The weekly Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) 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. Growing Number of Severely Poor Becoming “Troubling” Trend
2. Greater Use of Electronic Payment Cards, Introduction of Salad Bars and Improved Cooking Methods Increase Participation in School Lunch
3. Minnesota Lawmakers Propose Bills to Increase Food Stamp Participation and Adding More Funding to Nutrition Programs
4. Nebraska: New Bill Pushes for Clearing Ways for Greater Food Stamp Participation
5. Indiana Defends Its Social Services Privatization Plan
6. Editorial: Grand Rapids Schools Deserve Credit for Letting Students Eligible for Reduced-Price Meals Eat Free
7. Alabama: WIC Program Seeking to Reach More Eligible Families
8. Arkansas Lawmakers Approved Best Ever Tax Relief for Low-Income Families
9. Texas: Food Bank Conference Raises Issue of Growing Hunger
10. Illinois: Once Booming Midwestern Town Leaves Its Workers Without Jobs, with Little Hope for Future
11. Utah Lawmakers Consider Cutting State and Local Benefits to Those Who Cannot Prove Their Legal Status

1. Growing Number of Severely Poor Becoming “Troubling” Trend

(“U.S. Economy Leaving Record Numbers in Severe Poverty,” realcities.com, February 22, 2007)

The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached nearly 16 million, report McClatchy Newspapers. The analysis, conducted by the publishing group, showed that the number of severely poor Americans grew by 26 percent from 2000 to 2005, which is 56 percent faster than the overall poverty population grew in the same period. Washington, D.C., has a higher concentration of severely poor people, 10.8 percent in 2005, than any of the 50 states. Nearly six out of 10 poor district residents live in extreme poverty. The capital tops even hurricane-ravaged Mississippi and Louisiana, with 9.3 percent and 8.3 percent of severely poor people, respectively. Arloc Sherman of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities calls the growth of deep poverty a “troubling” trend and attributes it to the emergence of “more and more single moms with children who lose their jobs and who aren’t being caught by a safety net anymore.” Mark Rank, a professor of social welfare at the University of Wisconsin, estimates that one in three Americans will experience a full year of extreme poverty at some point in his or her adult life. According to Rank, two out of three Americans will use a public assistance program between ages 20 and 65, and 40 percent will do so for five years or more. “Poverty has become a routine and unfortunate part of the American life course,” wrote Rank in a recent study.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16760690.htm

2. Greater Use of Electronic Payment Cards, Introduction of Salad Bars and Improved Cooking Methods Increase Participation in School Lunch

(“National School Lunch Program Fills Food Assistance Gaps,” ers.usda.gov, February 7, 2007)

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) serves 29 million lunches daily, and nearly half of them are served free to low-income students, reports the Economic Research Service (ERS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ERS found that two-thirds of students receiving free lunches were in households that did not participate in the Food Stamp Program or in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, even though those households had incomes low enough to qualify them for benefits. NSLP participation is lower among high school students compared to younger students, partly because younger students are more likely to have lower household incomes and more likely to qualify for free and reduced-price meals. Older students also cited concerns about the stigma of being poor or school meals being seen as ‘uncool’ as reasons for not participating in the program. According to ERS analysis, greater use of electronic payment cards that prevent identifying free meal recipients has increased participation. Changes in menu and meal presentation, such as salad bars and improved cooking techniques, also have contributed to growth in participation.

http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/February07/Findings/National.htm

3. Minnesota Lawmakers Propose Bills to Increase Food Stamp Participation and Add More Funding to Nutrition Programs

(“Study Probes Decline in Food Stamp Use,” minnesota.publicradio.org, February 20, 2007)

About 275,000 residents of Minnesota receive food stamps, while 189,000 more are eligible but not participating, according to a study by the Legal Services Advocacy Project. The study points to a long application process and the stigma of receiving free aid as reasons for the lack of participation. State Sen. Linda Berglin introduced a bill to trim the food stamp application from 22 pages to three pages. Berglin said other obstacles to participation are a monthly reporting requirement and a rule which caps benefits at a low level if recipients don’t use the full allocation every month. “This (legislation) will end the practice … of penalizing seniors who often times save up their food benefits for a birthday or a holiday and in doing so they lose the value of that month’s benefit,” Berglin explained. “The state will no longer … be able to freeze benefits after three months of non-use,” she said. This legislative session, Minnesota lawmakers will look into proposals focusing on increasing food stamp participation, adding funds for food shelves, and restoration of money cut from nutrition programs.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/02/20/foodstamps/

4. Nebraska: New Bill Pushes for Clearing Ways for Greater Food Stamp Participation

(“Bill Would Have Nebraska Claim Some $80M in Additional Food Stamp Funds,” nebraska.statepaper.com, February 22, 2007)

Nebraska State Sen. Gail Kopplin introduced a bill that would have the state take full advantage of existing guidelines in the Food Stamp Program to increase the number of Nebraskans benefiting from food stamps. The measure calls for actively seeking more people who are eligible for food stamps, but not receiving them through the adoption of all options and waivers available to the residents of Nebraska under the federal program. According to the Nebraska Appleseed Center, as many as 60,000 additional residents might qualify for food stamps. Nebraska would bring in approximately $80 million in additional federal funds, if it could increase participation. State food stamp administrator Mike Harris opposed the bill, saying it would increase state costs because more workers would be needed to handle additional caseloads.

http://nebraska.statepaper.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2007/02/22/45ddd70338477

5. Indiana Defends Its Social Services Privatization Plan

(“State Reassuring Feds on Welfare Outsourcing,” fortwayne.com, February 23, 2007)

Zach Main, director of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, sent the U.S. Department of Agriculture documents detailing a contingency plan if the agency’s outsourcing of the application process for food stamps, Medicaid and other public benefits to private vendors goes wrong. The state is planning to outsource 1,500 welfare caseworkers to an IBM-lead team of vendors next month. The state’s privatization plan evoked concerns among federal and state policymakers and advocates for people relying on public assistance. USDA food stamp officials approved the plan in December, but requested answers to a number of questions regarding the contingency plan, state and vendor staffing and safeguards for Indiana’s nearly 600,000 food stamp recipients. The agency is under congressional scrutiny over its handling of the Indiana plan. Indiana has assured its critics that a pilot program affecting about 10 percent of the state’s total welfare caseload will be in place to see if the plan works. But advocates remain wary. Patti O’Callaghan of the Indiana Coalition for Human Services said the contingency plan is too sketchy and the state’s schedule provides no time for evaluating whether the pilot succeeds before the plan’s rollout expands.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/16766734.htm

6. Editorial: Grand Rapids Schools Deserve Credit for Letting Students Eligible for Reduced-Price Meals Eat Free

(“Feed Bodies and Minds,” mlive.com, February 19, 2007)

“Students are in school to learn. They can’t do that if they are hungry,” writes this editorial in The Grand Rapids ( Mich.) Press. “The Grand Rapids Board of Education deserves credit for letting students eligible for reduced-price meals eat free. The progressive move this month removes a barrier to children of the working poor,” writes the newspaper. Nearly 80 percent of the students in Grand Rapids schools live in poverty. Grand Rapids is the first school in the state to offer free breakfast and lunch to those who are eligible only for reduced-price meals. School officials believe that the fee was preventing students from eating. “Forty cents for lunch and 30 cents for breakfast may seem cheap to the comfortable, but not for those struggling to make ends meet and who are responsible for several youngsters,” points out the newspaper. It calls on Congress to fund a pilot project to test the elimination of reduced-price meals at schools. “Children should show up for school hungry for knowledge, not food,” states the newspaper.

http://tinyurl.com/34q62v

7. Alabama: WIC Program Seeking to Reach More Eligible Families

(“Eligible Participants Not Enrolled in WIC Program,” tuscaloosanews.com, February 23, 2007)

Not enough people are taking advantage of the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. Although a recent increase in the federal poverty level guidelines have made more people eligible, more than a quarter of families in Tuscaloosa, Ala., qualify for WIC benefits, but do not apply for them. In Pickens County, one third of eligible families are not participating and in Bibb County about 27 percent of them are not enrolled. “There are a lot of people that are eligible for the program who for some reason think they have to be extremely poor to qualify,” said Wendy Blackmon, director of the Alabama WIC program. “That’s not the case.” Alabama families earning up to 85 percent above the poverty line are eligible for the program. In November, program officials opened a third WIC clinic site in Tuscaloosa. They are seeking to reach more eligible families in Tuscaloosa and surrounding West Alabama counties, especially focusing on reaching pregnant women in need of proper prenatal nutrition.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20070223/NEWS/702230347/-1/HURRICANE

8. Arkansas Lawmakers Approved Best Ever Tax Relief for Low-Income Families

(“Income Tax Exemption for Working Poor Advances,” arkansasnews.com, February 16, 2007)

Arkansans earning up to 33 percent above the poverty level would pay only a portion of the state income tax, said state Rep. Keven Anderson who sponsored House Bill 1443 reducing state income taxes for low-income groups. Rich Huddleston of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families praised the House for endorsing tax relief for the state’s low-income families. “It gets us off that bad, short list that you don’t want to be on of states that impose income taxes on families below the poverty line,” Huddleston said. The bill is part of a $319 million tax reduction package, the centerpiece of which was signed by Gov. Mike Beebe into law. The package reduces the state sales tax on groceries by 50 percent beginning July 1. In conjunction with halving the grocery tax, the bill makes this session one of the best ever in terms of tax relief for low-income families, Huddleston stressed.

http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2007/02/16/News/340685.html

9. Texas: Food Bank Conference Raises Issue of Growing Hunger

(“Reporter Praises Local Efforts to Fight Hunger,” news-journal.com, February 21, 2007)

“One voice against hunger” was this year’s theme of East Texas Food Bank’s annual conference in Tyler, Texas. “What’s striking is that in an economy that otherwise seems to be reasonably thriving ... there still is this hunger problem that a lot of people don’t see or recognize,” said Roger Thurow, a Wall Street Journal reporter, who shared with participants his last summer experience gathering information about local anti-hunger programs. “What I was struck by … is the innovative ways of thinking and approaching the hunger issue,” Thurow said, referring to the backpack program, which every Friday provides school children with backpacks full of food to keep them nourished over the weekend. But hunger is still rising in East Texas and across the country. A major contributor to the escalating problem is a growing class of working poor, said Robert Bush of East Texas Food Bank. Inflation has made it nearly impossible for minimum-wage earners to pay rent and bills and still afford food, especially if they have a family, he said. A lot of families are one emergency away from hunger, Bush added. The conference’s goal was to help food pantries and soup kitchens better serve the needs of the struggling people who depend on these organizations for their meals.

http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/02212007_food_bank.html

10. Illinois: Once Booming Midwestern Town Leaves Its Workers Without Jobs, with Little Hope for Future

(“Looking for a Way Out Without Leaving Home,” chicagotribune.com, February 18, 2007)

To improve his skills, unemployed Donald Ray Chamberlain attends twice weekly plumbing classes in downtown Gary, Ill. He goes diligently on twice-a-week job hunting trips, although only low-paying jobs turn up. If he didn’t do the job hunting, Chamberlain wouldn’t qualify for his $115 a month food stamp benefit. The classes give him hope to escape poverty in a city that, after the disappearance of good-paying factory jobs, has left both young and older workers with limited skills stranded. Gary has become a mostly poor, black enclave with one-third of its residents living in poverty. More than half of the families with children under 18 receive food stamps. Two out of three parents with students in city schools are single parents. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in 1979 more than 40 percent of the black men at work in the Midwest and 10 percent nationally earned their living in factories. By 2006, those numbers had dropped to less than 20 percent for the Midwest and 10 percent nationwide.

http://tinyurl.com/2u95k6

11. Utah Lawmakers Consider Cutting State and Local Benefits to Those Who Cannot Prove Their Legal Status

(“Bill Targets Services to Undocumented,” sltrib.com, February 21, 2007)

Utah seniors soon might be asked to prove their legal residency status to get access to services such as receiving a hot meal at their home or enjoying lunch at the neighborhood senior center. A Utah House committee approved a measure that would deny some state and local benefits, except for those federally mandated, to undocumented immigrants in Utah. If the bill became law, it also would affect low-income pregnant women and their families by putting them at risk of losing prenatal care, cancer screenings and immunizations. Rep. Christopher Herrod, R-Provo, said he hopes that the legislation will keep illegal people from coming to Utah. Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake City, pointed out that the bill would deny emergency food and heat services for undocumented families. The Utah bill was based on a Colorado law passed last year, but included significant changes in its final version. The bill would deny any food assistance, welfare, retirement, health, disability, public housing, postsecondary education and unemployment benefits provided by the Utah state or local government.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5271087

Correction: The original story of item 14 in the last week’s Digest refers to Austin in Minnesota, not Austin in Texas. Thank you to the readers who pointed that out.

For news tips, suggestions, comments, contact Olga Doty at odoty@frac.org