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. FRAC President Testifies on Food Stamp Program Before House Subcommittee
2. Cuts to Food Stamp Program Endanger Children’s Health and Learning Success, Witnesses Say
3. Op-Ed: Government Should Do More Than Name Change for Food Stamp Program
4. Senators Introduce Legislation to Expand the Lugar Pilots Program
5. Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program Grant Awards Announced
6. California: White House Rejects to Provide More Food Stamp Assistance to Freeze-Stricken Region
7. Op-Ed: Kansas Should Continue Tradition of Bipartisan Support for Food Stamps in Congress
8. Missouri: Food Program Cuts Will Stretch Food Banks Beyond Their Limits
9. California: Lake County Accepts Waiver of Work Requirement for Able-Bodied Adults Receiving Food Stamps
10. Connecticut: ConnPIRG Students Experience Living on Food Stamps
11. North Carolina: Food Stamp Customers Grateful for Access to Farmers’ Market in Carrboro
12. Texas Ends Landmark Experiment to Privatize Social Services
13. Indiana: USDA Tightens Oversight of State’s Outsourcing of Eligibility Determination for Food Stamps and Other Benefits
14. Massachusetts: State Officials Seek to Remove Barriers to Participation in School Meals and Summer Food Programs for Children
15. Arkansas: Springdale School District Reaps Success with Classroom Breakfast
16. New York: State Cash Assistance Is Too Little to Help People Break Circle of Poverty

1. FRAC President Testifies on Food Stamp Program Before House Subcommittee

(“FRAC President Jim Weill Testifies Before House Subcommittee on Food Stamps’ Positive Impact on Children’s Health,” frac.org, March 14, 2007)

Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), testified before the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition, and Forestry of the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture on ways to improve the Food Stamp Program. “The 2007 Farm Bill should include significant new investments in the Food Stamp Program to renew the nation’s effort to eradicate hunger and food insecurity and improve the nutrition, health and learning of all our people, and especially children,” Weill said. Congress must increase benefit allotments and open eligibility to more needy people and connect more eligible people with benefits, “since only 60 percent of currently eligible people, and barely half of eligible low-income working families, participate in the program,” also stressed Weill. He urged lawmakers to revise resource rules to allow needy families to keep their meager savings and still be able to participate in the program. He also underscored the need to allocate funding for food stamp outreach and education activities and increase support for state administrative operations.

http://www.frac.org/pdf/WeillTestimony031307.pdf

2. Cuts to Food Stamp Program Endanger Children’s Health and Learning Success, Witnesses Say

(“Children’s Advocate: Food Stamp Program Key,” kansas.com, March 14, 2007)

If the White House budget plan to cut the Food Stamp Program is successful, the Bush administration will save nearly $800 million over the next five years by imposing stricter controls on how states distribute some food stamp benefits. “We’re moving in the wrong direction,” said Gary Brunk of Kansas Action for Children who was one of half a dozen experts called to testify before a congressional panel looking at the impact of the Food Stamp Program on child nutrition. “We should actually be adding money to the program, not taking money away,” he said. Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, called the Food Stamp Program a “positive force.” Brunk and others cited studies that showed a negative impact of poor nutrition on children’s health, including obesity, and can cause poor performance in school. “If we invest now, the taxpayers end up saving in the long run,” said Democratic Rep. Joe Baca of California, who chaired the hearing by a House Agriculture subcommittee. Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza said the program’s complex rules, combined with a lack of translators and fears among legal immigrants that registering could create immigration problems, were among the reasons so few Hispanics are enrolled. All witnesses urged policymakers to increase the amount of food stamp benefits.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/state/16899578.htm

3. Op-Ed: Government Should Do More Than Name Change for Food Stamp Program

(“Make Healthier Food Available to All,” seattlepi.nwsource.com, March 13, 2007)

Nutritionists applaud the intention of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to change the name of the Food Stamp Program to the “Food and Nutrition Program.” The new name will better reflect the program’s mission of reducing hunger and improving nutrition among low-income people, writes Jennifer Wilkins of the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Nutritionists and hunger advocates are not pleased with a President Bush’s budget provision that cuts the program by $540 million over the next five years. “This is out of step with the USDA’s latest annual report on food assistance program trends that shows the need for food stamps, by any name, is only increasing,” argues Wilkins. Insufficient income and federal assistance for purchasing food constitute an obstacle to health faced by the poor, who are “further disadvantaged by having limited access to wholesome, reasonably priced foods.” Markets selling such foods are not likely to exist in lower-income communities, Wilkins writes. “It will take more than a name change to assure that the nation’s cornerstone of food assistance effectively improves the food security and nutritional status of America’s most needy.”

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/307136_foodstamp13.html

4. Senators Introduce Legislation to Expand the Lugar Pilots Program

(“Lugar Introduces Bill to Expand Summer Feeding Programs,” munciefreepress.com, March 7, 2007)

U.S. Sens. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., introduced legislation to expand the Lugar Pilots program nationwide. A total of 26 states and Puerto Rico participate in the Lugar Pilots program, which started in 2001 as part of the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) for low-income children who lose access to meals in the summer months when schools are closed. “The need to feed youth in the summer time is a nationwide problem and it is clear we have a proven method,” Lugar said. “I hope that we can extend the Lugar Pilots to all 50 states as quickly as possible,” he stated. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the 13 original Lugar pilot states have increased participation by 43.3 percent and non-participating states have decreased participation by 14.6 percent. “Children’s food and nutrition needs do not end when school lets out for the summer. This program is a proven effective way to get kids the food and nutrition they need during the summer months,” commented Sen. Kennedy. Sen. Chambliss, Ranking Republican Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said, “This legislation offers a common sense solution to the difficulty sponsors often face when administering the program. The simplified program rules make it easier for sponsors to participate and provide the nutritious meals children need.”

http://www.munciefreepress.com/news/story/2007/3/7/201347/2872

5. Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program Grant Awards Announced

(“Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program, Fiscal 2007, Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program: Description and Application Process,” ers.usda.gov, March 2007)

The Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program of USDA’s Economic Research Service has announced $2 million in awards through its Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program in FY2007. The program’s priority research areas are: Food Choices: Economic Determinants and Consequences; Economic Incentives in Food Assistance Programs; and Food Assistance as an Economic Safety Net. The deadline for proposal submission is May 21, 2007.

http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/AP/AP020/

6. California: White House Rejects to Provide More Food Stamp Assistance to Freeze-Stricken Region

(“Disaster Declaration Will Help Ag Community,” mercedsunstar.com, March 14, 2007)

President Bush agreed to declare a freeze-stricken area in San Joaquin Valley in California a major disaster area. Workers who lost their jobs because of the freeze will receive up to 26 weeks of disaster unemployment assistance. In a compromised decision, the White House made available surplus food, but rejected Gov. Schwarzenegger’s request for the additional food stamp assistance provided in other disasters. White House officials said the freeze, unlike a hurricane or flood, did not destroy the infrastructure used in providing food stamps through conventional channels. Although under the disaster declaration the region will get more assistance than is currently available, it will be less than has been offered for other presidential-declared disasters.

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/local/story/13382710p-14002928c.html

7. Op-Ed: Kansas Should Continue Tradition of Bipartisan Support for Food Stamps in Congress

(“In the Wheat State, a Bipartisan Front vs. Hunger,” hutchnews.com, March 11, 2007)

“The president’s proposed budget now working its way through Congress would lower funding for food stamps by $540 million over five years,” writes Gary Brunk, executive director of Kansas Action for Children, in The Hutchinson ( Kan.) News. This is happening despite the fact that the number of Kansans receiving food stamps has increased by more than 50,000 in five years and that 48 percent of those recipients are children. Children from one in eight Kansas families unsure they’ll have enough food are more likely to show behavioral, emotional and academic problems, according to the “Hunger in the Heartland” study by the Kansas Health Institute. In the U.S. Congress, Kansas always has lead efforts to strengthen the Food Stamp Program. They were started by Republican Sen. Bob Dole, one of the principal architects of the Food Stamp Act of 1977. Cutting across party lines, Dole reached Democratic Sen. George McGovern to improve the food stamp law. “The Wheat State congressional delegation can help shape what happens to food stamps,” writes Brunk. “Together, Republicans [Pat] Roberts and [Jerry] Moran and Democrat [Nancy] Boyda have a chance to forge a Dole-McGovern style alliance, strengthening the food stamp program by increasing its budget beyond what the president proposes and continuing the Kansas anti-hunger tradition,” Brunk writes.

http://www.hutchnews.com/opinion/editorials/stories/wheat031107.shtml

8. Missouri: Food Program Cuts Will Stretch Food Banks Beyond Their Limits

(“Hunger Report Spurs Harvesters 2007 Work,” kccommunitynews.com, March 14, 2007)

Harvesters Community Food Network of Kansas City, Mo., plans to work harder to aid children and unify network agencies in their battle against hunger. “The economic climate for the working poor continues to be of particular concern in Kansas City,” said network Executive Director Karen Haren. “Nationally, 36 percent of clients have at least one adult in the household working, but in Kansas City, the number is 48 percent. These are people who are struggling every day to put food on the table and can’t do so on the low-wage jobs they have,” she explained. “80 percent of those Missourians eligible for food stamps receive food stamps, but we know more could participate,” Haren said. “If these federal nutrition programs are cut, we would not be able to make up the shortfall. We would be stretched beyond our abilities,” she stressed.

http://tinyurl.com/32tnhe

9. California: Lake County Accepts Waiver of Work Requirement for Able-Bodied Adults Receiving Food Stamps

(“Lake County Has Rejected State Waivers Since 1990’s,” record-bee.com, March 13, 2007)

The Lake County Board of Supervisors in California will accept a state waiver that lifts the work requirement for able-bodied adults receiving food stamps. It will allow them to maintain eligibility for food stamp benefits longer than the current limit of three months in a three-year period. The county has traditionally rejected the waiver since the early 1990s, requiring able-bodied clients work a minimum 20 hours per week to maintain ongoing food stamp eligibility, said Social Services Director Carol Hutchingson. According to Hutchingson, a doctor’s verification that a person was not physically or mentally able to work exempted a person from the work requirement in past years. But some recipients may fall into a “gray area,” in which a person in unable to work, but cannot obtain verification. Hutchingson said about half of the county’s able-bodied adults fall into that “gray area,” based on the number of people who lose their eligibility because of the work requirement. These people will need to reapply in order to continue to receive food stamps.

http://www.record-bee.com/local/ci_5431196

10. Connecticut: ConnPIRG Students Experience Living on Food Stamps

(“ConnPIRG Seeks to End State Hunger,” trinitytripod.com, March 13, 2007)

Members of Trinity College’s chapter of ConnPIRG, Connecticut Student Public Interest Research Group, participated in a food stamp project by living on $4 per day in food stamps for either a week or a month. The Charter Oak Cultural Center and the Center City Churches organized the project to raise awareness of hunger in the community. “Aside from one banana … I have not eaten any fruit,” wrote student Augusta Friendsmith in her project journal. “I also feel hungry all the time …. As an athlete, I am not getting enough calories; I feel weak during practices … I have lost four to five pounds this week. I have not weighed this little since high school,” she wrote. “All of us found not being able to access campus dining facilities and thus missing out on the social dimensions of eating, having to live on less food that we usually consume, and on food which is not of the highest quality and nutritional value, very challenging,” said Dora Turjan. “We have to keep reminding ourselves that having the opportunity to eat a sufficient amount of good quality food is not a natural, matter-of-fact component of everyday life,” she said.

http://tinyurl.com/255ct3

11. North Carolina: Food Stamp Customers Grateful for Access to Farmers’ Market in Carrboro

(“Food Stamps Get an ‘in’ at Farmers Markets,” newsobserver.com, March 9, 2007)

Ristin Cooks rings up fresh vegetables for food stamp recipients who visit her booth at the Carrboro (N.C.) Farmers’ Market. “It’s part of our mission as farmers to try to make the world a healthier place not just for people who have a disposable income, but for everybody,” she said. Cooks once was on food stamps herself and wants the Carrboro market to welcome food stamp recipients. The market, together with farmers’ markets in Hillsborough and Durham, began accepting electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards under a pilot program last fall. Sheila Neal, manager of the Carrboro market, said customers were grateful for the program. Although many people receiving food stamps live close to farmers’ markets, none of North Carolina’s markets accepts EBT cards as payment. According to a 2004 study, in Durham County, about 6,000 of the county’s 9,500 food stamp households live within four miles of a farmers’ market.

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/551328.html

12. Texas Ends Landmark Experiment to Privatize Social Services

(“State Ending Contract with Embattled Consulting Firm,” chron.com, March 13, 2007)

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is ending its contract with the Texas Access Alliance, a group of contractors led by Accenture, which was hired by the state to determine eligibility and process applications for food stamps and other benefits. From its start in 2005, the project evoked criticism from policymakers and advocates for the poor who blamed Accenture’s computer system for multiple technical and operational problems that lead to a drastic decrease in enrollment for the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program. Several lawmakers said the contract’s demise should be a lesson to state leaders who want to privatize public programs. “All that glitters isn’t gold, and privatization is not gold,” said Democratic state Rep. Garnet Coleman. “It is fraught with inefficiency and poor operation and this has been the poster child for privatization in Texas.” State officials and Accenture are working on a timeline of handing over responsibility for the project. The state will decide whether to hire more state employees or use different contractors, according to HHSC Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/4626711.html

13. Indiana: USDA Tightens Oversight of State’s Outsourcing of Eligibility Determination for Food Stamps and Other Benefits

(“U.S. Agency Tightens Oversight of FSSA Outsourcing,” fortwayne.com, March 15, 2007)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service will send representatives to Indiana to observe the state’s outsourcing of the eligibility determination for food stamps and other benefits to an IBM-led team of contractors. The agency will request the state to provide monthly reports on how many food stamp applications it approves or rejects and data on delays with applications. It also asked the Indiana Family and Social Services (FSSA) administration for monthly data comparing the performance of IBM and its partners with that of FSSA employees during the same period a year earlier. USDA spokesman Lawrence Rudmann said Food and Nutrition Service staff will do onsite reviews of the privatization beginning next month. “We want to make sure everything goes well,” Rudmann said. The federal oversight reflects concerns among advocates that the privatization of food stamp eligibility might result in denying benefits to those eligible because of technological glitches, the lack of training for the vendors’ employees, or other reasons.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/local/16911580.htm

14. Massachusetts: State Officials Seek to Remove Barriers to Participation in School Meals and Summer Food Programs for Children

(“City’s Kids Not Utilizing School Food Programs,” thetranscript.com, March 15, 2007)

The Massachusetts Department of Education is exploring barriers to participation in school meals programs using a case study of North Adams and the Gill-Montague Regional School District in Franklin County. The study conducted by the University of Massachusetts’ Extension Nutrition Program showed that 1,750 children in the district can participate in the breakfast program, but only about 642 students actually eat breakfast at school. Only 164 students participate in the free summer program. “The department wants to increase participation in not only the breakfast program but also the summer school lunch program,” said Shirley Mietilicki of the University of Massachusetts. The district adopted a swipe lunch card system and a universal application form, which eliminates the need to apply for each child separately and reduces paperwork. These measures increased participation in breakfast and lunch programs. But adding new food sites to attract children to summer food programs does not always work, explained Marie Harpin, city councilor and director of Northern Berkshire Community Action. When mothers can feed only one child and need to bring food for themselves and other children, they do not want to come. She pointed out that transportation and day care also affect participation in the summer programs.

http://www.thetranscript.com/localnews/ci_5443538

15. Arkansas: Springdale School District Reaps Success with Classroom Breakfast

(“School Cafeterias Get Students Ready for School Day,” nwaonline.net, March 6, 2007)

“Hungry children can’t learn,” said Carol Godfrey, director of food service for the Springdale (Ark.) School District where 52 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price school meals. “We want children to eat breakfast.” The Springdale cafeteria breakfast line opens about 30 minutes before the classes start and offers students either a hot breakfast or an express breakfast, which includes cereal. The district’s prekindergarten program, however, rates higher on state evaluations because schools offer breakfast in the classroom to prekindergarten students. Springdale was one of eight school districts around the country featured in “Classroom Breakfast Playbook” released by the “got breakfast?” Foundation.

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/03/06/news/030707szschoolbreakfast.txt

16. New York: State Cash Assistance Is Too Little to Help People Break Circle of Poverty

(“Advocates for Poor Seek Increase in NY Cash Assistance,” silive.com, March 13, 2007)

Maureen Lane, co-director of the Welfare Rights Initiative at Hunter College in New York City, and other advocates met with New York state officials to argue for more resources to lift welfare recipients out of poverty. In 1995, Lane was jobless and lacked a high school diploma. Public assistance helped her pass a graduation equivalency test and enroll in Hunter College. Now Lane advocates that more people like her have chances for success. Cash assistance for New York poor has remained the same since 1990. “The benefit level is less than 50 percent of the poverty level,” Lane said. “It doesn’t help families move forward,” she said. There has not been a comparable decline in poverty, advocates say. Low-income workers and welfare recipients who have not been able to find or keep a job and those who are unable to work still rely on welfare payments to survive. Michael Hayes, spokesman of the state Office of Temporary Disability Assistance, said they focus on efforts to get people into jobs and off public assistance. Mark Dunlea of the Hunger Action Network of New York State says more needs to be done. His group points out that the state needs to expand the education and training programs for welfare participants and the unemployed and increase funding for the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program and the establishment of a state Food Policy Council.

http://www.silive.com/newsflash/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-21/1173816860154660.xml&storylist=simetro

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