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. D.C. Hunger Solutions Provides School Meal Commentary on WAMU-FM
(WAMU, August 25, 2009)

Alexandra Ashbrook, director of D.C. Hunger Solutions, an initiative of FRAC, brought the message to WAMU-FM’s listeners that children not only need “pencils and paper and a book bag” to succeed but also “they need enough nutritious food to keep them alert and fuel their bodies and minds.” The problem – many D.C. children go to class hungry, which affects their ability to learn. One in eight households in the District struggle with hunger, and school meals can help provide the nutrition children need to excel in their classes. Since the federal government pays for most of the cost of these meals, free and reduced-price school meal participation can grow to respond to increased need. Ashbrook outlined the following steps we need to take to make sure all children are fed and ready to succeed this upcoming school year:

- parents should know that breakfast is offered free to students at D.C. Public Schools, as well as many of the charter schools;
- families must turn in school meal applications – which not only makes the meals available to their children, but helps D.C. capture federal reimbursement dollars;
- D.C. schools can increase breakfast participation by serving breakfast in the classroom, setting up “grab and go” breakfast carts in the hallways, or in high school, offering “second chance breakfast” between first and second periods;
- schools and parents must work together to improve school meals, through each school’s wellness policy.

“One missing application means that the school loses more than $600 over the course of the school year,” noted Ashbrook. Ashbrook concludes by explaining that “increasing access to school meals is a rare win-win-win situation: good for the nutrition, health and learning of D.C. students; good for test scores and other educational outcomes; and good for District government's fiscal well-being.”

2. McGovern, Job Seeker Discuss SNAP/Food Stamps and Unemployment on NPR
(NPR, August 10, 2009)

Elkart, Ind. has a soaring unemployment rate – 16.8 percent in June – forcing resident Damond Smart to apply for SNAP/Food Stamps, a process he found “pretty simple,” although he didn’t know he was eligible for the benefit. Interviewed on NPR along with Representative James McGovern (D-MA), Smart spoke of a low number of job opportunities. “I’ve filled out at least 100 applications and I’m very qualified for a lot of jobs,” he said. “I’ve been in retail for like eight, nine years and I call, I call, I call and there’s not a lot of opportunities. So I had to go and get food stamps to try to help provide for my family.” In July, one in nine (more than 34 million) Americans were on SNAP/Food Stamps, “yet another symptom of the worst economic recession to hit the country since the Great Depression,” noted NPR’s Michel Martin. Martin asked Rep. McGovern about his experience on the SNAP/Food Stamp Challenge; when he took the challenge, Rep. McGovern was “trying to call attention to the inadequacy of the benefit because the Farm Bill was coming up, and we wanted to increase investments in food and nutrition programs, which we did.” He mentions that, through the Farm Bill, benefits went from $3 a day to $4.50 a day. “Not much,” he said, “but nonetheless a little bit of an increase.” Smart is able to purchase enough food to last a month, but has to make it stretch, and he’s “just making ends meet.” Rep. McGovern said that there are many people who are eligible to receive the help, but don’t know they can apply. But there’s a problem – because of state budget cutbacks, it’s taking longer for applicants to find out if their application for SNAP/Food Stamp benefits has been accepted or declined, even though the federal government pays most of the cost of the program. “[W]e’re trying to expand awareness on one hand which we need to do but we also need to figure out a way to address this waiting period,” said Rep. McGovern. “[T]here’s not a single community in America that’s hunger free,” he concludes.

3. For Low-Income Households, Unexpected Expenses Can Cut Into Food Budget
(Black Voice News Online, August 12, 2009)

A single mother who started receiving SNAP/Food Stamps wrote a letter seeking advice, specifically asking “Does [accepting SNAP/Food Stamps] mean my family has to give up healthy eating.” Dr. Ernest Levister, Jr., answered that it’s possible to eat a healthy diet on SNAP/Food Stamps “if everything goes exactly as planned through an entire month.” But, “that is usually not the case for those who have to rely on a tight budget just to feed themselves and their families,” he writes. A car breakdown, doctor’s office trip, or other unexpected expense could cause further financial difficulties. Dr. Levister calls for the federal government to expand the SNAP/Food Stamp income cap and “re-evaluate the federal poverty line as it is well-below what most experts believe constitutes a ‘living wage.’”

4. This Fall, All Colorado Residents Can Check SNAP/Food Stamp Eligibility Online
(Denver Post, August 13, 2009)

Colorado residents will be able to check their eligibility for SNAP/Food Stamps and other forms of assistance online beginning in October, although they won’t be able to apply online until next March. In the Denver metro area, tens of thousands have been added to food or medical assistance rolls since last summer, and county staff are behind in SNAP/Food Stamp application processing due to the increased numbers of applicants. The state has a $166.4 million computer program that process SNAP/Food Stamp and Medicaid applications; private foundations have pressured Gov. Bill Ritter to improve the system.

5. Wisconsin Convenience Stores Stocking More Grocery Items
(WEAU, August 5, 2009)

The “Kwik Trip” convenience store in Eau Claire, Wisc. now carries milk, bread, eggs, bananas and orange juice, which can be purchased with SNAP/Food Stamps. “We get anywhere [between] 20 [SNAP/Food Stamp] transactions a day to about…80 transactions a day,” said Dan Harriman, who works at the store. At Gordy’s Country Market, they’ve seen a 20 percent increase in SNAP/Food Stamp use over a year ago, and 10 percent more WIC use. Wisconsin WIC participants can now purchase more items at grocery stores now that the expanded food package has taken effect. “You’ll see tickets by the specific 100 percent wheat breads, buns, rolls, those types of things, some weight watchers products,” said Ron Lidell, Gordy’s manager. “And there’s produce too that’s going to be rolled out here soon.” Store managers say that the use of debit cards for SNAP/Food Stamps has helped customers with the stigma attached to food programs.

6. Detroit Residents Rely on Produce Truck for Healthy Food
( Associated Press/Google News, August 11, 2009)

Detroit’s limited public transportation makes it difficult for many low-income residents without cars to travel to the suburbs where grocery stores and farmers’ markets are located. In the city itself, population has declined over the decades to the point where most neighborhoods are too sparse to support corner produce stands – one neighborhood has 26 liquor stores and one grocery. A truck selling fresh produce, known as the Peaches & Greens truck, brings affordable fruits and vegetables to many families on public assistance, travelling to neighborhoods five days a week. “The truck system is one that makes sense in Detroit because of the spread-out situation and the lack of transportation that reaches food venues,” said Dave D. Weatherspoon, associate professor at Michigan State University. Low-income residents want the access: “People will buy it,” said Lisa Johanon, executive director of the Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corp., which runs the market. “We’ve seen the stereotype that urban communities won’t eat healthy, and we’re seeing that isn’t true. The group runs Peaches & Greens; the truck has a handheld scanner for food assistance recipients.

7. Noted Harlem Chef Supports Breakfast in the Classroom
(PR Newswire, August 13, 2009)

During the past year, many Harlem schools have started serving breakfast in the classroom to students, a move that Harlem chef Lindsey Williams believes is a good idea. Breakfast is served during the first ten minutes of the school day. Children don’t have to arrive early to school for the meal, which can be difficult for many working parents to arrange. The meal is also free to all students. All public schools in New York City offer breakfast for free.

8. Tasting Event Showcases New WIC Foods
(Laurinberg Exchange, August 12, 2009)

In North Carolina, the Scotland County Health Department introduced the new WIC food package through a tasting event titled “A Taste of WIC.” About 250 participants - including mothers - sampled food prepared with the expanded selections that will start being available to WIC mothers and children in October. “The food is 100 percent better than it used to be,” noted one event attendee. “It’s tasty and it’s something children will eat.”

9. State Will Help Rhode Island Tent-City Residents Access Safety Net Services
(Boston Herald, August 14, 2009)

In exchange for agreeing to disband, the homeless “Camp Runamuck” tent city residents under an I-195 bridge in East Providence, Rhode Island will get help from the state in accessing subsidized housing, SNAP/Food Stamps, and disability benefits. The residents say they will move by September 8, although they are “not happy about it.” The state had suggested they move to a campground in Narragansett, although it isn’t near social services and would cost $16 per night per tent.

10. Study Shows Obesity’s Link to Debt
(Food Navigator, August 7, 2009)

Research conducted by the University of Mainz in Germany has found that people in financial debt are more likely to be obese. The researchers had noted that over-indebtedness has not been included in socio-economic status definitions, although the link between overweight and socio-economic status has been documented. The study reports that over-indebted individuals had a higher incidence of overweight and obesity. These findings “are in accordance with international models assuming a link between individual’s financial situation and the diversity of access to healthy food,” wrote the researchers in the journal BioMedCentral, and cited “an inverse relationship between the energy density of food and its costs, combined with the inability to pay.” In the U.S., the University of Washington Center for Public Health Nutrition recently published a brief that shows abundant grocery stores in King County and Seattle, although there is a vast difference in prices charged at stores in differing communities. “Fat is a class issue,” noted Professor Drewnowski, one of the authors. “Healthier diets cost more, so policies to tackle obesity must reduce economic inequality.”

11. Unemployment Struggles with Skyrocketing Applications
(The New York Times, July 24, 2009)

About 9.5 million Americans are now collecting unemployment benefits, compared to only 2.5 million in 2007. Now that the recession has increased the number of unemployed to 15 million, states are having a tough time with more than a million applications requiring individual review – causing hundreds of thousands of applicants to wait for their initial payment longer than the federally-mandated minimum time period. State unemployment funds were dangerously low before the recession, and many states are going into debt, considering raising taxes, or possibly cutting aid. Sixteen states had to borrow cash to pay unemployment benefits, a number which could double before the year is out. The newly-unemployed are experiencing trouble getting through to unemployment offices as call center staff – and Web sites – are overwhelmed with applications. Problems in states have slowed the application process to a “snail’s pace.” Computer problems have plagued unemployment offices in Ohio; Louisiana’s call center is staffed with temp workers who know little about the program; North Carolina lost a wave of workers to retirement; and Virginia reported unemployment benefit “performance to be very stagnant.” Luis Coronel waited six months for benefits, and only received money after winning an appeal. He and his pregnant wife could not afford to eat at times during the wait. Twenty-eight states are in violation of timeliness rules for appeals, “many of them severely.” “The unemployment insurance system before the recession was as vulnerable as New Orleans was before Katrina,” said Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA), who is chair of the House panel that has authority over the program.