TEFAP Alliance Blog

Foodlinks America - June 23, 2006

In this issue:

· Appropriations Bills Move Ahead
· Food Stamp Briefs
· New Resource Helps Advance Food Security
· State School Food Policies Rated Poorly
· Obesity Round-Up
· Funding Opportunity: Food Issues for Communities of Color
· Reports from the Field
· Small Bites

Foodlinks America is published 24 times a year by California Emergency Foodlink in Sacramento, CA and distributed by Weinberg & Vauthier Consulting, 6412 CR 116, Burnet, TX 78611; Zy Weinberg and Barbara Vauthier, Editors; email: bvauthier@281.com.

Foodlinks America is not copyrighted, so the information can be freely shared with colleagues and friends, though attribution for reprinted articles is appreciated. For archived issues of Foodlinks America, go to: www.tefapalliance.org. To request a free subscription to the newsletter or to submit story ideas, contact Barbara Vauthier at: bvauthier@281.com.

Appropriations Bills Move Ahead

In two separate actions this month, Congress moved fiscal year 2007 funding for nutrition assistance programs to the next level. A Senate committee passed a spending bill for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs, and a House committee endorsed an allocation plan for health and human services programs.

The Senate Appropriations Committee passed H.R. 5384, providing annual funding for USDA programs and services, on June 22, 2006. Unlike the legislation that passed the House on May 23, 2006, the Senate Committee bill provides an additional $300 million in contingency funding for school meal programs. The Senate bill also expands the fruit and vegetable pilot program to three more states, bringing the total to nine. Action by the full Senate is expected shortly, probably before the Fourth of July recess.

On June 13, 2006, the House Appropriations Committee approved H.R. 5647, the fiscal year 2007 spending bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. No floor action is scheduled yet, as the House leadership reportedly lacks the votes for passage. Few if any changes for food programs are expected when the legislation does go to the full House.

H.R. 5647 contains small increases in funding for elderly nutrition programs next year, but no money for the Community Food and Nutrition Program (CFNP). According to the Food Research and Action Center in Washington, D.C., “anti-hunger advocates are redoubling efforts to secure CFNP funding on the Senate side.”

Food Stamp Briefs

· Participation continues at high levels: Preliminary enrollment data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for March 2006 showed nationwide food stamp participation at 26.2 million individuals, down slightly from earlier this year, as Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims move off the program. However, March 2006 participation was still more than 774,000 above March 2005.

· Following the ups and downs of the economy: Participation in the Food Stamp Program closely tracks unemployment and poverty trends nationwide, even though many who are potentially eligible do not take advantage of the program. “After unemployment insurance, the Food Stamp Program is the federal benefit program most responsive to the economy,” notes the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) in Washington, D.C. in a June 6, 2006 paper titled “The Food Stamp Program Is Growing To Meet Need.” The paper explains how and why program participation fluctuates, including filling a critical need to ameliorate the effect of disasters on low-income households. To learn more, go to: http://www.cbpp.org/6-6-06fa.htm.

· On-line state food stamp information reviewed: CBPP has also posted an updated review of state government food stamp web sites that details a significant variation among on-line services available among the states. Although web sites for all 50 states offer basic program information and printable applications, only a dozen provide applications that can be completed on-line, eligibility screening tools, and/or benefit calculators, so prospective recipients can gauge the amount of help they may receive. Examine the CBPP findings at: http://cbpp.org/8-25-03fa.htm.

· Employment and training rules finalized: USDA published final regulations in the June 9, 2008 Federal Register to implement provisions of the 2002 Farm Bill affecting the Food Stamp Employment and Training (E&T) Program. The rule establishes a formula for distributing E&T funds, allocates additional federal dollars to states to offer E&T services to able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs), and expands state flexibility in the E&T program. The rule may be found at: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/…gov/2006/pdf/E6-9001.pdf.

New Resource Helps Advance Food Security

World Hunger Year (WHY), a non-profit organization based in New York City, has released a new report to aid emergency food programs in fostering improved food security in their communities. Serving Up Justice: How to Design an Emergency Feeding Program and Build Community Food Security can help food pantries and soup kitchens fulfill the critical role of preventing severe nutritional deficiencies among hungry Americans while simultaneously adopting long-term measures that address the source, not just the symptoms, of hunger and dependence on emergency food. That goal is particularly important as emergency feeders struggle to meet rising demand in the face of shrinking government support.

The resource guide can aid those planning to establish or improve a food pantry, soup kitchen, or other emergency feeding program. It outlines the logistics of creating and managing a food security program, including the promotion of individual and community self-reliance. The 60-page report contains sections on community food assessment, designing a program, seeking funding and support, building education and agricultural programs, local partnerships, and evaluating the effort. To access the publication, visit: www.worldhungeryear.org/comm_conn/serve_up_justice.asp.

State School Food Policies Rated Poorly

The majority of states are failing to make significant improvements in the nutritional quality of foods and beverages sold outside of the school meal programs, according to a state-by-state evaluation conducted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a Washington, D.C. based non-profit. In its School Foods Report Card released on June 20, 2006, CSPI flunked 23 states and gave eight others a D grade. Only Kentucky scored well, receiving an A-. Twelve states received a B grade.

“We found that while there has been progress on improving state policies for foods sold outside of school meals, most state nutrition policies still don’t do much to keep nutrition-poor foods and sugary drinks out of schools,” said Margo Wootan, CSPI’s director of nutrition policy. The organization considered five aspects of state policy: beverage nutrition standards; food nutrition standards; grade level(s) to which policies apply; time during the school day to which policies apply; and location(s) on campus to which policies apply.

For more details, see: http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/school_foods_report_card.pdf.

Obesity Round-Up

Parental attitudes and behavior can have a significant bearing on childhood obesity, as documented in several recently reported studies that are highlighted below.

· Breastfeeding can combat obesity: Children who were primarily breast-fed as babies are less likely to gain weight later in life, according to studies reviewed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Research has found that breast-fed children are 20 to 45 percent less likely to be obese than children who were never breast-fed, according to an analysis published last year.

Breast-fed infants are generally thinner than formula-fed babies from the outset, and the longer a child is breast-fed the more significant the difference. The CDC found that a child’s risk of being overweight is reduced by four percent for each month of breast-feeding. Moreover, breast-feeding appears to teach self-regulation of food intake. Formula-fed infants are frequently encouraged to finish the entire bottle, whether they are still hungry or not.

“We’re not making the argument that breast-feeding is the only factor,” said Kathryn Dewey, a nutrition professor at the University of California-Davis. “It’s only one of them, and it’s probably fairly small compared to some other ones,” added Ms. Dewey. “But it’s one we have control over.”

· Parental circumstances and attention can make a difference in child obesity: A study published in June 2006 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service found that household income, parents’ time spent with children, and parents’ work experiences significantly affect children’s energy and diet.

The study, Time, Role Strain, and Children’s Fat Intake and Obesity-Related Outcomes, also found that the more time mothers spent with their children, the lower the children’s Body Mass Index (BMI) was. On the other hand, the more time fathers spent with their children, the higher the children’s BMI was. And the more time both fathers and mothers spent with their children, the higher their children’s fat intake (as a percentage of energy) was. Both parents seemed to influence children ages 9-11 more than they did children ages 13-15. To learn more, go to: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/CCR19/.

· Mothering styles can affect weight gain: Children with strict mothers are significantly more likely to be overweight than children whose mothers treat them respectfully and are sensitive, according to a new study. Researchers who examined the relationship between four parenting styles – authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful – and overweight status in first grade, found that the authoritative approach worked best. Authoritarian parenting increased the risk of obesity nearly five-fold, while permissive and neglectful treatment doubled the chances of obesity. Results were reported in the June 2006 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

“The difference between the different parenting groups is pretty striking,” said Kyung Rhee of Boston University School of Medicine, one of the study’s co-authors. She speculated that parents who show respect and exhibit warmth within a framework of reasonable rules probably help their children learn to make good decisions about food and exercise. On the other hand, strict or authoritarian parenting can create stress at home, causing children to overeat for comfort or escape. Additional information may be found at: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/117/6/2047.

Funding Opportunity: Food Issues for Communities of Color

The Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation (JSNF) in New York, NY has announced a new, three-year initiative, “Diversifying Leadership for Sustainable Food Policy,” to build the capacity of ten organizations to promote policies that help communities of color benefit more fully from food and agricultural systems.

In partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the effort is intended to assist groups led by people of color in affecting food policy change in the public or private sector and at the local or state level. Funded organizations will receive general operating support, training and technical assistance, and networking opportunities.

“It is critical that communities of color have the ability to be fully and actively involved in discussions and decisions about our nation’s food and agricultural policies and practices,” said Victor De Luca, President of JSNF. “This initiative will help to broaden the leadership of the sustainable agriculture and community food systems movement so that it better reflects the racial and ethnic diversity of our society,” he added.

The Kellogg Foundation has made a three-year $1.2 million grant to the JSNF, which has committed an additional $535,000. A request for proposals (RFP) is available at http://www.noyes.org. The deadline for responding to the RFP is July 18, 2006.

Reports from the Field

· After last year’s hurricanes, Louisiana is still experiencing hard times, as reported in this June 7, 2006 article from the Baton Rouge Advocate:

Hunger has become a major problem in Louisiana since hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated Louisiana’s coastal communities, experts said at a conference on June 6.

“Food is a major emergency now,” Alexis Anderson, community development manager for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Federal Credit Union, said about families trying to stretch their budgets to the extreme. Anderson has encountered families struggling to feed 10 or more relatives living together since the storms, she said at the annual National Hunger Awareness Day conference.

“These are not families that call Social Services,” Anderson added. “They’re not technically in poverty, but they’re drowning.”

St. Vincent de Paul Executive Director Michael Acaldo also has seen firsthand the increased need for food assistance in Baton Rouge. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s dining room served about 50,000 more meals in 2005 than the previous year, he said. Most of the increase occurred in the months following hurricanes Katrina and Rita – October through December, Acaldo said.

The trend continued into 2006, with the dining room serving 17,000 meals in May. Before the storm, the dining room fed between 12,000 and 13,000 meals per month, he said.

“Just across the board, we’re seeing new faces,” Acaldo said. “People who are homeless; people who were residents of New Orleans.”

· Hunger is increasing statewide in Minnesota, but most notably in the affluent suburbs of the Twin Cities, as described in the following June 6, 2006 news release from the non-profit organization Hunger Solutions Minnesota:

The use of food shelves and on-site meal programs increased much faster in the Twin Cities’ traditionally-affluent western suburbs than it did in the rest of the state – going up 541 percent in one community – according to a report released today by Hunger Solutions Minnesota.

The report, based on surveys of thousands of Minnesotans who used food shelves and on-site meal programs to feed their families in 2005, found that compared to 2000, the number of families using these programs grew by an average of 80 percent in West Metro communities, compared to just 45 percent state-wide.

The suburbs tallying the largest increases include: Eden Prairie, 541 percent; Minnetonka, 352 percent; Maple Plain, 299 percent; Brooklyn Park, 120 percent; and Rogers, 107 percent.

The report, entitled “The State of Hunger in Minnesota,” found that while the average hourly wage of food shelf clients has increased 12 percent in the past five years, a 20 percent increase in housing has left families struggling to pay the bills. The result is that far more suburban families are relying on food shelves and on-site feeding programs to get by.

“We are seeing a change in the demographic of people using these services. There is a certain irony that Minnesota’s traditionally affluent communities are seeing the greatest increases in the number of people using emergency feeding programs.” said Colleen Moriarty, Director of Hunger Solutions Minnesota. “I think this study exposes the hidden face of hunger.”

“The study points to the dramatic impact of the increases of health care, transportation, and housing have had on working families,” said Moriarty. “Poor people don’t just live in cities. They live on farms, they live in affluent suburbs. They may be your next door neighbor.”

· Emergency food needs are also growing rapidly in the Los Angeles, California area, as reported in the LA Daily News of June 6, 2006:

Local food-giveaway groups, helping even more people this year than last, do not need reminding that today is National Hunger Awareness Day.
One group attributes a higher demand for its services to the bite that gasoline takes from budgets, although gas prices are down a bit from the recent peak. The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas in Santa Clarita is about $3.33, up 44 cents from April and up $1 from a year ago.
The Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry saw more people each week during May than before, said executive director Belinda Crawford. The pantry distributed 1,000 pounds of food a day in 2005. In the first quarter of 2006, the volume rose to 1,600 pounds a day, a 60 percent rise. About 800 families, including 1,200 children, actively rely on the pantry, whose food is given free.
In Los Angeles County, 957,000 people are food insecure, said Darren Hoffman, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. He said that is one-third of the 2.9 million statewide who cannot reliably afford food. He said Santa Clarita’s population of families that can’t afford food mirrors the 8 percent in the county, the hunger capital of the nation.
Other local charity groups are feeling the pinch.
School-based food drives help stock the Hunger Defense Fund’s shelves, but donations are fewer when students hit the beach in summer. The outlet distributes about 2,000 pounds of food during its four open hours weekly, and 25 percent more families – 40 a day in 2006, up from 30 in 2005 – are being served, a spokeswoman said.
“The week of Thanksgiving (is the busiest), but May 27 was our second-highest day ever since the food pantry opened,” said Wendi Lancy, an administrative assistant for the Hunger Defense Fund. Sixty-one families visited in two hours. Last year, about 2,400 people registered for help.
More people are applying for food stamps and social services, said Lupe Lopez, director of the local office of the Los Angeles County Department of Community and Senior Services. Twenty-eight percent more visited the agency’s emergency food pantry in May than in April, she said. “We’re starting to see more people who were making it on their own without using any public services – the low-income and low-middle-income person who was just eking by,” she said. “Some families – to keep a roof over their heads – are starting to go without food.”
Small Bites

Meat you this week: Americans eat meat an average of 4.2 times a week, according to a nationwide survey commissioned by Whole Foods Market.

Puttin’ on the dog: The average American eats about 60 hot dogs annually; nationwide consumption of hot dogs totals more than 20 billion per year.

Going nuts for chocolate: An estimated 40 percent of the almonds in the world are used by manufacturers of chocolate.

How to diet? Have a snooze: A person burns more calories sleeping than watching television.

Got milk?: A cow produces nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.

The underwater farm: Aquaculture is the fastest growing form of food production in the world. If current trends continue, by 2015 more seafood will come from fish farms than from the wild.

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