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. Hunger a Rising Concern Among Americans As Economy Falters
(FRAC.org, October 8, 2008)
American families are increasingly worried about being able to afford enough food for their families and a substantial majority believes eliminating hunger should be a priority of the federal government and the next administration, according to a new review of recent public opinion research. The review was commissioned by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) and conducted by Peter D. Hart Associates and McLaughlin & Associates. It also concluded that Americans believe that the nation is not doing enough to combat hunger-related problems, a “substantial majority of working families have lost their trust in the federal government’s ability to address” growing hunger, and that candidates for public office need to speak about solutions to hunger. “As the economy continues its downward trend, concerns about hunger will only intensify,” said Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center. According to the poll: More than three in five survey respondents favored a candidate who puts fighting hunger high on the priority list, while nearly 9 out of 10 said support from Congressional representatives is important to them when voting on the issue. Also, 94 percent feel that it’s important for the government to fund anti-hunger programs, like school lunches and programs for women and infants.
Read coverage of the release: http://us.oneworld.net/article/357922-americans-increasingly-worried-about-hunger
2. New York Governor Sends Message, Including Food Stamp Boost, to Candidates Prior to Debate
(WABC, October 14, 2008; Newsday, October 15, 2008)
Increasing access to food stamps is one method of rebuilding the federal government/state partnership, according to an open letter from New York Governor David Paterson, sent to Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama prior to their final debate. In the letter, Paterson welcomed the candidates to New York’s Hofstra University, urged the candidates to “call on Congress and the current Administration to pass a second economic stimulus package,” and challenged them to address rebuilding the federal/state partnership, which “has not yet garnered the attention it deserves.” While the current administration has focused on bailing out Wall Street, “they have turned a deaf ear” to the critically-needed safety net of services which assist the most vulnerable citizens in their struggles with hunger, health issues, and unemployment. Paterson also informed the candidates about the 30 percent increase in his state’s demand for food assistance, driven by the ongoing economic decline. He also noted that New York’s “Working Families Food Stamp Initiative” signed up 100,000 new food stamp families. The economic times require that a “bold investment” take place, wrote Paterson in the letter, and added “The administration must act aggressively to help our most vulnerable families put food on the table.”
In a related op-ed, Newsday called for the presidential candidates to focus more on the problems in the region hosting the debates. After each candidate opens with “a brief word of thanks to the host institution and community,” they “ignore” that community “for the next 90 minutes, to focus on national and global concerns.” In addition to hearing how Sens. Obama and McCain would fix the national economic crisis, they also should address what the federal government can do for states during this time. “The candidates are…visiting a region where affluence and poverty live side by side, in the city and on the Island,” notes Newsday. “They owe us some insights on how they’d address poverty and hunger here…” A “sense of place” could help guide the debate into a discussion of issues with particular resonance to the New York region, which also would benefit states across the nation.
3. Disaster Food Stamps Feed Millions in Louisiana
(AP Louisiana News, October 7, 2008)
Disaster food stamps went to more than 1.5 million Louisiana residents who were affected by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The number, according to the state’s Department of Social Services, “represents more than 609,000 households who received $208 million in aid.” East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Orleans and Calcasieu Parishes received the most aid.
4. Indiana Disaster Food Stamp Program Expands
(WLFI, October 7, 2008)
Ten southern Indiana counties suffering damages from severe weather last month are now distributing emergency food stamps. USDA gave approval to Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) to offer food stamps to an additional 10 counties hit by severe weather last month. The counties are: Clark, Crawford, Dearborn, Jackson, Knox, Lawrence, Martin, Pike, Spencer, and Switzerland. "Households in the latest 10 counties have seven days to apply beginning tomorrow” [October 8, 2008] according to FSSA.
5. Food Stamp Rule Changes Benefit Families in Michigan
(blogsmonroe.com, October 6, 2008)
Changes in the Food Stamp Program that went into effect October 1 will benefit Michigan families, especially those with child care expenses. Previously, families were only able to deduct $200 a month for children under two and $175 a month for children over two from their income when applying for food stamps. Now families can deduct all their documented child care costs. “Families who were told their income was too high - even though much of it was going to child care - might now be able to qualify for the first time,” said Demetrice Smart, project coordinator for the Food and Nutrition Helpline operated by the Center for Civil Justice. In addition, the annual food stamp cost of living adjustment and increase in the federal minimum allotment take effect in October. Families who have been turned down for food stamps are encouraged to re-apply.
6. Massachusetts Sees Surge in Senior Food Stamp Numbers
(Boston Herald, October 5, 2008)
The current economic crisis is extracting a “painful toll” on senior citizens in Massachusetts, who are signing up for food stamps in record numbers. According to the state Department of Transitional Assistance, the number of senior food stamp recipients rose 39 percent since February 2007; 69,765 seniors now receive the benefit, up from 50,291. Shirley Chao, director of nutrition for the state’s Executive Office of Elder Affairs, said “This is astonishing for us. This has never happened before.” While officials say some of the increase is due to expanded and successful outreach efforts, advocates point to the rough economic times, forcing seniors to accept the help. Massachusetts also spends $55 million annually on 8.7 million meals for 75,000 seniors, delivered to the homebound or served at “the state’s 325 congregate meal sites.” Chao fears that high demand this year for the meals will force the state to create a waiting list, something that hasn’t been done since 1990. High fuel prices are keeping volunteers from delivering meals in the state’s rural areas. The situation is “going to get worse,” said Julia Martin, activities director at the Julia Martin House, an elderly housing complex.
7. NYC’s Public Advocate Promotes Food Stamps
(Public Advocate’s Corner, October 3, 2008)
“You can have a job or own your own home and still qualify for food stamps,” writes New York City’s public advocate Betsy Gotbaum. Her office helps the hundreds of New Yorkers that try to apply for food stamps but are “intimidated by bureaucracy, bewildered by eligibility requirements, or otherwise ill-prepared to access this needed service.” Gotbaum explains how advocates and officials have made it easier to apply for food stamps, getting the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (ODTA) to reduce the sixteen-page long application form to a more manageable four pages. In addition to this change, the ODTA extended office hours to evenings and weekends to better serve working New Yorkers.
8. Texas Households Welcome Changes to Food Stamp Program
(Fort Worth Star-Telegram, October 1, 2008)
The number of people on food stamps has been steadily rising, with 28.6 million Americans receiving the benefit in June. Texas has seen an uptick in participation as well, with 2.6 million people receiving food stamps. The state has one of the highest food insecurity rates in the nation, at 16 percent; New Mexico and Mississippi were the only two states with lower food security. While outreach efforts have contributed to the state’s rising number of recipients, the poor economy and stagnant wages have sent many to apply. Changes to the Food Stamp Program, effective October 1st, will mean that even more households may be eligible for the program; some households will also see an increase in benefit levels. In Texas, food stamp recipients and experts are welcoming the increase in benefits, as the current amount is not providing enough. Most people “get close to a dollar and a quarter a meal,” said Dottie Rosenbaum, senior budget analyst at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. For Karen Johnson, 54, the $81 she receives each month isn’t adequate to feed both her and her daughter. Recipient Lavoria Murphy of Fort Worth said “I can’t shop like the other people. It’s good to eat healthy, but if healthy stuff is not on sale, you can’t buy it. If you’re on food stamps, you don’t have the luxury.”
9. More in D.C. Region Getting Food Stamps
(Examiner, October 4, 2008)
USDA food stamp numbers show a rise in food stamp recipients in the Washington, D.C. region. For the period July 2007 to July 2008, the highest participation jump was in Maryland; the state’s participation rate went up 14.9 percent, from 324,000 recipients to 373,000. In Virginia, the rise was 7.5 percent, from 517,000 people to 556,000 over the same twelve month period. And in Washington, D.C., there was a 9.2 percent increase, with 91,000 receiving the benefit, up from 83,000 in July 2007.
10. Michigan Governor Takes the Food Stamp Challenge; State Groups Promote Event
(Detroit News, October 15, 2008; blogsmonroe.com, October 4, 2008)
Governor Jennifer Granholm and family joined 300 people across the state this week in the “Michigan Food Stamp Challenge.” All participants are living on a food stamp budget for one week, which equates to limiting food to about $5 a day per person. When asked what they bought for the week, the governor answered “A lot of macaroni and cheese.”
The Michigan Department of Human Services and the Voices for Action Network are encouraging community leaders and volunteers to take part in the Challenge from October 13 to 17. The main goals of the Challenge are to “increase public awareness of the challenges and perceptions of participants in the food stamp program,” and “increase monetary and food donations to Michigan food banks.” The state has been hit hard by the current economic climate, losing “hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs” and thousands are struggling with losing their homes in foreclosures. More than 1.3 million Michigan residents receive food stamps and live on a maximum benefit of $5.87 per day for food, or about $2 a meal. One recipient, a mother who works 70 hours a week, is still unable to feed her family; many in the state also rely on food banks, and emergency food providers report 20-25 percent increases in demand this year.
Additional leaders taking the state’s Food Stamp Challenge include:
Ismael Ahmed, director, Michigan Department of Human Services
Thomas Hass, Grand Valley State University President
Mike Brennan, CEO, United Way of Southeastern Michigan
Bob Kennedy, regional vice president, Compuware
The Challenge is one of a number of events and activities leading up to the November 13, 2008 Voices for Action Poverty Summit in Detroit.
11. Families Reflect on Difficulties in Taking the Food Stamp Challenge
(Gazette.net, September 30, 2008)
Maryland families who lived on reduced food budgets as part of Manna Food Center’s recent Food Stamp Challenge found the experience tough and reflected on the experience of food stamp recipients. The Challenge, said Amy Gabala, Manna Food Center executive director, was meant to bring attention to “the growing hunger problem in Montgomery County.” “Hopefully, this exercise helped a lot of people understand the struggle our neighbors go through on a daily basis,” she said, and noted that many participants were surprised at how difficult it was to live on a food budget of $25 per person. In addition, participants noted the limited selection of nutritious food. Speaking from her family’s Challenge experience, Valerie Levanos said “Our diet was a lot more starchy that it normally is…I think people have to eat a lot of starches and poor-quality proteins and probably not get enough fruits and vegetables.” She concluded “I think it would be really hard to eat a healthy diet on food stamps. It would be impossible, I think.”
12. Maryland County Councilmember Comments on Food Stamp Challenge Experience
(Mike Knapp’s blog, September 29, 2008)
Montgomery County (Md.) Councilmember Mike Knapp recently finished the week-long Food Stamp Challenge and found the experience “eye-opening.” He was particularly struck with the cost of food versus the amount of money a food stamp recipient can spend on food. “You can spend $2.29 for whole wheat [bread],” he noted, “or 99 cents for a larger load of white bread with less nutritional value.” As for fruits and vegetables, Knapp wrote from his experience “You would be lucky to have one or two pieces of fresh fruit a day – well below what is suggested to be healthy.” Knapp concludes by stating “…even when the economy is good…there are far too many for whom this is how they live. In a nation as prosperous as ours, we can and must do more [to] make sure no one goes hungry.”
13. Rising Numbers of New York City’s Hungry Children Need Bailout by Government Nutrition Programs
(Epoch Times, October 8, 2008)
The Food Bank of New York’s report “The Unhealthy Return on Missed Investments,” released October 7, 2008, shows that nearly 400,000 (or one out of every four) of the city’s children live below the poverty level. In addition, more than one in five children relies on food pantries or soup kitchens for meals. While the report shows that the city’s children have been hit particularly hard by rising poverty rates, it’s believed that the current economic crisis will expand the problem unless action is taken. According to Food Bank of New York CEO Dr. Lucy Carera, a “bailout” is “[t]he wisest investment we can make today...” Carera’s steps include “…a range of measures, from improving existing government nutrition programs to meet immediate needs, to confronting the factors that create and sustain food poverty in the long term.”
14. Massachusetts Schools Struggle with Higher Numbers of Homeless Children
(Boston Globe, October 6, 2008)
Across Massachusetts, the number of homeless children has skyrocketed since 2004, going from 7,000 to almost 12,000. Homelessness affects a child’s schoolwork as well as their well-being according to educators. School, however, is not only a place of learning for these students, “it’s also the place where they get their most reliable meals of the day, breakfast and lunch,” said Jim Greene, Boston’s Emergency Shelter Commission director. Urban areas that have experienced large numbers of homeless students include:
Boston – currently has 350 homeless students, 100 more than October 2007; the city had 1,200 homeless by the end of the last school year;
Cambridge – 249 this year, compared to 207 homeless students at this time last year;
Worcester – 10 percent of 24,000 students last year were homeless.
The students counted are not just those in shelters or on the street, but include children in foster care, living in the homes of friends and relatives, those children thrown out of their homes, and runaways. Hidden costs for schools providing services to homeless children include tutors, school psychology services, and transportation costs, which can be as much as $200 a day per student. Schools are, by law, required to provide students with transportation from their current shelter to a school in their original community.
15. Report Focuses on Struggles of Working Poor
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 15, 2008)
Washington State’s working poor families may not officially be termed “living in poverty,” but they are struggling to cover their basic needs, according to a report released this week by the Working Poor Family Project. One-quarter of the state’s families earned 200 percent of the federal poverty level ($42,400 for a family of four), or less in 2006, a statistic that has not changed since four years earlier. As the economy heads toward a recession, these families will suffer even more, since they “are trapped in low-skill jobs that have had no relative wage increases in the last two decades,” said Anne Keeney, executive director of the Seattle Jobs Initiative. Working poor families, according to the report, work more than 40 hours a week, and are headed by parents 25 years of age or older. The report ranked New Mexico “the worst,” with 41 percent of working families considered low income; New Hampshire had the lowest rate of poor working families, at 15 percent. The number of working families is expected to grow nationwide, due to collapsed financial markets, continuing home foreclosures, and scarce credit. Assistance to these families being considered by lawmakers include expanded food stamp benefits, a national infrastructure program to create jobs, and extension of unemployment benefits. Cost for this package is estimated between $150 and $300 billion. Expanded job training and increased financial support for education are being pushed by anti-poverty advocates. “You are not going to get anywhere near a family-supporting wage if you are not getting post-secondary training,” noted Keeney of the Seattle Jobs Initiative.
16. Financial Fears Have High-Income Households Holding Back
(Media Week, October 2, 2008)
A recent survey by American Express Publishing and researcher Harrison Group among 614 consumers with household incomes or $100,000 and up revealed that the “vast majority” – 83 percent – are waiting to buy items after they go on sale. This population, representing the top 10 percent of American families, also represents more than 50 percent of all retail spending, commented Jim Taylor, vice chairman of the Harrison Group. “It is affluent consumers who have kept the consumer economy afloat…” said Harrison in a statement. Attitudes of this affluent population have worsened through the year, with 35 percent in April saying they were afraid of running out of money, and 48 percent now with that concern.
17. Current Events Prompt Op-ed Contributor to Reflect on 1858 “Swill Milk” Scandal
(The New York Times, September 30, 2008)
Recent events in China, in which 53,000 babies fell sick and four died due to tainted baby formula, led op-ed contributor Bee Wilson to recall a similar event in America’s past, and note “how often it has happened before.” In the 1858 “Swill Milk” scandal in New York City, mothers fed their children milk that “looked fine to the naked eye,”, and lawmakers let thousands of children sicken before taking action. New York dairymen fed hot alcoholic mash, the leftovers from making whiskey, to their cows tied up in “crowded stables adjoining city distilleries;” the milk these cows produced, bluish and filthy, was then doctored with plaster of Paris, starch, eggs and molasses to make it look more like milk and given to children. The Times reported then that 8,000 children died each year from ingesting this swill milk, while newspapers published exposes throughout the 1850s to alert the public and call for the distillery dairies to be shut down. Wilson details the similarities between the swill milk scandal and China’s current baby formula crisis, stating “in such get-rich-quick societies, there is a huge temptation to tamper with food, particularly when margins are low. The rewards are instant, and it’s not always easy for consumers to detect the difference between the pure and the doctored — particularly with a substance like milk, which we have been taught to trust implicitly.” Fifty years after the height of the swill milk scandal, the Food and Drug Act was passed (1906), which, combined with pasteurization, “stronger food laws” and “better policing,” keeps similar food doctoring scandals from occurring in the U.S.
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