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.

Issue 17, April 25, 2007     

FRAC News Digest

1. Institute of Medicine Releases Nutrition Standards for Competitive Food in Schools
2. Food Stamp Participation in January 2007 Dips; 7.4 Million More Got Food Stamps than in January 2002
3. Statistician Who Developed Federal Poverty Lines Dies
4. CDC Accepting Nominations of Successful School Wellness Programs
5. Nominations for 2007 USDA Hunger Champion Awards Due June 30
6. More Low-Income Americans Live in Suburbs than Cities
7. Report Highlights Importance of Food Stamp Program to Latinos
8. Editorial: Oregon Governor's Challenge Will Raise Awareness
9. Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Hearing on Policy Review of Food Stamp Program
10. Alabama: Food Stamp Program Applications Streamlined for Elderly
11. Colorado: Student Wins YES Competition with Project on Teen Breakfast Habits
12. Virginia: Fauquier County Official, Service Providers Grapple with Growing Hunger

1. Institute of Medicine Releases Nutrition Standards for Competitive Food in Schools

The Institute of Medicine's (IOM) released Nutrition Standards for Healthy Schools: Leading the Way toward Healthier Youth, which recommends guidelines for foods and beverages made available to students in schools through sources other than the federal school lunch and breakfast programs. Also known as competitive foods, such foods include items sold in vending machines, school stores, and "a la carte" lines in the cafeteria. The standards, which were developed by an IOM committee at the request of Congress, promote the consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nonfat or low-fat dairy products. They also limit the amount of fat, saturated fat, salt, added sugars, and total calories in products. "FRAC sees the Institute of Medicine's nutrition standards as a vital contribution to the growing local and national efforts to make our schools into models of good nutrition for all children. These standards, if implemented, have the capacity to improve children's nutrition and help prevent obesity. In addition, they are very likely to lead to increased participation in healthy school meal programs," said Lynn Parker, FRAC's director of child nutrition programs and a member of the IOM committee that developed the standards.

Report: http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3788/30181/42502.aspx

FRAC statement: http://www.frac.org/html/news/IOMNutritrionStandards07.html

2. Food Stamp Participation in January 2007 Dips; 7.4 Million More Got Food Stamps than in January 2002

(FRAC Analysis, April 19, 2007)

In January 2007 food stamp participation at 26,364,153 persons dipped over the month by 23,859 people. The overall caseload for January 2007 was nearly 150,000 persons lower than the prior January, when some 2005 Gulf Coast hurricane victims received disaster food stamp benefits. Still, January 2007 participation levels were more than 7.4 million persons higher than in January 2002. Nonetheless, the Program still is missing nearly four in ten eligible people.

3. Statistician Who Developed Federal Poverty Lines Dies

("Mollie Orshansky, Statistician, Dies at 91," nytimes.com, April 17, 2007)

Mollie Orshansky, a statistician and economist who developed the federal poverty line, a measurement that shaped decades of social policy and welfare programs, died Dec. 18, 2006. Her family did not immediately announce the death. Orshansky worked for the Social Security Administration from 1958 until she retired in 1982. In 1963 and 1964, she developed the poverty line using the economy food plan - the cheapest of four "nutritionally adequate" food plans developed by the USDA - and multiplied the dollar costs by roughly three to come up with a minimum cost-of-living estimate. (A household food consumption survey by the Agriculture Department had shown that, in 1955, families of three or more people spent about one-third of their after-tax cash income on food.) In May 1965, the Office of Economic Opportunity, the federal agency charged with carrying out President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty, adopted the "Orshansky index" as the yardstick to measure poverty. Throughout her life, Orshansky expressed sympathy with the criticisms of the poverty line. She once wrote, "[t]he best that can be said of the measure is that at a time when it seemed useful, it was there."

4. CDC Accepting Nominations of Successful School Wellness Programs

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) in collaboration with the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity (DNPA), the CDC Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJ) are undertaking a collaborative project to identify and assess policies or programs that have been implemented with apparent success in improving the eating habits and physical activity levels of children ages 3-17. They are accepting nominations of school districts that are implementing innovative local wellness policies. Nominations should include the state, school district, a name and contact information for a district contact, and information about the wellness policy. The submission deadline is Tuesday, May 1, 2007.

Submit nominations to Seraphine Pitt Barnes (spe6@cdc.gov).

5. Nominations for 2007 USDA Hunger Champion Awards Due June 30

(USDA Food and Nutrition Service, April 4, 2007)

Nominations are being accepted for this year's 2007 Hunger Champions Program and Golden Grocer Hunger Champions Program. The Food Stamp Outreach Coalition established the Hunger Champions Program to honor local offices that provide exemplary service in helping eligible clients obtain food stamps. The Golden Grocer Hunger Champions Program recognizes the role retailers play in the Food Stamp Program, including successful activities that improve service to food stamp recipients and low-income customers. Nominations for both awards must be submitted by June 30, 2007.

6. More Low-Income Americans Live in Suburbs than Cities

("1. The New Suburban Poverty," thenation.com, April 23, 2007)

According to a Brookings Institution report, an historic milestone has been reached: For the first time ever, more poor Americans live in the suburbs than in all our cities combined. Suburban poverty presents new challenges to people trying to provide services; in many towns there's a dearth of social service agencies to offer help. In Rockingham County, North Carolina, nearly 7,000 people showed up at the food pantry last year, a sevenfold increase from 2000. "It's overwhelming," said Janna Nowell, the facility's director. Recently, the pantry ran out of food, a problem that's become familiar in many suburban locales.

7. Report Highlights Importance of Food Stamp Program to Latinos

A report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities demonstrates the importance of food stamps to Latinos. More than 5 million Latinos receive food stamps in a typical month, and food stamps make up one-quarter of the total monthly income of the typical low-income Latino family that participates in the program. Apart from food stamps, this typical family has an income of a little more than half of the poverty line, or around $9,600 for a family of three. More than 4 million Latinos (both citizens and legal immigrants) who are eligible for food stamps do not receive them. Much of the low participation rate is due to confusion and fear caused by restrictions put in place in the 1996 welfare reform law, which severely restricted food stamp eligibility for legal immigrants.

Facts About Latinos in the Food Stamp Program (From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities):
http://www.cbpp.org/4-19-07fa-fact2.htm

8. Editorial: Oregon Governor's Challenge Will Raise Awareness

("Opinion: Food Stamp Challenge Will Raise Awareness," statesmanjournal.com, April 14, 2007)

This editorial encourages people to take up Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski's challenge to live on a typical food-stamp recipient's grocery budget of $3 per person, per day for a week. April 23-29 is Hunger Awareness Week and the challenge is a way to experience what it's like to live on a low income and live the challenges of getting enough to eat while, at the same time, preparing healthy and convenient meals. "Of course, cheap, filling food is a way of life for thousands of low-income Oregonians. But for those who aren't poor, or who left poverty behind with their college days, $3 can disappear pretty quickly."

9. Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Hearing on Policy Review of Food Stamp Program

("Hearing on Food Stamps," post-gazette.com, April 16, 2007)

U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle and Just Harvest hosted a hearing in Pittsburgh where food stamp recipients and community activists proposed a policy review of the Food Stamp Program, saying the application procedure needs simplification and benefits need to be increased. Other recommendations included not penalizing unemployed able-bodied adults without dependents if they are actively searching for jobs and increasing funding for the Farmers' Market Nutrition Program and Emergency Food Assistance Program.

10. Alabama: Food Stamp Program Applications Streamlined for Elderly

("DHR Wants More to Apply for Food Stamps," al.com, April 23, 2007)

Officials with the Alabama Department of Human Services (DHR) are looking for ways to boost enrollment in the Food Stamp Program, especially among the elderly who have much lower rates of participation. According to Joyce O'Neal, director of the DHR's Food Assistance Division, Alabama is hoping to introduce a streamlined two-sided form for applicants older than 60, along with a shorter application process which eliminates a face-to-face interview, unless the family requests one. Currently, people of all ages are required to fill out a 24-page form to apply for the program. Alabama's DHR is also working with local and national food assistance programs to get enrollment up. Applications are now available at food banks, for example.

11. Student Wins YES Competition with Project on Teen Breakfast Habits

("Swink student earns D.C. trip, scholarship," chieftan.com, April 23, 2007)

Swink High School senior Kelsey Miller won a $15,000 scholarship in the Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) Competition, which was sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The YES Competition seeks to spur students' interest in epidemiology. Miller's project - "A Study of Early Morning Breakfast Habits of Teens and their Midmorning Blood Sugar Levels" - explored whether breakfast habits were casually related to headaches and an inability to concentrate at mid-morning. Miller chose her research topic after hearing that her school nurse saw an increase in the number of students complaining about headaches and problems concentrating in the mid-morning. Miller and a friend separated students into three groups and tested their blood sugar levels every day for 18 days. One group ate breakfast at home, another ate breakfast provided by the school and the other ate no breakfast at all.

12. Virginia: Fauquier County Official, Service Providers Grapple with Growing Hunger

("Hunger is growing problem in Fauquier," timescommunity.com, April 17, 2007)

Fauquier County, on the suburban/rural fringe of Washington, D.C. has a growing hunger problem that is well-hidden and more widespread than is generally recognized, according to Susan Dove, president of the Fauquier County Food Distribution Coalition. Ann O'Connor, a nutritionist with the Fauquier County Health Department, points out that finding emergency resources during a temporary bind can be a challenge. The Food Stamp Program is one example of a program that people have difficulty accessing because of the amount of paperwork involved; potential recipients must fill out a 14-page application to apply. Mittie Wallace, program manager for Fauquier County Social Services, said her agency will be hosting discussions and outreach activities at local elderly housing facilities to raise awareness about medical and nutritional needs as part of Abuse and Neglect Month in May. "[T]he majority of people we serve are elderly or disabled," Wallace said. "It is difficult for those with special dietary needs to provide themselves with the correct foods."

Help end childhood hunger: http://www.frac.org