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. Economic Stimulus Had Major Impact, Notes White House Official
(Associated Press/Google, October 22, 2009)

The $787 billion stimulus package had its major impact on economic growth in the U.S. during the second and third quarters of 2009, but will not contribute significantly to growth in 2010, said Christina Romer, chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors. The remaining spending, she said in her testimony before Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, will keep the economy from slipping. She noted that $194 billion of the total package has already been spent, most of it on SNAP/Food Stamps, tax cuts, and unemployment aid to states, while $146 billion has been obligated. The stimulus has also created or saved 600,000 to 1.5 million jobs. But she warned that “[t]his is not a normal recovery. Coming out of this, we’ve got lots of things working against us.” Unemployment will remain at 9.6 percent or higher, through the end of 2010.

2. U.S. Needs Bold Plan to Fight Worsening Unemployment
(Hartford Courant, October 19, 2009)

President Obama’s stimulus plan, while it “helped save the economy from complete implosion, and will create more jobs over the next year,” is not enough to stop the huge unemployment problem this country is facing, writes the Rev. Jesse Jackson in this op-ed. “We’ve lost jobs for 21 straight months and it is getting worse,” he notes. “Long-term entrenched unemployment,” writes Jackson, destroys families, cripples children, threatens soon-to-be retirees, and undermines skilled workers. Although the official unemployment rate is almost 10 percent, notes Jackson, that figure doesn’t count the underemployed – working part time or intermittently – or those who have stopped looking, out of discouragement, for jobs. It also doesn’t include the two million who have just entered the workforce who haven’t found jobs, as well as millions of undocumented workers who became unemployed. One in nine Americans receives SNAP/Food Stamps, as incomes are lower across the country; two-thirds of the jobless have been out of work for six months or more, and those working jobs are struggling with shorter hours – 33 hours in fact, the lowest in 60 years. Jackson states that we need a “bold federal jobs program – and one that lasts more than a year,” which can create jobs for young people, “mobilize an urban corps to clean up our cities, a green corps to weatherize homes and apartment buildings, a wilderness corps to revive our national parks and plant trees across the country.” He also calls for aid to states and localities that will save teaching and police jobs, and he speaks up for increasing access to SNAP/Food Stamps and unemployment benefits, and investing in public health clinics.

3. Alternate Measurement Adds Seven Million Americans to Poverty Numbers
(Associated Press/Yahoo.com, October 20, 2009)

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) uses a different formula for calculating poverty numbers than the Census Bureau, and found that 47.4 million Americans live in poverty - seven million more than calculated by the Census Bureau. Census Bureau figures show 13.2 percent – 39.8 million in poverty, while the NAS rate is 15.8 percent. According to NAS, 7.1 million seniors – 18.7 percent – live in poverty once rising Medicare premiums, deductibles, and gap in coverage for prescription drugs (all out-of-pocket expenses) are included, while Census figures show 3.7 million (9.7 percent) in poverty. While the poverty rate for blacks stayed the same (24.7 percent) in both calculations, NAS shows higher rates for Hispanics (29 percent), Asians (17 percent) and non-Hispanic whites (11 percent). Higher living costs in the Northeast – New York City, Boston particularly – and the West (Los Angeles and San Francisco) showed bigger increases in poverty. Created in 1955, the Census Bureau measurement does not include cost of living increases in medical care, transportation, child care or geographical location, as well as non-cash government aid. SNAP/Food Stamps eased some of the increase, according to Arloc Sherman of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “Food Stamp participation rose during the first year of recession and appears to have softened what could have been an even greater increase in financial hardship,” he said. As Americans this year take advantage of stimulus package-related tax credits and SNAP/Food Stamps, the revised formula could take on greater importance, he added.

4. Economic Policy Institute Outlines Five-Step Approach to End the Job Crisis
(EPI Policy Memorandum #152, October 20, 2009)

Although the stimulus package created or saved 200,000 to 250,000 jobs since April 2009, the U.S. still faces 15 million unemployed and 9 million underemployed. This is the worst employment crisis in the last 70 years, notes Ross Eisenbrey in this Economic Policy Institute (EPI) policy memorandum. For every job vacancy there are six unemployed individuals, double the 2000 recession rate. EPI supports a five step approach to create jobs and end the unemployment crisis:

1. “[S]trengthen the safety net and provide relief for those directly impacted by the recession.” Increases in nutrition assistance, unemployment compensation, and COBRA continuation are the most effective ways to create jobs as directly benefit the “gross domestic product.”
2. “[P]rovide fiscal relief to the states.” Helping state and local governments avoid job losses and service cuts is just as important as creating new jobs – we need to avoid losing more public employees in another round of cuts.
3. “[D]irect creation of public service jobs.” Targeting vulnerable, stressed communities, this approach will be needed for many years since unemployment will continue to be high.
4. “[N]ew job tax credit.” This approach will spur private and nonprofit sector job creation.
5. “[I]nvest in infrastructure – particularly school construction, maintenance and repair.”

5. SNAP/Food Stamp Inefficiency in Texas Costs the State $173 Million
(Everyday Citizen, October 18, 2009)

The outsourcing of Texas’s SNAP/Food Stamp system has ultimately spawned poor management, poor clerical work, and other inefficiencies, which could cost the state $173 million, since it is unable to meet the 30 day deadline for processing SNAP/Food Stamp cases, notes this commentary. “We’ve rejected stimulus related unemployment dollars in order to save the tax payers because ‘strings’ were attached,” writes Gerald Britt, “and to save small business owners money.” Rejecting the money “saddles business with $294 million in unemployment expenses…now inefficiency that comes from a strategy to save money, could cost us another $173 million!” While “thousands of Texans [are] unable to schedule an interview [for SNAP/Food Stamps] for months, Central Dallas Ministries has provided 1 million pounds of food from January through September of this year.” The Dallas economy loses money every time a resident who could not receive SNAP/Food Stamps has to visit one of the area’s 1100 food pantries for free food.

6. NYC SNAP/Food Stamp Surge Is “Unprecedented”
(The New York Times, October 22, 2009)

With 1.6 million residents receiving SNAP/Food Stamps as of August 2009, New York City has seen its largest increase in enrollment - 30 percent in less than two years - since the early 1970s. The city’s Independent Budget Office reported that the increase is “unprecedented,” stemming from the recession as well as the city and state making it easier to apply for the benefit. From January 2008 to August 2009, participation grew by 354,000, which “should result in about $680 million annually in additional federal assistance to low-income residents, a level that’s juiced by the increase in benefits under the stimulus act,” wrote the budget office. SNAP/Food Stamp participation previously peaked at 1.46 million in April 1995, and four-fifths of recipients also received public assistance. Today, only about a quarter of recipients also receive public assistance. This difference “suggests that while negative public attitudes and restrictive government policies toward welfare persist, food stamps have become an increasingly acceptable form of low-income assistance,” and is similar to a nationwide trend, noted the budget office.

7. Community Action Keeps SNAP/Food Stamp Office Open
(Room Eight NY, October 16, 2009 - Article not available online.)

Following community “outcry” and other actions, the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) decided not to close the Coney Island Food Stamp Center, which serves 28,000 people and is the only office serving southern Brooklyn. Closing the office “would have been devastating to the Coney Island community, and all of southern Brooklyn,” said Councilman Domenic Recchia. “A family living in Coney Island would have to travel an hour or more to downtown or central Brooklyn to get food stamps, and that’s just not acceptable.” The timing of the decision has been important, “[p]articularly now, when making ends meet has become especially hard for regular, hard working New Yorkers,” said Congressman Jerrold Nadler, who added “it is essential to retain social services for our most vulnerable citizens.” New York City has worked hard to provide SNAP/Food Stamp access to residents who qualify, said Council Speaker Christine Quinn. The officials, including State Senators Diane Savino and Carl Krueger, and Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny, urged HRA Commissioner Robert Doar to commit to making the Coney Island office permanent. Its lease set is to expire May 2010.

8. SNAP/Food Stamps Helping College Students Make Ends Meet
(Oregon Daily Emerald, October 22, 2009)

Scott Wells, a university student in Oregon, has been able to use SNAP/Food Stamps for the past two years, and isn’t embarrassed to pay for groceries with his EBT card. “[Y]ou have to be working and a student,” he said, and added “I am basically a model citizen.” Wells is a full-time psychology and business student and works 20 hours each week at a Toys ‘R’ Us, and feels that SNAP/Food Stamps makes his busy schedule and life a little bit easier. Although the application process wasn’t all that difficult, he did have to wait a few months before hearing from a Department of Human Services representative that he had been approved – after which he began receiving $150 each month. College students who work more than 20 hours a week are eligible for the benefit, although Wells would like to see that changed. “I know a lot of people who don’t work full-time and could use this program,” he said. Self-sufficiency line manager Gay Rockwell noted that the number of students applying at his branch is based on whether or not they meet the criteria.

9. College Students, Staff and Faculty Take SNAP/Food Stamp Challenge
(Pocono Record, October 21, 2009)

About 49 students, faculty and staff at Northampton Community College took the SNAP/Food Stamp Challenge recently, agreeing to feed themselves for three days on no more than $3 a day, the average allotment a SNAP/Food Stamp recipient receives. Participating students said the Challenge left them feeling weak and dehydrated, but also noted that it was easier to participate knowing that after three days they could return to their normal food purchases. “It kind of made me realize how spoiled I am with food,” said 19-year-old participant Joshua Ryan Catalano, who now no longer thinks that people on SNAP/Food Stamps are lazy. The exercise “opened my eyes,” said Darryn Gilbert, 20. “In this area – resortland [Monroe County] – I didn’t necessarily think there was any hunger.” Participants filled up on crackers, pasta and canned peas. “I had to sacrifice eating well,” said LaToya Brown, a 24-year-old vegetarian. Brown found that an apple and yogurt would take most of the three dollars on one day alone. Trying to eat healthily that day, her other choice was “pre-processed soup with high sodium.” The participants used the challenge to raise money for hunger-relief, and volunteered at local soup kitchens and food pantries. Participants also will hear a lecture by Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and author of “All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America?”

10. Blogger Calls SNAP/Food Stamp Challenge a “Compelling Exercise”
(3 Holy Women blog, October 11, 2009)

Late into the SNAP/Food Stamp Challenge week, this blogger describes the physicalfeelings and emotional realizations living on a restricted food budget. At the end of day six, she writes “[t]he cupboard was glaringly bare…I thought about what I could do to distract myself from scavenging and repeatedly perusing and taunting my empty stomach and psyche with food I cannot have. Dinner a few hours later was anything but satisfying and absolutely nothing worth looking forward to: leftover pasta, 2 potatoes and peas.” The night before the final day, “I was angry…I blame it completely on the lack of food and dissatisfaction…of my food options.” Still, the blogger found the Challenge to be “one of the most compelling exercises,” since it was not only “physically challenging but it forces you into a number of realizations and valuable moments of self discovery.” The post concludes “I know how I felt this week and no one should have to live like that,” and includes a call to action: “I know I have the means and resources to do something about it. And I will. And hope you will join me.”

11. SNAP/Food Stamps Add to Personal Income Growth Across Country
(Atlanta Business News, October 16, 2009)

In the second quarter of 2009, U.S. personal income grew 0.2 percent, according to quarterly numbers released from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. First quarter income fell 2.3 percent. SNAP/Food Stamps were part of the increase in personal growth in every state except one, noted the report. Other programs adding to personal income growth were Social Security benefits, unemployment compensation, Medicare, Medicaid, and stimulus funds. ARRA SNAP/Food Stamp payments, together with SSI and Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance totaled $60 billion in the second quarter; state unemployment benefits increased $44 billion. Net earnings and property income, the other components of personal income, declined in every state except North Dakota. North Dakota’s farm sector accounted for a large portion of that state’s growth.

12. San Antonio’s Refugees Get Help from Mobile Food Pantry
(San Antonio Express-News, October 23, 2009)

As SNAP/Food Stamp applications in Texas are taking longer to process, many refugees from other countries landing in the San Antonio area are being helped by a mobile food distribution program sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank, Catholic Charities and Communities in Schools. “What we're faced with is food stamps and Medicaid applications taking longer to process than in years past,” said Paula Walker, Catholic Charities’ director of refugee programs. “We're only funded for a full week for a new refugee arriving; initiatives like this make a tremendous difference.” More than 150 refugees – from Iran, Iraq, Bhutan, Myanmar, Burundi and Ethiopia – received assistance from the program on a recent morning. Still, even with the waits, 18-year-old refugee Januka Subedi, from Nepal, said “I’m happy, I’m enjoying it. I like my new country. It’s beautiful.”

13. Hawaii’s WIC Program Struggles to Maintain Services during State Furloughs
(Honolulu Advertiser, October 23, 2009)

While Hawaii’s WIC workers are struggling with higher caseloads and fewer days to service people, the state is proceeding with closing government offices for state worker furlough days. In Oahu, more than 300 women were not able to pick up their WIC checks on October 23, as the WIC office was closed. The public sector labor union agreed to a contract containing 18 furlough days, and the state’s Office of Women, Infants and Children Services has been “furiously” calling clients to reschedule their appointments. WIC checks cannot be mailed to clients – they have to pick them up – because the government requires an education component to be delivered with the program. State unemployment offices are also affected.

14. Connecticut’s Children in Recession Task Force Will Tackle Rising Hunger and Poverty Rates
(Hartford Business, October 11, 2009)

This summer, Connecticut served “an unprecedented” 33,000 children free lunches, an increase over last year’s 31,000 according to the state Department of Education. This is evidence that mirrors other reports on rising poverty among the state’s children, notes this op-ed by state representative Karen Jarmoc (D-Enfield), co-chair of the Speaker’s Task Force on Children in the Recession. Working families make up 25 percent of food pantry clients, and 102,000 children under the age of 12 – one in five in the state – are hungry or risk being hungry. Hunger is damaging – babies and toddlers are 76 percent more likely to be at development risk if they are in food-insecure families. The task force has begun “work to stymie the tidal wave of harm which may engulf the young people in our state as a result of the recession.” Across the country, 2.6 million to 3.3 million children will be forced into poverty by the recession, according to a recent report by The Foundation for Child Development and Youth Well-Being and Duke University. The cost to Americans will be $1.7 trillion. It will cost Connecticut millions annually, notes a First Focus report titled “The Cost of Doing Nothing, The Economic Impact of Recession Induced Child Poverty.” The economic downturn, according to both reports, will wipe out progress made since 1975 in children’s economic well-being. The Children in the Recession Task Force in Connecticut – the first state to take steps toward a resolution – will review budget implications, host public hearings across the state, and identify stimulus opportunities.

15. Indiana Will Return to Personal-Contact Welfare System
(Indianapolis Star, October 16, 2009)

Governor Mitch Daniels recently cancelled Indiana’s 10-year, $1.34 billion welfare service privatization project and contract with IBM. The move has come after many in the state complained of numerous errors and long waiting times for services. “In many respects, they were right,” said Daniels. “The system wasn’t working, and it wasn’t getting better, despite best efforts.” The state was facing sanctions due to the number of errors in welfare processing, which involved clients interfacing with “impersonal” call centers with new computers. A hybrid system, featuring face-to-face meetings between clients and caseworkers in county offices, will take over. The paperless computerized tracking system will remain in place, along with privately employed workers, while IBM-managed subcontractors will now be managed by the state. “This is a rare moment in which I can congratulate the governor for making the right move,” said State House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer (D-South Bend). IBM spokesman John Buscemi said the company “rejects the state’s claims and believes they’re unjustified,” since IBM put “significant money and resources” into the system. Buscemi blamed the economy, rising unemployment and other factors for the problems, and noted that welfare applications were up 33 percent since the IBM contract began in 2006.