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. Poverty Rate Climbs to 13.2 Percent in 2008
(FRAC, September 10, 2009; The New York Times, September 11, 2009)

New data from the Census Bureau show an increase in the poverty rate for 2008, rising to 13.2 percent from 12.5 percent in 2007. Last year, 39.8 million residents lived below the poverty line – for a family of four, that’s an income of $22,025. The poverty rate rose to its highest level since 1997. There was also increase in the number of children living in poverty, rising to 14.1 million children (19 percent) in 2008 from 13.3 million children (18 percent) in 2007. But, with unemployment numbers climbing in 2009 — averaging 9 percent, compared with an average of 5.8 percent in 2008 — “the real spike in poverty is going to be in the ’09 numbers, which we get next year,” said Sheldon Danziger, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan.

In a statement, FRAC President Jim Weill said, “The new Census Bureau data show that more Americans lived in poverty in 2008, and it is likely that the recession has added millions more in 2009 to the ranks of those living in poverty and struggling with hunger. It is imperative that Congress, the Administration, states, cities, schools and social service providers all take steps to make the federal nutrition programs an even more effective response to the increased poverty and depravation – increasing participation, reducing red tape, and improving benefits.”

2. Record Number of People Now Receiving SNAP/Food Stamps
(Bloomberg.com, September 2, 2009)

June was the seventh straight month of record SNAP/Food Stamp participation, as the number of people receiving the assistance hit 35.1 million, a 22 percent increase from the previous June, according to USDA. The record number comes at a time when unemployment is at a 26-year high. Also driving the increase are the low wages being earned by people with jobs, noted Jim Weill, President of the Food Research and Action Center. “Even if unemployment stabilizes,” said Weill, “we’ll see growth in [SNAP/Food Stamp] caseloads for the next several months.” Utah, Nevada and Washington had the largest increases from the previous year (over 45 percent for each). Texas had the most recipients (2.94 million); California (2.8 million) and New York (2.43 million) followed. Current recipients are receiving more in SNAP/Food Stamp benefits since the federal stimulus act increased the benefit amounts in April.

3. Louisiana Low-Income Households Urged to Pre-Apply for Disaster SNAP/Food Stamps
(Shreveport Times, August 30, 2009)

Low-income residents of Louisiana can sign up at any time for Disaster SNAP/Food Stamps through the state’s new program initiative designed to help the needy through emergencies in the wake of hurricanes. Disaster SNAP/Food Stamps help families with lost income or damages following a hurricane purchase food. Pre-applying for the benefit helps make the post-disaster process simpler, although it does not guarantee benefits. The state is urging residents to make the pre-application process just one part of an overall emergency preparedness plan.

4. Stimulus Funds Help Kentucky Upgrade SNAP/Food Stamp System
(Louisville Courier-Journal, August 18, 2009)

Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services will use $2.9 million in federal stimulus funds to upgrade the electronic system that handles SNAP/Food Stamp assistance. One of the first steps will be to convert the state’s paper SNAP/Food Stamp files – used by workers to complete or renew benefit applications - into electronic files. This upgrade is expected to decrease waiting time for applicants, and allow workers to spend more time with clients instead of filling out or searching for paperwork. In addition, the electronic files will be instantly available to any benefit worker in the state. Currently, if a client moves to another county, their paper file must be located and shipped to an office in the new county. People seeking to apply for SNAP/Food Stamps, or renew their application, are required by federal law to meet face-to-face with a benefit worker (with some exceptions for the disabled and elderly). “I would describe it as a waiting game,” said Khalilah Collins of Women in Transition about the process in the Louisville SNAP/Food Stamp office, one of the busiest in the state. “You have to go in and wait for hours and hours.” About 313,000 Kentucky households participate in SNAP/Food Stamps each month, nearly double the number participating in 2000.

5. SNAP/Food Stamp Recipients in New York Warned About Scam
(WHEC, August 28, 2009)

Officials in New York’s Monroe County are warning SNAP/Food Stamp recipients not to give personal information – such as credit card, EBT card and pin numbers – to anyone over the phone. A statewide scam has reached the county; the scam involves asking SNAP/Food Stamp clients to call 1-877-301-7436 and have their credit card, EBT card and pin number ready in order to receive an extra $1,000 in their SNAP/Food Stamp account. The callers are telling some clients they will also receive gift and gas cards. Clients not only don’t receive the money and gift cards, but find their SNAP/Food Stamp accounts emptied.

6. Maryland County Hires More Workers to Handle SNAP/Food Stamp Application Increase
(Maryland Gazette, September 2, 2009)

Six new employees have been added to Anne Arundel County’s Department of Social Services (DSS) in the wake of increasing SNAP/Food Stamp and other assistance applications. The county’s office in Glen Burnie is seeing 700 applicants a month, and the Annapolis office 600, with the numbers continuing to climb as more people apply for SNAP/Food Stamps, cash, and medical assistance. SNAP/Food Stamps now go to 9,410 households in the county (up 2,000 from the year before). County unemployment hit its highest point in 19 years in July, at 6.9 percent. In order to get the extra workers the county filed a special request, since DSS has suffered from budget cuts and hiring freezes. Compared to the 2000 recession, applications for assistance have increased 40 percent.

7. SNAP/Food Stamps Part of Comprehensive Fight Against Homelessness
(The Washington Post, August 31, 2009)

Michael German, leader of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) team on homelessness, sees SNAP/Food Stamps as an integral part of efforts to end homelessness in this country. “They key is not building more shelters, but more housing, even just small apartments or rooms, and hooking people up with available state and federal services such as Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps, veterans benefits or veterans health care,” German said in this profile in The Washington Post. Shelters are actually more expensive to build and maintain, he noted, “than building or buying places for homeless people to live.” Across the country, more than 850 mayors and 350 jurisdictions have 10-year plans to end homelessness.

8. More than One Million will Lose Unemployment Benefits by End of 2009
(Associated Press, September 3, 2009)

More than 1.3 million jobless Americans will come to the end of their unemployment benefits by the end of the year. Over the past year, 5.5 million saw their payments run out after the standard 26 weeks of benefits. Congress approved extended benefits due to the rising unemployment rates, which now run from 20 weeks up to a year depending on the state. More than half of all states have 53 weeks of extended benefits because of their unemployment rates. Unless Congress approves another extension, the 402,000 who will lose their benefits at the end of September will triple by the end of the year. People who no longer receive benefits and haven’t found a job cope by skipping meals, living with relatives, and asking friends for cash. “People are just barely getting by,” said Sue Berkowitz, director of the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center. “When I go down to our food bank, I see a lot of people who never, ever thought that’s where they would be.”

Massachusetts is just now seeing its first wave of unemployed reach the end of their benefits without having found a job. The state sent 2,500 letters to jobless workers informing them that they have or would soon stop receiving checks. Residents eligible for unemployment in the state can get up to 79 weeks of benefits. The letters include a list of state and nonprofit agencies that can give further assistance, and informs recipients that they may be eligible for SNAP/Food Stamps, welfare and other forms of assistance. Recipients are also given information about the state’s 2-1-1 hotline, which provides specialists who can give referrals and information on health and human services. By Thanksgiving, the state expects another 21,000 to exhaust benefits.
(Boston Globe, September 4, 2009)

Michigan expects a surge in the number of jobless who will soon come to the end of their benefits. While agencies are informing people, especially families, that they could apply for SNAP/Food Stamps and Medicaid, it’s tougher for single people, who could be eligible for SNAP/Food Stamps and maybe not much more. In anticipation of the surge, the state is setting up temporary offices across the state for the Unemployment Insurance Agency and the Department of Human Services.
(WZZM, September 3, 2009)

9. In Case of Flu-Related Closings, School District has Plan to Feed Students
(Citizen-Times, September 4, 2009)

Asheville, N.C.’s school system has started to plan for distributing meals to students receiving free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch in the case of school closures due to the H1N1 virus. About 46 percent of the system’s children were eligible for subsidized meals at the end of the last school year. In the event of closure, schools will transport lunch and snacks to housing developments that serve the system’s schools. The child nutrition department is working with food distributors to get prices on pre-made lunches that can be frozen, and schools are developing lists of volunteers who can deliver the food. Beth Palien, director of child nutrition for the schools, hopes that focusing on the H1N1 crisis will bring attention to the need to feed children when schools are not in session, and hopes that the system will start delivering meals during the summer. About 625 children live in Asheville’s public housing, and any of them under the age 18 would be able to receive delivered meals in the event of school closure due to H1N1. The federal government has advised schools to only close if they have large numbers of children with the virus.

10. New Jersey Schools Race to Meet School Lunch Application Deadline
(NPR Marketplace, August 18, 2009)

New Jersey schools are eligible for extra funding from the state, based on the number of students that sign up for free or reduced-price meals. “In order to count a student as poor and to get additional resources through the [state’s] formula, you have to make sure that the student is signed up and eligible for free and reduced-price lunch under the federal nutrition program,” explained David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center in Newark. The deadline to sign up students is October 1, which towns and cities with lots of poor students are racing to meet. Newark’s poverty rate is 65 percent, and most of its students qualify for subsidized school meals. The state currently provides $9,700 to educate each child to meet academic standards, but poor students can get an additional $5,000 from the state. Newark’s school staff are about to send out letters and forms in several languages to families, encouraging them to sign their children up for free and reduced-price lunch. However, parents balk at filling out forms, especially undocumented immigrants, who are concerned that their data would be shared among other federal agencies. But school systems do not share the data. High school students don’t like having to apply because of the stigma attached. “This is a point-of-sale system,” said Valerie Wilson, acting school business administrator for Newark Public Schools; student IDs are entered at the cashier, who is the only person who knows a student’s lunch status. Students miss out on more than a meal if they aren’t signed up for the assistance. “If you have a student who’s struggling, in order to qualify for supplemental education services, which is tutoring, free of cost to the parents, that child has to have had a lunch application the previous year,” said Wilson. Newark has set itself a goal of having 95 percent of lunch application forms in by October 1.

11. Free and Reduced-Price Lunch Numbers Rise in North Carolina
(WRAL, September 1, 2009)

Statewide, North Carolina saw a 16.5 percent increase in the number of children receiving free and reduced-price lunch over the past year. As of August 31, 46,000 students were enrolled in the program in Wake County. Jacqueline Ward registered her children for the first time this year. “My thoughts were…‘I hope I get this, because it’s going to be a problem…to make sure [my children] have breakfast and lunch.” Ward has been looking for a job since November.

12. USDA Awards Nutrition Grants to 18 States
(USDA, September 1, 2009)

Approximately $5.8 million in Team Nutrition Training Grants was awarded by USDA to 18 states. The grants will help children develop good nutrition and physical activity habits and lifestyles, and provide schools with nutrition education materials for children and parents. The funds will also provide technical assistance to school food service providers, specifically to help them prepare more fruits and vegetables, whole-grain products, and other healthy foods during the two-year grant period. Schools can also use grant funds to provide nutrition outreach to parents, teachers, and caregivers. Team Nutrition is a key component of FNS’ efforts to enhance children’s eating behaviors and incorporates principles of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and MyPyramid. “We must continue encouraging children to eat healthy and to engage in daily physical activity to help them stay healthy and strong and reduce their risks for obesity,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, commenting on the grant awards. The grants will go to Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

13. Poor Schools Could Have Difficulty Implementing Government Plans in Case of Flu Closure
(The Washington Times, August 25, 2009)

The Department of Education recently issued guidelines for schools to follow should they be forced to close because of the H1N1 virus. Some of the guidelines suggest that students at home use Web conferencing and podcasting to keep up with their schoolwork. However, inner city schools, such as those in the District of Columbia (where the announcement was made) could have trouble implementing those ideas. “Living in an economically depressed community, a lot of kids and parents don’t have access to computers, said William Lockridge, D.C. State Board of Education representative for the city’s wards 7 and 8 – which have higher rates of poverty. “It would be very hard to get students information from the Internet or other methods through computers.” He noted that currently, children wait in line at public libraries in order to use computers. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, at the press conference announcing the guidelines, said “Principals and teachers need to be prepared. Packages of learning materials need to be ready to send home to students. There need to be online resources for students to learn from at home. Teachers need to know how to contact parents and students to monitor their progress. And they need to provide tutorials over the phone and online.”

14. Alternate Poverty Formula Shows Impact of Federal Food Programs while Doubling Senior Citizen Poverty Rate
(Associated Press, September 4, 2009)

A revised formula for measuring the number of senior citizens in poverty, from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), nearly doubles an earlier figure. Under the revised formula, 18.6 percent of older Americans (6.8 million people) live in poverty, up from 9.7 percent (3.6 million people) under the original government formula created in 1955. This original formula does not factor in rising medical and other costs. Senior citizens living in poverty is “a hidden problem,” said Robin Talbert, president of the AARP Foundation. “There are still many millions of older people on the edge, who don’t have what they need to get by.” Using the NAS formula changes other poverty percentages as follows:

children under 18 – rate declines slightly to 17.9 percent;
single mothers and their children – slight decline, as the new formula takes SNAP/Food Stamps (which this segment receives disproportionately) and other noncash aid are factored in;
low-income working people would have an increased poverty rate, as transportation and child care costs are included;
New York, Chicago and San Francisco and other cities with high cost-of-living rates, would see higher poverty rates;
Rural areas in the Midwest and South could see declines;
The rate for extreme poverty (income below 50 percent of the federal poverty rate) would decrease as housing and noncash benefits are factored in.

“The current poverty measure does a very bad job of measuring the impact of quite a few of our anti-poverty policies,” said Rebecca Blank, Undersecretary of Economic Affairs at the Commerce Department. “It isn’t meaningless, but it isn’t complete. New York City adopted the NAS numbers last year, which doubled the number of seniors in poverty (from 18.1 percent to 32 percent) and revealed a slight decline in the poverty rate of single parent homes with children. “Under this up-to-date measure, you understand that government programs have had a beneficial impact on households with single parents and children,” said Linda Gibbs, New York’s deputy mayor for health and human services.

15. San Diego’s Hard-to-Get General Relief Could Help More Needy
(San Diego Union-Tribune, August 31, 2009)

Critics of San Diego County’s general relief program note that while the program has record enrollment, the assistance goes to less than 1,000 (964 total) of the county’s 3 million residents, and cite barriers to participation for causing the low numbers. One out of every 3,113 county residents receives general relief, compared to one out of 10,000 in Riverside. General relief is for the “poorest of the poor” and is the last means of support for indigent adults. It provides an average monthly amount of $224; in San Diego that average amount is $194. In the county, anyone with $5 is rejected, while other counties allow a person to have $10 and still qualify. The money is temporary, not to exceed three months a year, and is supposed to be repaid; most counties do not receive back what they pay out and do not receive funding for the program from the state and federal government. Applicants with injuries are directed to get disability, and one applicant who listed herself as a student (though still homeless and sleeping at San Diego State University, where she signed up for a class) was rejected. “It’s humiliating and degrading to go through that,” she said. “You have to reveal everything about yourself and they speak to you in a way that indicates they don’t believe you.”

16. Los Angeles County Has Design Competition to Bring Farm Food to Urban Dwellers
(Los Angeles Times, September 3, 2009; Fast Company, September 8, 2009)

Los Angeles County has 121 farmers’ markets – more than any other county in the country. Each week, the farmers and food producers at the markets sell to 250,000 of the county’s shoppers. An anniversary for LA’s farmers’ markets was recently held, in which a competition took place for ideas and designs that would increase urban residents’ access to farm foods. The winning idea, by Mia Lehrer & Associates, envisions dispatching a fleet of electric trucks containing farm foods to neighborhoods and selling the food to residents.