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. SNAP/Food Stamps Went to One Out of Ten Americans at Start of 2009
(Reuters UK, April 3, 2009; Fast Company, April 3, 2009)

“A weakened economy means that many more individuals are turning to SNAP/Food Stamps,” noted the Food Research and Action Center as the government’s January 2009 figures showed 32.2 million people received the benefit. The record participation figure “is a reflection of the recession now in its 16th month.” The January figure marks the third time in five months that enrollment set a record. From the previous month (December), numbers increased more than five percent in Vermont, Alaska and South Dakota; Texas (2.984 million enrolled), California (2.545 million) and New York (2.211 million) are the three states with highest enrollment. The figures prompted Fast Company magazine to include the story as one of top six notable items available on the Web. SNAP/Food Stamp benefits are set to increase in April by $80 a month for a family of four as the economic stimulus act takes effect.

2. Oklahoma SNAP/Food Stamp Numbers Rise in February
(The Oklahoman, March 19, 2009)

February SNAP/Food Stamp usage rose in Oklahoma to more than 440,000 residents, a 6.4 increase over February 2008 numbers; additional participants include some first-time recipients and others who had previously left the program but are now back after losing their jobs. While hunger isn’t a unique problem to Oklahoma, “…it’s one that seems to worsen, even in relatively prosperous times,” states this editorial. “Now, with… job losses rising, it’s particularly worrisome. Let’s face it,” the editorial concludes, “The unemployed poor need help – but first of all, they need food.”

3. New York County SNAP/Food Stamp Participation Increases
(Troy Record, April 5, 2009)

New York’s Saratoga County brought additional staff to two SNAP/Food Stamp offices in order to handle the increased demand for the benefit. The number of SNAP/Food Stamp applications in January 2009 – 5,514 – was a 21 percent increase from the previous January’s 4,562 applications. Eleven states across the country reported January 2009 SNAP/Food Stamp participation increases of more than 20 percent from January 2008; nationally, 32.2 million people received the benefit in January 2009. In Saratoga County, the faltering economy has brought a rise in requests for other forms of assistance as well.

4. SNAP/Food Stamp Participation Drops in Indiana Counties with High Unemployment
(Chicago Tribune, March 31, 2009)

The test region for Indiana’s welfare modernization – 12 north central counties – saw SNAP/Food Stamp participation drop 3.5 percent along with numbers for other assistance programs. According to advocates, the decline started in November 2007, when the state replaced individual welfare case managers with call centers and moved services online. In November 2008, unemployment rates in eleven of the twelve counties were higher than the state average of 6.8 percent, according to a county welfare director. In addition, the region had higher unemployment rates than the other three regions experiencing the welfare change in pieces. Counties using the previous, case manager-based system saw SNAP/Food Stamp participation increase 14.3 percent during the same period. Advocates note that the state has lost $100 million in economic activity due to decreased SNAP/Food Stamp and TANF numbers, while the area’s unemployment rate is close to the highest in the nation. “We call the fractured human services in Indiana this state’s Humpty Dumpty,” said Jim Wallihan, president of United Senior Action of Indiana, adding that modernization has kept services from needy children, seniors, and people with disabilities. “Ordinarily in an economy with rapidly growing unemployment, one would expect that the provision of services such as [TANF], food stamps, Medicaid would increase…In fact, the opposite appears to be occurring in Indiana,” said Wallihan. The Indiana Family and Social Service Administration maintains that SNAP/Food Stamp participation increased during the period in the region. (Article - "Critics say welfare changes cost Ind. $100M so far" - available through news site's archives.)

5. SNAP/Food Stamp Limitations May Be Suspended in Los Angeles County
(LA Times Blogs, April 7, 2009)

County supervisors voted recently to pursue temporary waivers that would help thousands of residents in Los Angeles County by modifying income eligibility and asset limits for SNAP/Food Stamps, CALWORKS, and other government benefits included in the economic recovery package. Each month, 19,000 families are denied SNAP/Food Stamps in LA County; a family of four must earn less than $2,297 to qualify for the benefit. “Everyone is talking about bailing out the banks and the big car companies and a lot of people have forgotten about these families,” said Supervisor Gloria Molina.

6. Demonstrations Call for Rhode Island SNAP/Food Stamp Office to Open Saturdays
(Providence Journal, April 5, 2009)

Protesters from the George Wiley Center marched on the state human services office in Providence, Rhode Island recently, calling for officials to open five buildings across the state on Saturday so that the working poor can easily apply for SNAP/Food Stamps. Advocates say that the 97,000 people currently receiving SNAP/Food Stamps in the state are only two-thirds of those who are eligible; the program is currently understaffed they say, and requires applicants to fill out a “daunting” 28-page form. Although the state has hired 10 new workers, advocates say they haven’t started to process applications. According to Wiley Center volunteer Jack Colby, it’s tough to get staff on the phone, although “[t]hey get more training than a NASA astronaut.” Changes implemented by the state include moving to phone applications and a shorter application for senior citizens. The state also sent letters to 20,000 recently unemployed, telling them they may be eligible for SNAP/Food Stamps; it continues to send out 1,000 letters a month.

7. SNAP/Food Stamps Help College Students Weather Recession
(Fox Toledo, April 7, 2009)

More students at the University of Toledo are applying for SNAP/Food Stamps, said David Browning, assistant professor in social work at the school’s College of Health Science and Human Services. The difficult financial times are forcing students to apply for the benefit as well as look for other sources of aid or get part-time jobs so they can continue in school. “There are a number of students who I have had contact with who are receiving assistance,” said Browning, who hopes that the school will, in the future, include SNAP/Food Stamp information in student financial aid packets in addition to making all students aware of the benefit.

8. Some Idaho Teachers Receive SNAP/Food Stamps, Subsidized School Meals for Children
(Boise Weekly, April 8, 2009)

Teachers at a recent public forum at Boise High School regarding state cuts to education noted that some qualify for free and reduced-price meals for their children as well as SNAP/Food Stamps, an acknowledgement that teachers are not paid enough in the state. At the high school meeting, one parent said she’d be willing to pay “a bit more income or sales tax to fund Idaho schools.” Attended by 37 legislators (including many from the budget committee) in addition to the school superintendent, the forum drew more than 600 teachers, parents and citizens, although the meeting carried little “legal weight.” New ideas for school funding [brought up at the meeting] called “into question the wisdom of not allowing the public to weigh in on budgets.”

9. Seder Participants Write Congress Urging Increase in Child Nutrition Reauthorization Funding
(San Jose Mercury News, April 3, 2009)

At “nutritionally oriented” Seders in San Jose, Calif. and across the country, participants are combining Passover with child nutrition advocacy. “There’s a line in the Hagaddah (the Passover prayer book) that says, Let all who are hungry come and eat,” said Diane Fisher, director of the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley. “We wanted to give that some real meaning this year.” Letters to Congress, written by the Seder observers, call for significant investments in the school breakfast and lunch programs, WIC, and other child nutrition programs reauthorized by Congress every five years; the next reauthorization is in 2010. The increase in funding dovetails with President Obama’s goal to eliminate child hunger by 2015.

10. U.S. Bishops Urge Congress to Fund Child Nutrition Programs at $4 Billion Annually
(Sioux City Catholic Globe, April 2009)

A joint letter by the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace and the Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development called on Congress to fund child nutrition programs at $20 billion over the next five years ($4 billion a year) to help make “critical improvements in access, outreach and nutrition” in school meals, WIC and other programs in the upcoming child nutrition reauthorization. “Our faith and moral principles call us to measure economic decisions on whether they enhance or undermine the lives of those most in need,” said Bishops Howard J. Hubbard and William F. Murphy in the letter. The bishops also urged Congress to remember “the least of these” in society through health care, affordable housing, small farm domestic supports, and other programs.

11. Connecticut Could Increase SNAP/Food Stamp Eligibility Limit
(StamfordPlus.com, April 1, 2009)

In her FY 2010-2011 budget recommendations, Governor M. Jodi Rell raises the SNAP/Food Stamp income eligibility limit for Connecticut families from 130 to 185 percent of the federal poverty rate. If passed, more families would qualify. Currently, the income limit for a family of four is $2,297 per month; the new figure would climb to $3,268 for a family of four. More than 230,000 residents currently on SNAP/Food Stamps will also benefit, starting this month, from the increase in benefits provided by the economic recovery act, noted Governor Rell.

12. Recovery and Omnibus Acts Boost Child Nutrition in Maryland
(abc2.com, March 20, 2009; abc2.com, March 26, 2009)

Two pieces of legislation will benefit low-income children in Maryland. The first, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will provide $1,231,398 in equipment assistance grants to school district nutrition programs through the Maryland State Department of Education’s School and Community Nutrition Program. The money, which will be given as grants to schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program, is for the purchase of equipment to improve food safety, enhance meal quality, increase energy efficiency and boost school meal participation. The second piece of legislation, the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act, allows Maryland to expand the afterschool supper program. Schools [and afterschool] programs are now able to receive federal funds to provide suppers to low-income children. “We know students learn better with proper nutrition and for many Maryland children this program could play an important role in their intellectual development,” said Nancy Grasmick, State Superintendent of Schools.

13. Noted Berkeley School Lunch Program Continues and Launches New Push to Boost Participation
(San Francisco Chronicle, March 30, 2009)

Although the three-year grant from Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Foundation, which paid for much of the cost attached to Berkeley School District’s revitalized school lunch program, ended in 2008, the nation’ “most vaunted” school lunch program will continue. Before the grant, parent and classroom volunteer Eric Weaver noted problems at his son’s school; students were stealing teachers’ snacks, which led him to the possibility that these children were hungry. The District hired renowned school chef Ann Cooper, who revamped the program by making everything from scratch and purchasing organic, locally produced food. “[W]e’ve refined the buying down to a science,” said Cooper, adding that this year they’ve lowered the average meal cost by four cents. She noted they’re not cutting corners, “just managing our inventories better, and our people are so well trained that there is very little waste.” Still, participation is an issue – Cooper estimates that the program would break even if 70 more students participated in lunch each day across the district. Berkeley schools have started promoting lunch through banners, posters and “a big push at school board and PTA meetings.” Kate Adamick of Orfalea Fund’s Cool Food Initiative sees Berkeley as a role model for the entire country. “We have a moral obligation to teach our children how to feed themselves healthfully,” she said. Obesity and poor nutrition are the leading cause of childhood diseases, including Type 2 diabetes. About 30 percent of the nation’s children are overweight. Educators must set the bar high, said Juliet Sims of the Prevention Institute, since children consume between 30 to 50 percent of their daily food intake at school.

14. Research Study to Focus on Nashville’s WIC Program
(Nashville Business Journal, April 1, 2009)

Edge Healthcare Research will study the nutritional intake of participants in Nashville’s WIC program by administering a statewide survey of 150,000 participants through focus groups, phone surveys and in-person interviews. The outcome will be a study which determines how WIC participants use food suggestions, and will help the Tennessee Department of Health determine what to include in the new WIC food package guidelines slated to take effect in October. Edge Healthcare Research works with hospitals, health care companies and government health departments, focusing solely on health care. Jim Toth, Edge’s president, said that getting input from consumers is important to help the state provide food they will actually consume, and will reduce waste in the system.

15. Stimulus Plan Will Help Rural Families Buy Homes
(Charlotte Observer, April 1, 2009)

Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Eastern North Carolina recently to announce $1.2 billion in stimulus funding that would help rural families across the country purchase homes. Rural areas have been hit hard by the recession, losing 3.4 percent of their jobs in 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Rural Policy Research Institute. By comparison, metropolitan areas lost 2.8 percent of their jobs in 2008. “[W]e think this is an opportunity to showcase what the Recovery Act is doing specifically in state to create jobs and improve the quality of life in rural communities,” noted Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

16. Hunger Rates Rising WorldWide
(Anderson Cooper 360 blogs, April 3, 2009)

According to this blog posting, FRAC’s report that one in ten Americans receive SNAP/Food Stamps – 32.2 million recipients in January 2009 – “illustrates the daily economic struggles American families are facing, and when we are suffering here at home, it can often be difficult to remember the needs of those beyond our borders.” The number of hungry across the globe grew in 2007 to nearly 1 billion people – that’s one in six – and they “aren’t people who will have to eat at home more or buy cheaper groceries.” The hungry worldwide don’t have enough to eat in order to maintain a level of basic health; hungry children’s growth is stunted, and many have brain damage when they lack the necessary nutrients in their early years. The posting points out that “[w]hen Americans hit hard times, services like unemployment insurance and food stamps are available to ensure that individuals’ basic needs are met. But in the poorest countries, these social programs simply don’t exist.”

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