1. Food Inflation Rising Faster for Low-Income Families
(National Journal, June 11, 2008)

In a press event on rising food and energy prices with Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Robert Casey, Jr., (D-Pa.), FRAC President Jim Weill noted that while the United States has seen a 5 percent increase in overall food costs, there has been a 7.2 percent increase in the cost of food items that make up a typical diet for a low-income family. Stabenow and Casey cited provisions in the recently passed Farm Bill for food and nutrition assistance as a positive move. In particular, Casey cited the expansion of eligibility for food stamps as helpful for families. (Complete article available by subscription to National Journal.)

2. USDA Moving Forward on Farm Bill Provisions
(Brownfield Network, June 9, 2008)

While the Farm Bill travels again from Congress to the White House, USDA is “very, very busy making sure we get these programs on the ground…in the best possible way for producers,” according to U.S. Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner. The trade title – the optional revenue-based support program - was the only portion missing on the bill’s first trip to the President. USDA sees the bill as law at this point, “as a result of the override” vote in Congress, Conner said, and mentioned that the implementation team has already been formed.

3. Advocates and Grocery Store Owners Argue Over EBT Fees
(Chicago Tribune, June 10, 2008)

A program that reimburses grocery stores for every food stamp EBT card transaction is under fire in Iowa, and a legislative committee is tasked with sorting it all out. The state’s Department of Human Services wants to eliminate the fee, claiming EBT expense is part of a grocery store’s cost of doing business. Advocates agree, especially since grocery stores already pay service charges for processing debit and credit cards on non-food stamp purchases. Grocery store owners claim that the money will need to be made up somewhere, and the cost will be passed on to taxpayers. Currently, the state pays store owners 7 cents on every food stamp transaction, the highest rate of the six states nationwide providing reimbursements. Grocery stores already make money on food stamp purchases, critics say, as they will profit from $290 million spent by 250,000 food stamp recipients on groceries in Iowa this year. Rep. Wayne Ford, D-Des Moines, commented “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much fighting over Food Stamps and poor people.”

4. Gentrification Means Suburbs Seeing Higher Food Stamp Use
(Portland Tribune, June 10, 2008)

Food stamp use is rising in Portland, Oregon’s suburbs as more low-income residents move out of the city and into neighboring Hillsboro, Gresham and Clackamas Counties. The city of Portland itself only saw a small increase. Food stamp use rose 6.8 percent over the past year statewide, but between April 2007 and 2008, food stamp use in Multnomah County (which includes Portland) increased by only 1.7 percent. Commenting on the numbers, Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force executive director Patti Whitney-Wise said “It just makes sense. As (housing) costs go up you are going to get more and more folks pushed out to those outer areas. Because of the cost of living they’re already on the edge, so as the economy goes down more of them are going to need assistance.” Unemployment in the outer areas contributes more to the rise in food stamp numbers than high food and fuel prices, according to Michael Leachman, policy analyst for the Oregon Center for Public Policy. “I think it’s a combination of the demographic changes and the real strength of the Portland economy,” he said.

5. Elderly, Disabled Food Stamp Client Numbers are Up
(WHKP June 9, 2008)

More of North Carolina’s elderly and disabled in Henderson County are turning to food stamps to help them get by. The county’s Department of Social Services (DSS) expects to serve 6,222 elderly and disabled clients by the end of the fiscal year; last year, they served 4,698 individuals from these populations. The numbers of children served are up also, with an estimated 16,797 served this year as opposed to 15,490 during 2005-2006. Children receiving Medicaid benefits are included in those numbers. Sandy Morgan of the DSS personally believes the increased numbers are due to the tough economic climate and not tied to population growth. (Article available through site’s archive.)

6. More are Living Below the Poverty Line in Ohio
(Toledo Blade, June 10, 2008)

A study based on data collected up to three years ago showed 13.3 percent of Ohio residents lived below the poverty line, with Lucas County exhibiting a 17.5 percent poverty rate. As the economy has worsened over the past years, even more of the 11.5 million Ohio residents live in poverty, raising the numbers higher than before the 1960’s “War on Poverty” began. Food stamp use in the state has doubled since 2001 and is now at 1.1 million recipients. Unemployment isn’t the culprit, according to Community Research Partners executive director Roberta Garber. “Somebody can be in a job making $10 an hour and if they work full time, they will still be below the poverty line,” she said. The study, titled “The Real Bottom Line: The State of Poverty in Ohio 2008” was done for the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies.

7. Presidential Candidate with Answer to Steep Food Prices May Carry Region in Pennsylvania
(Associated Content, June 9, 2008)

Middle class residents of Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania who are feeling the effects of what MSNBC calls the worst food inflation in 17 years aren’t able to take advantage of federal food programs like food stamps, WIC, and school lunch and breakfast programs. According to this article, they may turn to the Presidential candidate with the best plan for curbing food inflation, which was 4 percent in 2007 and estimated to be 4.5 percent in 2008 (the usual rate is 2.5 percent). Residents eligible for federal assistance may vote the same way, as food stamps, WIC and other programs, while helpful, also carry their own limitations. WIC is available to a narrow range of the population; the purchasing power of food stamps, slated to get a small increase come October, gets lower as food prices rise; and with schools out for the summer, parents of children receiving free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch now have the extra expense of providing those meals five times each week.

8. Twenty Percent of New Jersey Residents Require Some Public Assistance
(The Jewish Standard, May 30, 2008)

According to the report “The Real Cost of Living in 2008: The Self-Sufficiency Standard for New Jersey,” issued by Legal Services of New Jersey’s Poverty Research Institute, one in five residents are not able to survive without some form of public assistance. Across the state, the percentage totals 1.68 million adults and children, prompting some to begin using the term “recession” to describe the current economic climate. The state’s $7.15 hourly minimum wage does not provide enough income to live on, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs is promoting its Confronting Poverty initiative, developed to “enhance and coordinate anti-poverty activism taking place in communities around the nation [and] ensure that poverty becomes a first-tier issue in the 2008 Presidential campaign.” While the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty estimates 200,000 New York Jews live in poverty, experts believe that many Jews in New Jersey also struggle with poverty today, due to the “economy-created workplace situation…exhibiting the worst characteristics we’ve seen over the past 30 to 35 years,” according to a workplace coach in Teaneck, NJ. Yelena Tishchenko, head of adult case management department at Bergen County’s Jewish Family Service, fears the middle class is almost extinct, as “People with decent salaries can’t afford simple, basic living,” and sees things as much worse “…for someone who is sick, with children, and no health insurance.” With demand for services high, especially among the newly-employed and other who have lost their homes, JFS currently has a waiting list for its Kosher Meals on Wheels program.

9. Food Stamps Available for Flood Victims
(WANE, June 13, 2008)

Indiana residents in eight counties who are victims of recent floods could be eligible for food stamps, even if they would not normally be able to receive the benefit. Through the Disaster Food Stamp Program (DSFP), which the USDA has approved to be implemented in those counties, residents who live or work in affected areas may receive assistance and can apply beginning June 14. Specific DSFP eligibility requirements include residents with homes or belongings damaged or destroyed who have un-reimbursed disaster-related expenses, or those who have lost food, money and income due to the floods. "The emergency measures allow our local Division of Family Resources offices to determine eligibility for victims based on available income, minus shelter and disaster related expenses," said Indiana Family and Social Services Administration Secretary Mitch Roob. "All resources except cash on hand and bank accounts will be excluded from the eligibility determination."

10. Farmers’ Market Accepting Food Stamps – A First for Columbus Area
(Columbus Dispatch, June 14, 2008)

Food stamp recipients in the Columbus, Ohio area can now redeem their benefits at the South Side Farmers’ Market, which is promoting the fact that it’s the only farmers’ market in the area to accept food stamps. The market wants to provide healthy, affordable food to South Side residents, and plans to provide healthy eating education to adults and children who reside in the markets’ ZIP code, an area with “really poor nutrition and …high rates of obesity,” according to Julie Accetta of the Children’s Hunger Alliance.

11. Individual’s Hunger Story Shows Scope of Economic Problems
(Reuters, June 5, 2008)

Elder homecare worker Olga Medina of Douglas, Arizona, works full-time earning $1,100 a month and supports her parents and her sick son on that salary, yet “forages for milk, fruit and vegetables in dumpsters outside the Safeway supermarket” in order to make ends meet. In addition, she sometimes stands in line for bread at the Douglas Area Food Bank with close to 150 others. “We have to put up with a lot of humiliation just to survive,” she told Reuters reporters, and is one of many in the “richest nation on earth” who work full-time yet cannot afford food. More and more people with steady jobs are seeking assistance – “more people…than you think,” according to a hunger relief organizer in Monroe, Georgia.

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