The Weekly Food Research and Action Center 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. Economy Finds SNAP/Food Stamp Numbers Soaring in States and Counties

Florida
(Highlands Today, February 6, 2009)
In December 2008, Florida’s SNAP/Food Stamp numbers jumped to 1.8 million, a 29 percent increase from December 2007 when 1.4 million individuals received the benefit. Highlands County saw a 31.7 percent rise, with 10,253 families on SNAP/Food Stamps in December 2008, up from 7,785 families the year before. Applicants can apply online now, through ACCESS – Automated Community Connection to Economic Self-Sufficiency. The state found that people didn’t have the time to apply in person, or thought they weren’t eligible. “Today,” said Carrie Hoeppner of the Department of Children and Families in Orlando, “nearly all of our applications are submitted online.”

Tennessee
(Weakly County Press, January 22, 2009)
An all-time high was hit in November 2008 when Tennessee’s Department of Human Services (DHS) issued $112 million in SNAP/Food Stamps across the state – then the figure climbed to $117 million in December 2008. These dollars go right into the local economy, said DHS communications director Michelle Mowery-Johnson. “I think the Union City Daily Messenger may want to interview a local grocer or two and ask them about the food stamp program and how important it is to their customers and their business,” she noted. The state’s outreach efforts send workers to community and senior centers in order to spread the word about SNAP/Food Stamps to those who are eligible but unaware of the program.

Nevada
(KTNV, February 3, 2009)
In 2007, about 125,000 Nevada residents received SNAP/Food Stamps. Participation has increased steadily over the past year, climbing to 167,000 in November 2008. Understaffed Welfare Division offices across the state are full to capacity with people requesting assistance – so full that the fire marshal does “crowd control.” The Division is looking to hire more people and find creative ways to get families the help they need.

Montana
(Billings Gazette, February 11, 2009)
Since fall 2008, Montana has seen some of its biggest increases in the number of people using SNAP/Food Stamps. Statewide in January 2009, there were 4,197 applications, compared with 3,611 in December 2008 and 3,910 in November 2008. In Yellowstone County, 567 SNAP/Food Stamp applications were filed in January 2009 – including 206 “expedited” applications for applicants without any income. Those numbers will increase, according to Anna Whiting Sorrell, director of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. “The most dramatic increase has been in food stamps,” she noted.

Alabama
(Southeast Sun, February 4, 2009)
Officials estimate that the state’s Coffee County will issue $5 million in SNAP/Food Stamp benefits this year – up from $2 million in 2007. The County’s three workers are straining with an average of 300 applications a month; each worker carries a caseload of about 600 recipients. The SNAP/Food Stamp program director, Debbie Jones, said the current economic situation is the worst she’s seen in her 31 years working with the program. Still, only about 50 percent of eligible county residents receive the benefit. The county currently is doing outreach to senior citizens to make them aware of the program.

Texas
(KVIA, February 11, 2009)
Although federal cash assistance is down 13 percent in El Paso, the city’s SNAP/Food Stamp numbers are up 16 percent, a trend state officials say mirrors other major Texas cities. According to the state’s Health and Human Services Commission, SNAP/Food Stamps are easier to qualify for than cash assistance. SNAP/Food Stamp recipients make up 50 percent of the customers in one downtown El Paso store, according to its owners. The average benefit to recipients is $250 a month, and changes to the program last October meant that more families are eligible.

Washington
(Bellingham Herald, February 11, 2009)
Whatcom County experienced a 25 percent increase in SNAP/Food Stamp recipients over the past year, due to expansion of eligibility requirements and families struggling in the current economy. This jump was higher than the state’s 15 percent increase in the Basic Food program (the state’s name for SNAP/Food Stamps). Although there’s no way of breaking out the exact numbers signing up because of the economy or the new eligibility requirements, the state’s Department of Social & Health Services believes that it is a combination of both factors.

2. NYC Agency SNAP/Food Stamp Approach Called Less Cost Effective than Federal Recovery Package's Simple Lifting of SNAP Time Limit
(The New York Times, February 18, 2009)

A provision in the economic recovery package extends SNAP/Food Stamp benefits to “able-bodied adults without dependents” by waiving a 1996 rule that limited them to only receiving the benefits for three months in a three year period. But, the Bloomberg administration stated that it believes nothing has changed and “that it was not obligated to extend benefits to anyone not enrolled in the Work Experience Program, a workfare program that provides temporary jobs, usually in city agencies.” While the stimulus allows states to require participation in work programs, advocates question the wisdom of doing so. “They are wasting city funds to force people to do sometimes ‘make-work’ jobs in order to get fully funded federal benefits,” said Joel Berg, executive director of the New York Coalition Against Hunger. “Saying that in order to get a measly portion of food you have to work extra hours just doesn’t seem like a way to promote economic growth and promote self-sufficiency,” he added. City Councilman Bill de Blasio agrees. “Instead of putting hungry New Yorkers on a path out of poverty, the city is placing them in unpaid jobs before they can receive federal food aid they would be entitled to anyway.” However, Robert Doar, commissioner of the Human Resources Administration, said the city will be expanding the Work Experience Program rather than allow people who are not working or looking for work to collect SNAP/Food Stamps. FRAC’s legal director Ellen Vollinger questioned why New York would not take full advantage of the SNAP/Food Stamp program, which is funded by USDA, and instead expand the workfare programs. “If they were really interested in maximizing federal resources and minimizing the cost of handling this, then eliminating the time limit would be the cost-effective approach,” said Vollinger.

3. California Counties File Lawsuit Against the State for Funding Delays
(Monterey Herald, February 11, 2009)

California’s $42 billion deficit, coupled with the state’s ongoing budget battle, mean that payments to the counties for social services, like Medi-Cal and food stamps, will be delayed. State Controller John Chiang started to halt checks to counties, saying that the money was needed for other costs. Monterey County joined other counties in the state in a lawsuit against the state and Chiang, protesting the delayed payments. With SNAP/Food Stamp requests up 40 percent, Elliott Robinson, director of county social and employment services, said that the estimated $26.6 million the department is missing out on comes at a particularly bad economic time.

4. Philadelphia Mayor Paves the Way for Federal Nutrition Programs
(Philadelphia Inquirer, February 12, 2009; Philadelphia Inquirer, February 11, 2009)

Philadelphia’s Mayor Nutter traveled to Washington recently to support SNAP/Food Stamp benefits in the stimulus bill, part of an anti-hunger platform he and local advocates have put together to bolster federal nutrition programs in the city. In addition, he said he was confident that the decision to end the city’s 17-year-old Universal Feeding program would be overturned by the Obama Administration. The program provided free breakfasts and lunches to students in 200 of the 280 school district’s schools without the usual paperwork. Studies of the program showed that more students participate in the meals if parents and caregivers didn’t have to fill out forms. Commenting on the program, the mayor said “Children can’t succeed in school and life if their stomachs are empty. It is simply unacceptable for there to be hunger in America.” Mayor Nutter has received praise from anti-hunger advocates, who see him as an ally. Steveanna Wynn, executive director of the SHARE Food Program said “There’s a commitment for the first time ever from a Philadelphia mayor to work with people on hunger…that’s a huge first step.” Philabundance’s director, Bill Clark, said he has met with the current mayor to discuss anti-hunger issues more times than the previous mayor. “Food demand skyrocketed 30 percent this year over last,” said Clark. “There are new kinds of people getting aid – working families.” Clark calls many of them the “silent unemployed” – people who are working reduced hours and bringing home less pay. “Being paid for four to five fewer hours a day is the difference between having enough food and not,” noted Clark. Advocates would like to see the state Department of Public Welfare change SNAP/Food Stamp eligibility from 130 percent of the federal poverty level to 160 percent. Streamlining the SNAP/Food Stamp application process is another of Nutter’s goals; about 100,000 people, many of whom are elderly, are eligible but don’t take advantage of the program, according to Nutter senior advisor Pauline Abernathy. The mayor plans to ask the Obama Administration to do away with applications for the program, in much the same way that the Universal Feeding program is run.

5. Privatized SNAP/Food Stamp, Other Assistance Services, Proves Error-Ridden and Costly for Texas
(Austin American Statesman, February 10, 2009)

Privatized call centers in Texas for SNAP/Food Stamps and Medicaid have come under fire as a backlog of SNAP/Food Stamp applications surfaced and child enrollment in health insurance programs dropped by 80,000. These happened less than a year after the state hired Accenture LLP to handle enrolling needy Texans in these assistance programs as a way of cutting costs. However, after savings never materialized, the state cancelled in 2007 Accenture’s five-year, $899 million contract to handle SNAP/Food Stamp and SCHIP call centers; the state had forecast saving $646 million by giving Texans more program signup options. In addition, the state auditor accused EDS of overbilling Medicaid in 2001 and 2002 by $51 million, and found that the Health and Human Services Commission overpaid Clarendon Insurance Group – an SCHIP contractor - $20 million in 2004; the audit findings are still being negotiated between Clarendon and the state. Critics of privatization have been saying for a while that health and human services should be the last programs a state privatizes.

6. Arizona Legislature Cuts Outreach; Many Eligible Don’t Receive SNAP/Food Stamps
(Tucson Citizen, February 8, 2009)

The Arizona legislature cut SNAP/Food Stamp funds to the Arizona Community Action Association, which conducts outreach for the federal food program, by $50,000 in 2007. The organization lost federal matching funds at the same time, shrinking its budget from $157,000 to $57,000. In this editorial, the move is termed “stomach-turning,” as “consistent underfunding” hampers reaching everyone eligible for food aid. Outreach this year is funded at $28,500 in Arizona (population 6.5 million), while Oregon (population 3.8 million) devotes $433,000 to nutrition program outreach. Consequently, 39 percent of those eligible in Arizona don’t receive SNAP/Food Stamps; in Oregon, that number is 15 percent. The editorial concludes by asking “state officials and legislators who don’t believe food stamp outreach should be a priority” to “Miss a meal. Or two. Or three. Then ask yourselves: For the needy, should the price of ignorance be hunger?”

7. Ohio County Missing Out on Half-Million in School Breakfast Program Funds
(Times-Gazette, February 6, 2009)

Ohio’s Ashland County schools are missing out on more than $500,000 in untapped federal funds due to low student participation in the School Breakfast Program according to Stephen Lilly, vice president of marketing and media at the Children’s Hunger Alliance. With more than 89 percent of students not participating, schools don’t get reimbursed $1.40 for each free breakfast by the Ohio Department of Agriculture. “Once you get into middle school and especially high school, less students enroll in the free and reduced program because they’re worried about people finding out about their situation…it’s a real issue,” said Black River Local Schools Superintendent Janice Wyckoff. Ashland schools use a point system on cards issued to students which parents can load with meal money, so students don’t have to carry cash to school. Upon instituting the card program, schools saw a 10 percent jump in reduced meal participation. The Children’s Hunger Alliance is helping schools develop business models tailored to specific needs to help schools get the most out of the federal nutrition programs, and partners schools with successful districts.

8. New Jersey Agriculture Secretary Urges Organizations to Provide Summer Meals
(Atlantic Highlands Herald, February 4, 2009)

New Jersey’s Acting Agriculture Secretary Alfred W. Murray wants to increase the numbers of students with access to free summer meals; currently, only 12 percent of the state’s 663,000 children in the National School Lunch Program receive free summer meals. Murray is urging organizations to provide low-income children with meals during the summer months when students are away from school-provided breakfasts and lunches. “Having access to nutritious meals is important for school children year-round,” said Murray. “When school is in recess for the summer it is important to have a network of agencies that will provide these critical meals in needy areas throughout our state.”

9. Free Breakfast Served in Classrooms Boost Breakfast Participation
(Newsvine, February 4, 2009)

In 2006-2007, 11 percent of students in Milwaukee, Wisc., participated in school breakfast when schools began serving the meals in classrooms; this year, 33 percent participated. Tampa, Florida’s Hillsborough County Schools saw their participation rate climb from seven percent five years ago, when free breakfasts started being offered, to 29 percent among high school students. While elementary students eat free breakfast before school in the county’s school cafeterias, older students get bagged breakfasts when they get off the bus. In Cleveland, Ohio, Lorain Southview High School watched their participation rate go from 150 students eating breakfast to 900 since last November, when the cafeteria started delivering bagged meals to classrooms. As more children across the country become eligible for free and reduced-price breakfast because of the weakened economy, schools are trying different service methods to get the morning meals to more students. “The dramatic changes in the economy make it even more important for schools to try to break down any barriers preventing qualifying children from participating,” said Rachel Cooper, senior policy analyst at the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). Schools serving classroom breakfast report fewer incidences of tardiness and discipline problems, and increased alertness among students.

10. Long Lines for Assistance Form in New Jersey
(NJ.com, February 8, 2009)

People hit hard by the recession are lining up at county offices across New Jersey to apply for welfare and unemployment benefits, adding to the caseload of already-inundated workers who schedule appointments, some of which are for up to 10 days later. Urban Essex County has some of the longest lines, although lines in rural Salem and suburban Middlesex counties are getting longer every day. Unemployed since October, 45-year-old Nikki Hernez said she has waited in lines all over Essex County; at a recent visit to one office she was told to come back later, as the office was packed with people. The county’s welfare director, Bruce Nigro, forecasts even bigger crowds. “They’ve just extended unemployment for another 13 weeks, but when unemployment runs out, I expect to get hit, probably late spring or early summer,” he said. The executive director of Legal Services of New Jersey, Melville Miller, said that the state could make assistance applications easier to complete, which would help move the process along, and calls on the legislature to approve funding to hire more workers. “The state is ultimately responsible for overseeing a statewide system that works best for the public,” said Miller. “They have to absolutely get smarter, the way they do things to admit large numbers of people who are unquestionably in need.”

11. Wisconsin Takes Over Milwaukee’s Troubled SNAP/Food Stamp & Social Services Call Center
(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 10, 2009)

Residents of Milwaukee, Wisc., have a tough time getting SNAP/Food Stamps, where backlogs are causing recipients to be unjustly dropped from the program. The state recently announced that it will take over management of the county’s call center and poverty benefits offices. But, Sherrie Tussler, head of the Hunger Task Force, says that the state’s plans are “not going to get you a better result.” County Executive Scott Walker – who wanted to outsource the functions – has argued for months with the County Board – which wants to hire more staff. The poverty benefits office requires that people come in to sign forms; the federal rules of this type can be waived, and applicants can verify their identities online or over the phone with the help of new technologies. Tussler polled clients waiting at county offices and found that two-thirds are able to get online. She also said that, if the state really wanted to help, it should take over the whole SNAP/Food Stamp program. In most states, counties don’t administer the program, or staff the offices; consequently, they have lower error rates which translates to lower taxpayer costs. “This isn’t Milwaukee’s fault,” said Tussler, noting that they’re doing the best they can.

12. New York County Extends SNAP/Food Stamp Office Hours
(Newsday, February 11, 2009)

Suffolk County is testing out night hours at social service centers, the result of an executive order issued by County Executive Steve Levy. The order provides for altered hours once each month, as the centers work to improve resident access to social services, especially those working poor with jobs. A recent night hour shift in Suffolk’s Deer Park office saw fewer welfare clients, but more SNAP/Food Stamp and heating applications by the working poor. Officials initially reluctant to shift the hours now term the experiment a success; once per month, four welfare offices operate from noon to 8 p.m. – normal operating hours are 8 a.m to 3 p.m. Deer Park saw 67 SNAP/Food Stamp applicants, up from the January daily average of 39.

13. States Reduce Safety-Net Staffing

(Macon.com, February 13, 2009)
Georgia is set to furlough more Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) workers, adding to the number already furloughed in September 2008, when administrators and managers with salaries above $37,000 a year started taking off two days each month. Some caseworkers started one-day per month furloughs in November. The new round of furloughs will affect SNAP/Food Stamp caseworkers, along with staff serving Medicaid and other social service programs. However, SNAP/Food Stamp participation has increased 22 percent, in spite of the staff cutbacks. SNAP/Food Stamp and Medicaid workers are currently dealing with caseloads of 500 or more. The furloughs are slated to last until June. “One day a month is a lot when you’re paid so little,” said Marjorie Almand, director of the Bibb County DFCS office. “I imagine some of the people who work for welfare (programs) are going to be on welfare.”

(Baltimore Sun, February 13, 2009)
Maryland’s FY 2010 budget cuts 1,875 state jobs across all agencies, with the Human Resources Department and Health and Mental Hygiene Department taking the biggest hits, on top of a seven-year hiring freeze. The departments lost 1,333 and 1,042 full-time positions because of the freeze, according to research done by the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute, which also found that 80 percent of the jobs not filled in Human Resources were those responsible for determining eligibility for SNAP/Food Stamps and other assistance programs. Program applicants suffer because of the “skeletal state infrastructure,” as eligibility documents are lost, phone calls aren’t returned, crowds clog waiting rooms, supervisors and managers are unavailable, and errors increase. Baltimore County’s Department of Social Services has been particularly hard hit. J. Peter Sabonis, acting chief counsel of Maryland Legal Aid and author of this op-ed, asks “Can food stamps put purchasing power in the hands of the working poor if there are no state hands to administer the program?” He also wonders if uncompensated health care can be controlled when eligibility decisions are delayed or in error, in spite of expanded health insurance to the working poor.

(Arizona Republic, February 13, 2009)
Arizona’s Department of Economic Security recently announced furloughs for 9,000 state employees, and warn that a “significant number” of layoffs are around the corner in response to more than $90 million in budget cuts. The Department oversees SNAP/Food Stamps, Child Protective Services, child support enforcement, and other assistance programs. The staffing reductions come at a time when requests for unemployment benefits are overwhelming staff; the state lost 115,000 jobs last year, and agency workers are currently fielding 8,000 calls an hour. David Bliss, a laid-off airplane mechanic, spent several days trying to apply via phone and internet for unemployment compensation. “I’m at the end of my rope,” he said.

14. Pennsylvania’s Unemployed Can Benefit from Other Assistance Programs
(Lebanon Daily News, February 4, 2009)

Midstate Pennsylvania has been hard hit by the recession and plant closings, with Williams-Sonoma, Tyco, Master Brand Cabinets Inc., Circuit City, and Harley Davidson hit with layoffs. The governor is warning state workers of possible furloughs. SNAP/Food Stamps, Low-Income Heat and Energy Assistance (LIHEAP), free and reduced-price school meals and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are some of the assistance programs available to newly-unemployed Pennsylvania residents. Eligibility rules for SNAP/Food Stamps, LIHEAP and CHIP have changed, enabling more people to sign up for the benefits. The Pennsylvania Hunger Action Center can help people sign up for SNAP/Food Stamps, as well as other programs, and can screen callers for eligibility. Calls to their 1-800-634-2033 number are confidential. (Article available through site’s archives.)

15. President of New York Borough Pushes for Healthier Nutrition
(NYU News, February 10, 2009)

Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer is pushing for increased nutrition aid to the borough’s poorer areas with high diet-related health problems. In a new report, Stringer calls for a cap on the number of fast food restaurants, financial incentives to both grocery stores and farmers’ markets to offer more local produce, and increased federal funding for SNAP/Food Stamps, the National School Lunch Program, and emergency food assistance programs, especially for areas like Harlem, South Bronx, and Washington Heights. One in six restaurants offer fast food in East and Central Harlem, where 31 percent of residents are obese and 14 percent are diabetic, compared to the Upper East Side’s one in 25 restaurants that serve fast food. While Greenmarket Farmers’ Market accepts EBT cards, its locations in low-income areas are only open one or two days a week. Agnes Molnar, a consultant with the Food Bank of New York City, supports buying local produce, but notes “[p]eople will always have access to unhealthy food. We have to change the culture and not restrict access to fast food.”

16. Prenatal Exposure to Cocaine Less Damaging than Alcohol or Tobacco Exposure
(The New York Times, January 27, 2009)

While exposing a fetus to cocaine is “undoubtedly bad,” the effects are less severe than those created by exposure to alcohol or tobacco exposure – legal substances more likely used by pregnant women – say experts. “[Y]ou cannot tell” which children, in a doctor’s office or classroom, were exposed to cocaine before birth, said Michael Lewis, professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He noted that other factors – poor parenting, poverty, exposure to violence – are “far more likely” to effect a child’s intellectual and emotional development negatively, while growing up in a stable household does much to ease the damaging effects of prenatal drug exposure. During the crack cocaine epidemic in the 1980’s and 90’s, fears were widespread that a generation of children would be born handicapped by prenatal cocaine exposure. Researchers following children exposed prior to birth have found that the long-term effects of cocaine exposure to these children’s brain development and behavior have been “relatively small.” The findings don’t mean that it is ok for pregnant women to use cocaine during pregnancy “any more than it’s O.K. to smoke cigarettes in pregnancy,” said Boston University pediatrician Dr. Deborah A. Frank. “Neither drug is good for anybody.”

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