

(“Valley View School Gets Early Start,” azcentral.com, August 4, 2006)

Parents of students attending Valley View School in south Phoenix found themselves needing to readjust their schedules because the school starts classes at 7:30 a.m., a half hour earlier than last school year, in an attempt to coordinate bus schedules and save on gasoline costs. The school schedule is too early for Mariana Leon. “It causes me to rush more,” she said. But finding time for breakfast shouldn’t be a problem, pointed out Valley View Principal John Wann. All the schools in Roosevelt Elementary School District, including Valley View, now serve breakfast in the classroom. Officials said the breakfast program is expected to save the district $200,000 this school year.

18. Mississippi Office of Healthy Schools Puts Forward “Health is Academic” Initiative

(“District to Serve, Promote Healthier Diet,” gulflive.com, August 6, 2006)

This year the George County School District in Lucedale, Miss., is taking the fat out of french fries and other foods sold in schools as part of its commitment to the “Health is Academic” initiative. The initiative was launched by the Office of Healthy Schools that the Mississippi Department of Education started to make the connection between good health and high academic achievement for students. The office has put forward a number of health initiatives that include nutrition, drug abuse prevention and exercise. “Health is Academic” is a health and wellness program that promotes nutrition and exercise through positive changes in school nutrition and physical activity. Food Service Director Debbie Tillman is planning to replace fried items with baked ones; remove soft drinks from vending machines and fill them with water and flavored water drinks; and offer more salads, whole wheat products and brown rice.

http://www.gulflive.com/news/mississippipress/index.ssf?/base/news/115485942190160.xml

19. California Hospitals Are Not Active Enough in Encouraging Mothers to Breastfeed

(“UCD Study Encourages Mothers to Breastfeed,” dailydemocrat.com, August 8, 2006)

California’s hospitals are not doing enough to encourage new mothers to exclusively breastfeed, according to a survey by the California WIC Association and the University of California, Davis. The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund, as well as other major medical associations, recommend that women breastfeed exclusively for the first six months. The study, which included more than 400 hospitals, indicates that 83 percent of California mothers breastfeed their infants, but only about 40 percent breastfeed exclusively. “It is hospitals’ responsibility to encourage exclusive breastfeeding because we know breastfed babies are healthier and less likely to become overweight,” said Robbie Gonzales-Dow of the California WIC Association. With more than 425,000 California children under 6 being overweight, the state is making breastfeeding campaigns a priority. Nationwide, breastfeeding can prevent about 15 percent to 20 percent of childhood obesity cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_4146349

20. Nebraska: Rising Costs Squeeze Families’ Budgets, Sending More People to Food Pantry Shelves

(“Big Bills Tax Food Bank,” wowt.com, August 9, 2006)

With high gas prices and heating costs squeezing people’s budgets, food banks and pantries in the Omaha ( Neb.) region are in need of help to keep up with increased demand. The rising costs of fuel and the hot weather are driving up prices at the grocery store. Poultry, beef and produce prices have gone up 5 to 6 percent in the past eight months according to one Midwest supplier. The Omaha Food Bank is supplying an additional 300,000 pounds of food to keep up with the increased need this summer. The Outreach Food Pantry has seen a 25 percent increase in the number of families needing food this season. “There are a lot of people out of work right now,” says Viola Jackson-Haag who works for Catholic Charities. All of this puts pressure on pantries, “especially during the summer when there are children at home,” Jackson-Haag says. “Families sometimes have to decide do I buy medication for my family, do I pay the rent?”

http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/3543777.html