1. Job Loss Slowed in April, But Workers Still Earning Less
(Economic Policy Institute, May 14, 2008)

April's consumer price index shows that blue collar workers - who make up 80 percent of the workforce - continue to lose ground in their earnings and hours worked. April's figures also show that real weekly earnings are dropping faster than real hourly earnings because of less hours worked. Real hourly earnings declined 0.7 percent, while weekly earnings fell 1.0 percent. Average paychecks have been declining since October 2007, reducing worker purchasing ability for the seventh month in a row.

2. Salaries for State's Low-Wage Workers Rise Ten Cents in Thirty Years
(Richmond Times Dispatch, May 11, 2008)

While the highest paid workers in Virginia are earning $10.58 more an hour in 2006 than in 1979, the income for low-wage workers only rose a dime during the same time, according to a study by the Commonwealth Institute. Michael Cassidy, the Institute's executive director stated that "…despite growing worker productivity, we have seen declining median wages in recent years, which means workers are not being rewarded for the work…which has led to growth in our economy." The Institute, created in 2004 by a number of Virginia's social services organizations, found that the lowest paid 10 percent of workers in the state received $7.54 in 1979, and $7.64 in 2006. The top 10 percent made $38.36 an hour in 2006, up from $27.78 in 1979. The study also found that education was key to the wage growth disparity. From 1979 to 2006, the median wage for workers with less than a high school education grew by only 1.52 percent. The median wage for workers with a bachelor's degree or higher increased by 28.5 percent.

3. Twenty Missouri Farmers' Markets to Accept EBT Cards by 2009
(Columbia Tribune, May 15, 2008)

The Missouri Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant program is providing wireless EBT and debit card terminals to farmers' markets across the state in order to encourage low-income people to use their food stamps to purchase locally-grown food. In addition, the program is looking to boost sales at farmers' markets. The Columbia Farmers' Market is one of 20 markets slated to start accepting the computerized form of payment next month. "It's always great to be able to serve a broader customer base and give customers more options," said market manager Caroline Todd, who applied for the grant last year. "We have a very broad customer base, with all types of people with all types of income."

4. State Food Stamp Roundup - Higher Participation Numbers, but Benefits' Purchasing Power Reduced

States across the country continue to see an increase in the number of people using food stamps. According to an editorial in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the increased numbers are an indisputable sign that the country is in a recession, more so than the usual federal measurement methods of GDP and consumer confidence. More and more residents feel the crunch of the ongoing economic crisis - USA Today reports that 27.5 million Americans now rely on food stamps, the highest since 1994.
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 19, 2008)

ILLINOIS: The number of food stamp recipients in Illinois has reached record levels, alarming some state agency officials. In March 2008, 592,390 households in the state received food, up from 571,148 in 2007. "Families are running into financial difficulties… people are paying more for almost everything, but they aren't being paid more," said Marielle Sainvilus with the Illinois Department of Human Services. "There are so many people living on the edge," said Diane Doherty with the Illinois Hunger Coalition. "It doesn't take much to push them off." Accompanying the story, the Tribune featured a short history of the Food Stamp Program, which started as an "orange stamp" program in 1939. President Kennedy issued an executive order in 1961 that announced food stamp pilot programs. It became a nationwide program in 1974.
(Chicago Tribune May 16, 2008; food stamp history available through Chicago Tribune archives.)

MICHIGAN: In Genesee County, many families on food stamps choose to either fill their pantries or fill their car gas tanks. "As food costs and costs in general continue to rise, people have to make decisions when it comes to basic needs," said Bill Kerr, president of the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan. "And with foods cost escalating, the money budgeted for food goes toward even less than it did just days before." The state has experienced a 53 percent increase in food stamp recipients since 2003. In March 2008, 1.26 million Michigan residents (590,600 households) used food stamps, with one in five Michigan children residing in qualifying households. Genesee County saw its food stamp caseload numbers rise by 268 families between March and April of this year.
(Flint Journal May 15, 2008; Detroit Free Press May 11, 2008)

NEW JERSEY: Food stamp recipients, running out of the benefit in two weeks due to the current high food prices, rely on food pantries to get them to the end of each month. The average family of four in the state receives $357 worth of food stamps a month, but the Department of Human Services estimates it takes $766 a month to feed that family based on a "moderate-cost food plan" calculated by USDA. Food stamps are intended as a supplement, but more and more families are relying on them to pay their entire food bill each month. Meara Nigro of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey says that some relief will come from the Farm Bill, which increases the minimum food stamp benefit from $10 to $14 a month and indexes it to inflation, as well as raises the income limit to qualify for the program. The FoodBank has experienced a 16.5 percent increase in users from December 2007 to March 2008, as compared to the same time period a year ago.
(RedOrbit.com May 20, 2008)

TEXAS: The state's new TIERS computer system, responsible for food stamp enrollment, has created a backlog of applications. USDA had warned the state about the new system after TIERS cases took longer to process, lagging significantly behind the older computer system's cases. Consequently, too many approvals are taking too long, and call center performance has been spotty. USDA's Food and Nutrition Service approved an expansion of TIERS, but only to 22 percent of food stamp cases. Currently, 13 percent of cases are in TIERS, according to commission spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman.
(Austin American Statesman May 16, 2008)

GEORGIA: More senior citizens will be eligible for food stamps owing to changes in eligibility. In Georgia, the food stamp participation rate among seniors is only 7 percent. State outreach efforts are targeting senior centers and churches in an effort to enroll more seniors who need the help. "We are continually looking for ways to let more people know they are eligible," said Batisa Edwards, program director of Food and Nutrition.
(EMaxHealth.com May 5, 2008)

WASHINGTON, DC METRO AREA: Food stamps, along with fuel and other government assistance programs, are seeing sharp spikes in application numbers due to high food and fuel prices and the sluggish economy. The numbers are coming from Maryland and Virginia's more affluent suburbs. Maryland's Montgomery County saw a 17 percent increase in food stamp requests from January through March; Prince George's County applications were up 21 percent, and Prince William County's rose 12 percent. DC's increase was 6 percent. Virginia's Loudon County experienced a 27 percent increase, and food stamp and Medicaid requests were up 25 percent in Arlington County over the past year. The area's low wage workers are finding it difficult to locate second and third jobs to augment their income, in spite of the region's low unemployment rate. Arlington Employment Center director Howard Feldstein has noted 27 percent more people are looking for work now than when the year began. "Those extra jobs aren't out there right now. It has a direct impact on people's lives," he said.
(The Washington Post, May 2, 2008)

5. Farmers' Market Wins Food Stamp Award
(WTNH May 17, 2008)

USDA's "Golden Grocer" award, given to one farmers' market each year for exemplary work in serving food stamp clients, went to Connecticut's City Seed organization this year. City Seed runs a number of farmers' markets, and has accepted EBT cards from food stamp recipients, as well as WIC participants, for the past four years. In addition, the organization has begun sharing its expertise in serving low-income shoppers with other farmers' markets in the state.

6. U.S. Commonwealth Requests More Food Stamps
(Marianas Variety, May 19, 2008)

The Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the U.S., is expected to request an increase in food stamp funding to cope with worsening economic conditions. The boost in funding - from $9 million to $13 million - will help the commonwealth provide food and nutrition assistance to the increasing numbers of residents seeking help. The program currently serves 7,000 clients, representing more than 2,000 households. Melvin Faisao, acting Secretary of the Department of Cultural Affairs, said he hopes the new congressional delegate will ask the federal government to increase funding for the senior food nutrition meal program, child care development, and indigenous language maintenance and preservation.

7. Ohio's Children on Medicaid Missing Out on Lead Poisoning Tests
(Columbus Dispatch, May 11, 2008)

Children covered by Medicaid in Ohio are among those in most danger of lead poisoning. While Medicaid rules require blood-lead testing for children ages 1 and 2, only half are getting screened. In 2006, 54 percent of Medicaid-covered children in Ohio were not tested - 86,500 in all. The Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group estimated, in 2004, that 13,300 children (including those with insurance coverage) in Ohio had lead poisoning, but didn't have tests. Across the country, Centers for Disease Control estimated, in 2001, that 79 percent of this age group were not tested, while 535,000 Medicaid-covered children had high lead levels. Ohio officials have said they're working to increase testing rates, but find their hands tied when parents and doctors don't cooperate.

8. Short-Term Payday Loans Cause Families Long-Term Financial Problems
(Chicago Tribune, May 12, 2008)

Even though he worked three jobs, Chicago resident Kirk Donald found he sometimes had to go without food, part of a number of strategies he had to work with in order to pay back exorbitant payday loan percentage rates - 701 percent in his case - in 4½ months. Although Illinois law limits short term payday loan rates to 403 percent annual interest for loans up to 120 days, and limits borrowers to taking out two of these loans, lenders have steered borrowers to 121 day loans or longer, which do not carry these legal safeguards. Consumer advocates are working to close this legal loophole, so that borrowers won't have to rely on emptying savings and insurance policies and borrow from friends and other family members to pay back loans. Some loans can carry 1,000 percent interest rates. And experts are seeing more and more higher-income consumers resorting to payday loans in the face of today's troubled economy.

9. Eastern Maine Mirrors Developing Countries in Lowered Life Expectancy
(Boston Globe, May 20, 2008)

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Washington have found that projected lifespans for women in Washington County, Maine (along the eastern part of the state) slid downward from 1983 to 1999. Most Americans were living longer - more than seven years longer during the period 1960 to 2000. In addition, 3 percent of women in all U.S. counties experienced this downward trend in life expectancy, usually found in developing countries. Remote eastern Maine, while possessing rich natural resources and beautiful landscapes, also has a very high poverty rate, and residents find it difficult to make ends meet due to the lack of jobs. Unemployment affects more than 11 percent of residents, twice the state average, and 19 percent live below the poverty line, with 16 percent lacking health insurance. Milbridge resident Dolly Jordan lived a lifetime of poverty, feeding her children macaroni and ketchup dinners when tomato sauce was too expensive; she's now 61, obese, with high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as wheelchair dependent from an accident 16 years before. She receives $97 monthly in food stamps, but is not able to get out to see a doctor often, or exercise, mirroring the situation many others in the county face. The county health center has seen success with getting people to exercise after installing an indoor walking track, but recent attempts to boost the local economy through casino development and a planned ecotourism center have failed. Public health officials describe many residents as living in a state of hopelessness.

10. Maine's "Perfect Storm" Encourages Food Stamp Economic Development Boost
(Bangor Daily News, May 13, 2008)

The combination of high food prices and the poor labor market have hit residents of Mount Desert Island, Maine, forcing many to rely on the local food pantry to get by. The food pantry distributed $6,000 in food vouchers on one recent Sunday, prompting political economist and Southwest Harbor resident John Buell to reflect on the problem in this editorial. With a rising unemployment rate - 5.1 percent in March - and a job market unable to support the working class, Buell sees those affected as having to mount "insurmountable obstacles" of rising prices just to live. He sees a Food Stamp Program boost as not only practically and morally justified, but much simpler to administer than IRS-generated tax rebates. He also quotes Andrew Levine in Salon to support his claim: "Food stamps are administered through debit cards - at the flip of an electronic switch benefits can be boosted, with the advantage of being perfectly targeted at those most likely to need help in an economic downturn," writes Levine, who also notes the $1.84 in economic activity generated by every $1 in food stamp benefits spent. Buell ends by commenting that Maine's food pantries will continue to strain under the increasing pressures to provide food to hungry residents. "Food security," he writes, "…should be a fundamental right not dependent on the good will of neighbors." "At the very least," he concludes, "the next stimulus package…should greatly enhance the food stamp program."

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