FRAC News Digest - December 10, 2004

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 46, December 10, 2004

Nearly 25 Million Persons on Food Stamps in September
Ag Secretary Nominee Likely to Support Nutrition Programs
Food Stamp Demand High When Welfare Benefits End
Poverty Among Working Families Up Since 1996
Ongoing State Fiscal Crisis Means Cuts Still Loom
Drop in Welfare Caseloads No Cause for Congratulations
States Do What Fed Has Not
California: Outreach Helps 1,400 More People Get Food Stamps
Oregon: Food Stamps Cited as a Solution at Hunger Summit
California: Young Immigrants' Health Worsens with Time in US
Louisiana: Governor's Optimism Opens Poverty Summit
Wisconsin: Milwaukee's Downturn Worse Than Great Depression
New York: Leader Transforms Food Bank for New York City
New York: $7.15 Minimum Wage Approved in Senate Override of Gov. Veto

1. Nearly 25 Million Persons on Food Stamps in September

("Food Stamp Participation Increases in September 2004 to Nearly 25 Million Persons," Food Research and Action Center, December 2004)

Participation in the Food Stamp Program in September 2004 (the latest data available) increased by 309,321 persons from the previous month, to 24,922,076 persons. Some of this increase was due to continuing high rates of joblessness, states improving access, and the effects of the food stamp reauthorization implementation. Participation has risen in 42 of the last 45 months. Participation in September 2004 rose in 48 states and the District of Columbia compared to a year earlier. The September 2004 level of Food Stamp Program participation represented a rise of nearly 2.2 million persons compared to September 2003.

http://frac.org/html/news/fsp/09.04_FSP.html

2. Ag Secretary Nominee Likely to Support Nutrition Programs

("A Farm-Raised USDA Choice," Washington Post, December 10, 2004)

Mike Johanns, President Bush's nominee to be Department of Agriculture secretary, is governor of one of the nation's largest agricultural states and is supportive of social programs like the Democrat he once was. As secretary, Johanns' challenges will include nutritional issues and the writing of a new farm bill to replace the one that expires in 2008. John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union has said Johanns is "on the side of big business, not the small farmer," but acknowledged that Johanns will probably support entitlement programs -- such as food stamps and school lunches -- as Johanns historically has been reluctant to cut similar social programs in Nebraska.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53510-2004Dec9.html

3. Food Stamp Demand High When Welfare Benefits End

("Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Sixth Annual Report to Congress," US Department of Health and Human Services, November 2004)

Nearly all families (80 percent) that receive welfare benefits (TANF) also receive Food Stamp assistance, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services' sixth annual report on TANF. Among families whose welfare cases closed, about 72 percent received Food Stamp assistance in the month of closure. The report also found a quarter of adult recipients of TANF were employed in FY2002, a slight decrease from FY2001. The report includes national and state-by-state data, TANF caseloads and expenditures, work participation and earnings, performance bonus awards, child support collections, two-parent family formation, out of wedlock births, child poverty, benefit levels, work requirements, and sanction policies.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/annualreport6/ar6index.htm

4. Poverty Among Working Families Up Since 1996

("Children in Poverty: Profile, Trends, and Issues," Congressional Research Service, December 1, 2004)

This report from the Congressional Research Service examines trends in the economic well-being of children. It presents data on poverty among children and the employment rate of mothers. The records dating back to 1959 show the incidence of poverty among related children in families has ranged from a high of 26.9% in 1959 to a low of 13.8 percent in 1969. In 2003, the rate was 17.2 percent (representing 12.3 million children). Since 1996, when Congress enacted the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, child poverty rates have decreased for both single mother families and married couple families, with a relatively sharper decline for the former group. At the same time, however, the poverty rate increased overall among families who have at least one full-time, year-round worker. Since 1999, the employment rates of single mothers have exceeded those of married mothers, even among mothers with a child under age three. However, some have joined the working poor.

http://www.pennyhill.com/children/rl32682.html

5. Ongoing State Fiscal Crisis Means Cuts Still Loom

("State Fiscal Crisis Lingers," Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, December 8, 2004)

Many states are still facing shortfalls for fiscal year 2005-06 and must consider cutting services or raising revenues to bring their budgets into balance. Unlike the federal government, most states must balance their budgets. So a projected deficit typically means a state must increase revenues, reduce spending, or take other measures before it can adopt a budget. At least 22 states now project shortfalls that together total approximately $25 billion to $31 billion. Additional states likely will release shortfall projections in the coming weeks and months. Many states have already made deep cuts over the last several years. Some 23 states have scaled back state-subsidized child care for working families. States eliminated health insurance for more than one million individuals, including many children, parents, seniors and people with disabilities.

http://www.cbpp.org/12-8-04sfp.htm

6. Drop in Welfare Caseloads No Cause for Congratulations

("Holes in Welfare Reform," Washington Post, December 2, 2004)

In the recent presidential election, poverty and welfare reform got very little attention, write Mark Greenberg of the Center for Law and Social Policy and Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute in this op-ed. The federal government regularly announces declines in the nation's welfare caseload as an achievement. But, as caseloads have dropped, poverty has risen. "The continuing drop in welfare rolls was not a result of more families achieving self-sufficiency." The authors ask the administration to "stop treating a drop in welfare caseloads as cause for congratulations and start treating it as a sign that the system is failing to respond to increased needs" when poverty is rising. When the welfare law comes up for reauthorization again next year, the administration should promote changes that reward states for success in promoting employment, not just cutting caseloads. The administration should also ensure that Congress maintains funding for the program, write Greenberg and Bernstein.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26862-2004Dec1.html

7. States Do What Fed Has Not

("Commentary: Minimum Wage: the States Get It," Business Week Online, November 29, 2004)

In November, Florida became the thirteenth state to set its state minimum wage above the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. Seventy-two percent of Florida voters approved an initiative to raise the state minimum wage to $6.15 an hour and to tie future increases to inflation. The writer of this commentary, Aaron Bernstein, supports both moves and hopes the federal government and other states follow suit. The current federal minimum wage gives a full-time worker $10,000 a year, despite a family poverty level that has risen to $18,600. "The federal minimum was 40% higher in 1968, or $8.50 in today's dollars. So lifting it by a dollar or two wouldn't even come close to restoring low-wage workers' purchasing power back to where it was more than 25 years ago."

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_48/b3910096_mz021.htm

8. California: Outreach Helps 1,400 More People Get Food Stamps

("County food stamp program reaching 1,400 more people," San Luis Obispo Tribune, December 7, 2004)

A year after county agencies made a push to increase awareness about and participation in their food stamp program, participation rose by nearly 1,400 persons from 5,159 to 6,554 persons -- a 22 percent jump. "The more people are using the [food stamp] dollars ... the better nutrition they're bringing home to their family," said Nancy Ruester with the Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County. A year ago, a hunger-relief study found only 20 percent of people eligible for food stamp assistance in the county were getting help. Eligible people often do not have time to visit Social Services to complete the paperwork necessary to qualify for food stamps, Ruester said. So officials from Social Services and the Food Bank started making weekly visits to food pantries and shelters throughout the county.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/10358505.htm

9. Oregon: Food Stamps Cited as a Solution at Hunger Summit

("Summit on hunger draws broad interest," McMinnville News-Register, December 7, 2004)

Yamhill County's first Hunger Summit drew together lawmakers and community leaders to share their experiences with hunger and discuss the issue. Cherie Schmidt, director of the Yamhill County Food Bank, said people can easily fall victim to hunger following the loss of a job. She mentioned a Salem child going to school hungry because it was not his turn for breakfast. Nancy Weed of the Hunger Relief Task Force said food stamps would alleviate much of the hunger in Oregon and Yamhill County if everyone who qualified for food stamps would take advantage of them. She said there should be no stigma, as studies show half the population will use food stamps at one time or another, including many with 12 years or more of education.

http://www.newsregister.com/news/results.cfm?story_no=187900

10. California: Young Immigrants' Health Worsens with Time in US

("Rich foods a big threat to poor kids," Mercury News, December 3, 2004)

The principal of Cesar Chavez Elementary School in San Jose's Mayfair neighborhood struggles to keep her students healthy when the school district has slashed recreation funding to boost test scores. In addition, lunch periods are only 25 minutes because the school cafeteria is so small. The Packard Foundation has found that the health of immigrant children gets worse the longer they live in the United States. Few have health insurance, eat food high in calories but low in nutrition, and often do not have the same recreational opportunities as wealthier children. For Rosalvo Ramos, the lack of transportation and a driver's license prevent her from taking her children to activities like soccer. Parents told pediatricians from Lucile Packard Children's Hospital that they wanted the school to be the center of an anti-obesity project. Led by Dr. Anisha Patel, the project improved the school menus, offers healthy diet clinics for parents and is trying to build a soccer field on campus.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/10328838.htm?1c

11. Louisiana: Governor's Optimism Opens Poverty Summit

("Dismal statistics outlined on first day of La.'s poverty summit," Times Picayune, December 7, 2004)

Participants got a dose of Louisiana's grim statistics at the "Solutions to Poverty Summit," but officials said they were optimistic the state could improve conditions. More than 750,000 Louisiana residents -- 17 percent of the state's population or one in six residents -- live in poverty, the fourth highest rate in the nation, according to current US Census data. More than one in four Louisiana children live in poverty. In East Carroll Parish, a Mississippi River delta parish in northeast Louisiana, the percentage rises to more than one in two children living in poverty, said Dennis Jones, president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. "While the statistics are bleak, hope is not dead," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said on the opening day of the two-day summit.

http://tinyurl.com/6yhh5

12. Wisconsin: Milwaukee's Downturn Worse Than Great Depression

("Hit by a global train," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 4, 2004)

A depression far exceeding the Great Depression of the 1930s has struck the Milwaukee region's urban core. No other major urban center in America has suffered as much as Milwaukee's from a globalizing economy, an exhaustive analysis by the Journal Sentinel has found. No other African-American community worked as intensely at manufacturing products that are no longer made here, or was less prepared for a historic shift from unskilled labor. In little more than a generation, Milwaukee has gone from a place of unrivaled economic opportunity for African-Americans to a city of downward mobility without equal among other big US cities. The city's black male employment rate plummeted by 21 percentage points from the peak of America's industrial might in 1970 to the most recent census in 2000 - nearly double the 13 percentage point decline in the national employment rate from 1929 to the Dust Bowl of 1933. In 1970, the black poverty rate in Milwaukee was 22 percent lower than the US black average. By 2000, the black poverty rate was 34 percent higher than the national figure.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/dec04/281193.asp

13. New York: Leader Transforms Food Bank for New York City

("Managing the Fight Against Hunger," New York Times, November 25, 2004)

"Fear of poverty, a terrible fear I could be poor and have to raise my children that way," has been Lucy Cabrera's motivation in life. Cabrera, now president and chief executive of the Food Bank for New York City, grew up in a housing development on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. She was one of six daughters of a cook and garment-factory worker who moved from Puerto Rico. When Cabrera, who holds a doctorate in social policy and administration from Columbia University, saw the classified ad for her current position, she thought it a "perfect" opportunity to combine her nonprofit and operations skills. She has transformed the organization from a small operation to one with a $14 million operating budget and 97 employees. It gives away 70 million pounds of food annually. Cabrera added a research staff that produces reports on hunger. A recent study found that 1 in 4 people relying on emergency food programs are over age 65.

http://tinyurl.com/4s8pd

14. New York: $7.15 Minimum Wage Approved in Senate Override of Gov. Veto

("Minimum wage raised over veto by Pataki," Syracuse Post-Standard, December 7, 2004)

The Republican-controlled state Senate voted overwhelmingly to overturn Governor Pataki's veto of a minimum wage increase. As a result, New York state's minimum wage will rise to $7.15 an hour, to be phased in over 2 years starting January 1, 2005. Senator John DeFrancisco (R-Syracuse), one of the sponsors of the original bill, said,"no one...can afford to live on the minimum wage as it exists today" and raising the minimum was about "doing the right thing." Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno says he remains hopeful federal lawmakers will raise the national minimum wage soon. Governor Pataki has argued that increasing the state minimum wage in isolation would put New York at a "competitive disadvantage" with businesses in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where the minimum remains at $5.15.

http://tinyurl.com/5by7m