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 Stamp Participation at Record Levels for Third Month
(Reuters, May 4, 2009)

National participation in the SNAP/Food Stamp program rose to record levels for the third month in a row as 32.55 million people received the benefit in February, a 17 percent increase (4.8 million people) from February 2008, according to figures released by USDA. Enrollment from January to February was up in 43 states, and five states (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Rhode Island, Wisconsin) saw increases of more than 3 percent. One in 10 Americans now receive SNAP/Food Stamps, although not all eligible residents receive the benefit. “Currently, one in three eligible people are missed,” reports the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). An enrollment campaign, notes FRAC, would “help maximize the federal recovery dollars available to help local families and businesses.” The top three states for enrollment were Texas (2.93 million), California (2.59 million) and New York (2.25 million).

2. Child Nutrition Reauthorization to Take Up CACFP and Other Child Nutrition Programs
(Center for Law and Social Policy, April 2009)

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is one of the programs set to be reviewed this year by Congress as part of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act. According to the Food Research and Action Center, 3.2 million children in child care settings receive healthy meals and snacks through CACFP annually. CACFP’s benefits provide nutrition assistance to nearly 50,000 child care centers and more than 140,000 family child care providers. Children in care settings reimbursed through CACFP receive up to two meals and a snack each day, and child care providers receive nutrition training and assistance to make sure the food served reaches the program’s high nutrition standards. Any changes to the program need to focus on improving access and nutrition quality, as more and more low-income families struggle during the recession.

3. Recovery Act Funds Should Support Healthy Nutrition and Public Health Programs
(California Progress Report, April 2009)

California has been a public health leader with its policy innovations which removed sodas from schools and created tobacco-free workplaces, notes this editorial. Still, the state suffers from huge medical expenditures from overweight, obesity and physical inactivity among its residents. Governor Schwarzenegger and the Administration, however, have help fighting these problems through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which provides funding for a “down-payment on the health and well-being of all Californians.” This editorial calls on the Governor, Legislature and state departments to use ARRA funds to:

- “Support healthy community environments (e.g., healthy food retail, parks and recreation, complete streets, and school facilities).
- Prioritize access to healthy food and safe drinking water in high-need communities.
- Create and maintain safe recreation and physical activity opportunities where access is limited.
- Make nutrition and physical activity infrastructure an integral part of school-modernization efforts.
- Maximize the flow of federal dollars into the state for programs that are federally funded, promote health and stimulate spending, such as WIC and food stamps.
- Prioritize use of ARRA's Prevention and Wellness Fund to support community-based initiatives-an opportunity to build on the Governor's recommendation for community makeovers.”

The payoffs are huge – the state can save $1.7 billion in health care from a 5 percent decrease in diabetes and cardiovascular disease – if it invests in the “health-promoting infrastructure in under-resourced communities.”

4. New USDA Under Secretary Supported Education and Outreach in Oregon
(Blue Oregon, April 27, 2009)

In his previous job, Kevin Concannon, President Obama’s pick for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, supported outreach to let the public know that tax dollars play an important role funding assistance programs. This editorial notes that Concannon, the former director of Oregon’s Department of Human Services, “really understood the need to teach Oregonians about the important role of tax dollars in the lives and economy of Oregonians. That’s why he’s a perfect fit for the Obama team.” Concannon will not only be the top USDA official in charge of SNAP/Food Stamps, he will also lead the President’s effort to reduce hunger for children and adults as well as improve their nutrition. [Editor’s Note: Kevin Concannon also served as Iowa’s former state human services director.]

5. Cincinnati SNAP/Food Stamp Rate Rises with Poverty Rate
(Cincinnati Business Journal, May 1, 2009)

Ohio’s Hamilton County experienced an 18 percent rise in SNAP/Food Stamp recipients, up from the March 2008 total - 81,319 recipients - to the March 2009 figure of 95,589 recipients. A rise also occurred in the poverty rate, with the greater Cincinnati area having an estimated14,000 more people in poverty this year than last year. The number of people showing up at the county’s Department of Job and Family Services rose 24 percent as 55,968 people passed through the agency lobby in March 2008. Emergency food providers report increases as well – with a 27 percent increase in beneficiaries at the Freestore Foodbank since April 2008. A business-led regional planning initiative titled Cincinnati’s Agenda 360 hopes to bring all local households to income levels that are at least 250 percent of the federal poverty line by 2020.

6. SNAP/Food Stamp Requests Increase as California Cuts Social Services Budget
(Contra Costa Times, April 29, 2009)

California’s $47.3 million budget deficit is clashing with increasing numbers of people requesting SNAP/Food Stamps and cash assistance in San Bernardino County. “Because there’s so much increased demand, and the state’s not making up the deficit, we don’t have enough staff to do the work, and that creates delays in getting the benefits to clients,” said Linda Haugan, assistant county administrator. The recession has forced many working families to ask for help – the number of two-parent families requesting SNAP/Food Stamps and cash rose 67.5 percent over the past year. One in four county residents currently receive public assistance; last year, one in five received assistance. Over the past eight years, the county’s Human Services Agency eliminated 1,329 positions. The county’s unemployment rate for February (11.9 percent) was higher than the state’s (10.5 percent); the county’s rate is expected to climb to 13.5 percent by December. California’s SNAP/Food Stamp caseload increased 15.3 percent to 1,021,805 recipients between September 2007 and September 2008. SNAP/Food Stamps and other public assistance programs stimulate local economies. For human service programs, every dollar spent generates $1.32 in economic activity.

7. Economy Forces More Minnesotans to Seek SNAP/Food Stamps
(Southwest Review News, April 27, 2009)

Minnesota’s Dakota County saw an 18.6 increase in SNAP/Food Stamp enrollment between February 2008 and February 2009, driven by rising numbers of unemployed and residents struggling with the economy. The national average increase was 16 percent. The current county staff processing applications has been in place for a number of months, consequently, they’re better able to handle the increased workload notes Dennis Anderson, deputy director for public assistance programs. “We have people who know what they’re doing,” said Anderson of the staff that also is processing more healthcare assistance requests. “They are struggling [with the growing load of work], but they are very good and they do their best.” In Ramsey County, assistance requests have increased to such an extent that the 300 county financial assistance employees, who used to process applications in 8 to 10 days last year, now find they’re processing applications – for SNAP/Food Stamps and other assistance – in 40 days. “Staff have higher levels of stress than at any time in my 17 years of working in the county,” said Dave Haley of Ramsey County Human Services. And in Washington County, “Our caseloads are increasing; they’ve almost doubled [since the beginning of the recession], said Nina Arneson, Workforce Center supervisor.

8. Farmers’ Market in Washington State Starts Accepting EBT Cards
(Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber, April 29, 2009)

The Local Farms – Healthy Kids Initiative, passed by the Washington State legislature in 2008, provided $50,000 through the farmers’ market association to help markets develop the capacity to accept EBT cards. Vashon’s farmers’ market, one of the 20 markets selected, received $2,100 in grant money to cover the EBT machine cost and provide outreach. The market can now sell to SNAP/Food Stamp recipients, and a boost sales as well. Markets accepting EBT cards have seen sales boosts of 10 to 30 percent. Vashon Island had 130 SNAP/Food Stamp recipients in January – a number likely higher now – who can now use their benefits at the market. While many on SNAP/Food Stamps have avoided the market because of perceived higher food prices, the market plans to direct SNAP/Food Stamp customers to bargains and help them get the most for their benefit dollars.

9. Classroom Breakfast Brings Positive Changes to School
(Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 4, 2009)

School officials credit serving breakfast in the classroom to first through fourth graders at Atlanta’s Slater Elementary School with boosting breakfast participation, reducing tardiness, increasing attendance, and reducing disciplinary problems. Selena Dukes-Walton, Slater’s principal, notes she used to collect four pages of late students, but after two months of in-classroom breakfast, during which participation increased from 280 to 400 students, she now only has half a page. Sodexo Jackmont began the program in March after the company, which provides food service to Atlanta schools, noticed Slater’s high number of low-income students. Ninety-eight percent of Slater’s 557 students are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. Next year, the program expands to all Slater students, and will include five more schools. Schools across the country are investigating ways of getting more children to eat breakfast at school, especially those who qualify for free and reduced-price meals. “For a lot of children, school meals are their only guaranteed meal for the day,” said Rachel Cooper, senior policy analyst at the Food Research and Action Center. “And as more families struggle in this economy, having a free and reduced-price breakfast program becomes even more important.”

10. Schools Ignore Nutrition, Physical Education Standards, Enabling Obesity
(The New York Times, May 1, 2009)

This letter to the editor, by Herbert Pardes, president and chief executive of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, comments on the editorial Selling Obesity at School and argues that obesity is also caused by schools ignoring state and national school nutrition and physical activity standards. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 3.8 percent of elementary schools require daily physical education, and only 7 percent of schools, according to USDA, meet all recommended dietary guidelines. “Schools need to put the same emphasis on health as they do on mathematics and science before today’s overweight child becomes tomorrow’s obese adult,” Pardes concludes.

11. Virginia Sees Spike in Number of Homeless Children
(Winchester Star, April 25, 2009)

The economy is driving up the number of Winchester, Va.’s homeless children, who are victims of parents struggling with job losses, missed mortgage payments and spreading poverty. During this school year, more than 200 of the area’s students became homeless. Schools and social workers are teaming up to help out, discreetly informing parents of services like SNAP/Food Stamps, low-income housing, child care benefits, welfare-to-work programs, and in some cases abuse intervention. The students are “already feeling embarrassed, and sometimes disenfranchised,” said Dick Plaugher, student support services director for Frederick County Public Schools. “We don’t want to bring a scarlet letter on these kids that says: ‘I’m homeless.’” Tent cities have appeared in multiple locations around Winchester, close to Salvation Army and Red Cross buildings and in vacant lots. Aid workers say they they’re not sure if children are living in tents at this time, although they have seen toys outside some tents recently.

12. Southern California’s Meals on Wheels Program Struggles to Serve Seniors
(NPR Marketplace, April 24, 2009)

While other Southern California Meals on Wheels programs have had to cut back, the St. Vincent Meals on Wheels program has added clients, including a South Los Angeles route where the 80-year-old recipients have been on the waiting list for over a year. In LA, the program serves 4,300 meals a day delivered by 34 vans. Still, the waiting lists across the country grow, as 11.4 percent of seniors – five million in number - are at risk for hunger. The recession, while hitting many through job losses and unemployment, also affects older citizens and the disabled. With charities serving these populations also feeling the squeeze, big holes are appearing in safety nets across the country.

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