Foodlinks America – February 12, 2010
Foodlinks America - February 12, 2010 
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In this issue:
• Obama Budget Invests in Nutrition Programs
• SNAP Shots
• Food Bank Survey Details Deluge of Assistance Needs
• FEEDBAG: A Compendium of Notes on Nutrition Assistance Programs
• TEFAP Tidbits
• Reports from the Field – Scranton, PA
• Small Bites
Foodlinks America is published 24 times a year by California Emergency Foodlink in Sacramento, CA and distributed by Weinberg & Vauthier Consulting, 122 South Main Street, No. 9, Burnet, TX 78611; Zy Weinberg and Barbara Vauthier, Editors; email: bvauthier@tefapalliance.org.
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, submit story ideas, or unsubscribe, contact Barbara Vauthier at: bvauthier@tefapalliance.org.
Obama Budget Invests in Nutrition Programs
President Barack Obama released his proposed budget for fiscal year 2011 on February 1, 2010. In spite of record debt levels, the spending plan contains “important new investments in federal programs that support food security and income security” for millions of Americans struggling to get enough to eat.
Key nutrition components of the proposed budget are: a sizeable increase for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or food stamps to keep benefits flowing for low-income households; an additional $1 billion per year over ten years to increase child nutrition services; and increased spending for the WIC Program.
Obama has publicly stated his objective to end childhood hunger in the U.S. by 2015 and his budget outline takes initial steps toward that goal. An additional $1 billion per year would help expand school breakfast programs, summer feeding, and more meals (including suppers) and snacks for children in a day care. These changes will be considered in the near future by the Congress, which is engaged in reauthorization of all child nutrition programs this year.
SNAP funding would increase over last year by more than $7.5 billion – to nearly $57.2 billion – to keep pace with the burgeoning caseload and benefit improvements made last year. The fiscal year 2011 budget would also raise asset limits to boost program access and promote use of electronic and less obtrusive technology.
The President’s budget request also recommends increased spending on the WIC Program. Funding would rise by more than $350 million above fiscal 2010 to serve a caseload of over 10 million women and children. A contingency reserve account would be restored, children would receive an additional $2.00 per month to purchase fruits and vegetables, and expanded breastfeeding initiatives would be endorsed.
Although critical nutrition improvements are offered in next year’s budget, passage of the proposed plan will be challenging, especially with recently revived budget rules that require an offset or other program reductions in order to raise spending elsewhere in the budget, the so-called pay-as-you-go, or “pay-go” requirement.
Additionally, the President will have to overcome solid Republican opposition. “It would be recklessly naïve to go about our business in Washington pretending there won’t be severe consequences for the mountain of debt we’re piling up,” said Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA), the second ranking Republican in the House. “We’ve heard a lot about the majority’s pay-go scheme. But this will not affect any spending that has already happened,” he warned.
SNAP Shots
Participation numbers climbing up, up, and away: National enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or food stamps continued to surge in November 2009, the latest month for which statistics are available. A record 38,183,668 people got benefits that month, an increase of more than 245,000 over October 2009.
Caseload growth was most pronounced in Nevada, where participation was 51.7 percent above November 2008. Two additional states experiencing rapid growth were Idaho at 47.4 percent and Florida at 40.9 percent. Fourteen other states recorded participation increases of more than 30 percent between November 2008 and November 2009.
New eligibility rules put in place: Updated eligibility and certification requirements for SNAP were published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the January 29, 2010 Federal Register. The final regulations, implementing 11 different provisions of the 2002 Farm Bill, are intended to simplify program administration, allow states greater flexibility, and provide improved access for eligible individuals. Sections affected include: the treatment of child support payments, income and resource exclusions, standard utility allowances, and more. For details, review the Federal Register notice at: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-815.htm.
Waivers extended for childless adults: Due to sustained, high unemployment rates nationwide, USDA has offered states the opportunity to continue the suspension of the annual, three-month eligibility limit in SNAP for Able-Bodied Adults without Dependents (ABAWDs) through September 30, 2011. Almost all states are eligible to extend the waiver. For more information, go to: http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/whats_new.htm and click on item 19 to review a January 29, 2010 memorandum from USDA on the subject.
Overcoming immigrant concerns: Newcomers to America know that a person who receives public assistance while in the U.S. is likely to be considered a “public charge” and may consequently be ineligible for permanent resident status and ultimate citizenship. However, USDA emphasizes in a recent letter to SNAP state agencies (which may be found at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/whats_new.htm if you click on item 20) that receiving a “public benefit” in the form of nutrition assistance is acceptable and does not make an individual a public charge.
The USDA letter references a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) guidance which specifies the “Non-cash or special purpose cash benefits that are not considered for public charge purposes.” They include: “Food Stamps … WIC … School Lunch and School Breakfast … and emergency food assistance programs.” USDA encourages states to assist in making the Federal policy on public charge widely known and understood to ensure eligible immigrant individuals and families are not dissuaded from applying for program benefits.” For further details and an USCIS question and answer document on public charge, go to: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=829b0a5659083210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=829b0a5659083210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD.
Outsourcing is out: Since last fall, USDA has been examining state performance and its own policy in regard to state outsourcing of SNAP intake and application process functions, and it did not like what it found. In sum, USDA stated that outsourcing “has resulted in more complex and cumbersome enrollment procedures that have not furthered the mission of the program.” Consequently, USDA will no longer approve federal financial support of such projects without prior approval. USDA lays out its position in a letter to states dated January 22, 2010, which may be found at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/whats_new.htm if you click on item 17.
Food coupons are history: On January 21, 2010, USDA presented samples of Food Stamp Program coupons and other materials to the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. The donation highlights significant changes in the program over nearly 40 years, from paper coupons to today’s debit cards used in electronic benefit transfer (EBT) programs.
“The inclusion of the Food Stamp Program in the [museum collection] is especially significant considering the current economic hardships facing Americans today,” said museum director Brent Glass. “Millions of Americans have relied on these coupons to sustain themselves and their families, and the museum is proud to join with the USDA to document this important program.”
While billions of food coupons have been distributed by the USDA since the beginning of the program, only a small sample has survived, due to the practice of the coupons being destroyed at a Federal Reserve Bank once redeemed by grocers. By law, food stamp coupons were de-obligated on June 17, 2009 and are no longer legal tender.
Food Bank Survey Details Deluge of Assistance Needs
Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, released its latest study with an estimate that 37 million people in the U.S. – including 14 million children and three million seniors – receive emergency food assistance each year. “The findings represent a staggering 46 percent increase since the organization’s previously released study in 2006,” the group noted at a February 2, 2010 news conference.
The number of children and adults in need of food as a result of experiencing food insecurity has significantly increased, Feeding America said. Moreover, more than one in three client households is experiencing very low food security – or hunger – a 54 percent increase since four years ago.
“Millions of our clients are families with children finding themselves in need of food assistance for the very first time,” stated Feeding America CEO Vicki Escarra, who reviewed the tough choices low-income households face on a regular basis: “More than 46 percent of clients served report having to choose between paying for utilities or heating fuel and food; 39 percent said they had to choose between paying for rent or a mortgage and food; 34 percent report having to choose between paying for medical bills and food; and 35 percent must choose between transportation and food,” Escarra explained. Feeding America’s conclusions were based on the results of 61,000 face-to-face interviews with low-income clients conducted at food banks across the nation between February and June 2009.
The survey results prompted strong words from Feeding America’s leadership: Hunger in America 2010 exposes the absolutely tragic reality of just how many people in our nation don’t have enough to eat,” claimed Escarra. “It is morally reprehensible that we live in the wealthiest nation in the world where one in six people are struggling to make choices between food and other basic necessities,” she concluded.
To learn more, review the report at: http://feedingamerica.org/newsroom/press-release-archive/hunger-in-america-2010.aspx.
FEEDBAG: A Compendium of Notes on Nutrition Assistance Programs
Meal eligibility for Haitian children: In response to public inquiries, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a January 29, 2010 memorandum concerning the eligibility for child nutrition programs of children who were evacuated to the U.S. as a result of the earthquake in Haiti. All child nutrition programs, including school lunch, school breakfast, summer food, and child care feeding, “do not require lawful presence in the United States prior to receiving a federal benefit,” notes USDA. Consequently, “refugee children are eligible for meal benefits if they enroll in a participating school or institution.”
The memo discusses eligibility determinations and adds that schools should determine whether such children are homeless, automatically qualifying them for free meals. Children may also be considered homeless if temporarily residing with another household and their eligibility can be determined separately from the host household. For more particulars, go to: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/whatsnew.htm, and select “Eligibility of Haitian Refugees,” currently the second item listed.
Elderly given equal standing: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a final rule in the February 5, 2010 Federal Register for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) that removes the priority given to women, infants, and children before the elderly in program participation. The regulatory change reflects a provision made in the 2008 Farm Bill. To learn more, see the Federal Register notice at: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-2594.htm.
Input sought on WIC EBT systems: USDA has published draft design specifications for a WIC EBT-MIS Interface and is soliciting public comment on the plans. The specifications, developed by a workgroup from USDA, states, local WIC Program staff, and the EBT industry, are designed to work with either off-line or on-line WIC EBT technology. Comments may be submitted by March 5, 2010. For supplementary information, go to: http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/WhatsNew.HTM and select the second item: WIC EBT-MIS Interface Design Specifications.
Healthy food businesses targeted: Funding and technical assistance for the development of healthy food enterprises in low-income neighborhoods got a boost this month with the USDA announcement of an award to the Wallace Center at Winrock International in Little Rock, AR for operation of a Healthy Urban Food Enterprise Development (HUFED) Center. The Wallace Center immediately announced a call for letters of intent (LOIs) from eligible groups to initiate enterprise development projects.
The HUFED Center, created by the 2008 Farm Bill and tasked with supporting ways to make more affordable, healthy food available in low-income areas, anticipates making some 30 grants ranging up to $100,000 over the next three years. LOIs are due by March 8, 2010. For further information, see:
http://www.wallacecenter.org/our-work/current-initiatives/healthy-urban-food-enterprise-development-center/healthy-urban-food-enterprise-development-center.
TEFAP Tidbits
Timeline for funds conversion revised: Deadline dates by which states must make decisions on the disposition of food and administrative funds under The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) were recently updated and distributed in a January 29, 2010 memo from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
States can collectively convert up to 10 percent of the $248 million allocated for food purchases in fiscal year 2010 for distribution and storage or administrative purposes, and have until February 22, 2010 to let USDA know how they want to spend their share. Also, states may convert any portion of the $49.5 million allocated this year for distribution/storage/administration for food if they choose. Again, USDA must be advised of the state’s decision by February 22, 2010.
For further information, link to: http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/whatsnew_fd.htm and select the Updated Timeline.
More bonus buys to be tendered: USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on January 29, 2010 that USDA intends to purchase over $29 million worth of fruits and vegetables for federal food and nutrition assistance programs, including TEFAP. USDA intends to purchase up to $9 million of fresh potatoes, $8.2 million of peach and mixed fruit products, $7 million of frozen blueberries, and $4.9 million of fresh pears and canned pears packed in light or extra light syrup. The department will seek the lowest overall costs and invite bids from potential suppliers. More information may be found at: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB/.cmd/ad/.ar/sa.retrievecontent/.c/6_2_1UH/.ce/7_2_5JM/.p/5_2_4TQ/.d/1/_th/J_2_9D/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?PC_7_2_5JM_contentid=2010%2F01%2F0040.xml&PC_7_2_5JM_parentnav=LATEST_RELEASES&PC_7_2_5JM_navid=NEWS_RELEASE#7_2_5JM.
Reports from the Field – Scranton, PA
If a picture is worth a thousand words, Joan Culver is speaking volumes these days. One of 40 women from a distressed neighborhood in North Philadelphia given a digital camera by a university anthropology professor to document her family’s circumstances, her contributions to an exhibit called “Witness to Hunger” were particularly poignant.
The exhibit was displayed at Drexel University in Philadelphia in December 2009, following a showing at Marywood University in Scranton, PA in November, where reporter Borys Krawczeniuk filed the following article for the Scranton Times-Tribune on November 17, 2009:
Jean Culver faces eviction. A certified nurse’s aide, Miss Culver, 27, of Peckville, cannot find a job, despite applying and interviewing seemingly everywhere. She owns a 1993 Chevrolet Corsica begging for new tires, a new bumper, a tune-up and an oil change, none of which she can afford. The Chevy’s state inspection sticker expires at the end of the month.
She is telling the world about her plight with pictures. Her photos and others by moms like her were on display Monday in the Center for Architectural Studies at Marywood University as part of an exhibit titled “Witnesses to Hunger.”
The exhibit aims to raise the public’s consciousness about the shoestring lives that leave many poor people struggling to get enough food to eat. One of Miss Culver’s pictures was of a plastic cup less than half full of coins, mostly pennies, all the money she had left at one point. Her car was in another. And one pictured her 3-year-old son, Damian, her “little cutie” who depends on his mom to drive him to preschool daily in Scranton.
She cannot imagine life without food stamps, and thinks the government should focus more on the poor. “I’m just going through so much right now,” she told about 100 people gathered at the school to unveil the exhibit. “This just touches my heart.”
“Witnesses to Hunger” was started more than a year ago in Philadelphia by Mariana Chilton, Ph.D., a professor of public health at Drexel University School of Public Health. After years of being unable to get politicians, the media and the public to focus on the poor, she decided to hand 40 women cameras to capture their daily existence.
“I felt you cannot deny the photographs of the children, you cannot deny the mothers actually beginning to speak out,” Dr. Chilton said. The photos displayed Monday included many from Philadelphia women, including a hypodermic needle on a playground, a little girl with a bowl of cereal and milk bought with food stamps and litter in a neighborhood with the caption, “Trash everywhere.”
Sen. Bob Casey and his wife, Terese, saw the photos at a Washington, D.C., exhibit. Mrs. Casey, 49, invited Dr. Chilton to try “Witnesses to Hunger” here. The photos of Miss Culver and Yvonne Lancaster, another local woman, were on display, and Mrs. Casey plans to work on developing similar exhibits at universities statewide.
Mrs. Casey said Americans always seem willing to help by donating food, but permanent solutions remain distant mostly because hunger is invisible. For months, she said, the television program, “Good Morning America,” campaigned to provide 10 million meals without ever showing a poor person.
“I think when I saw these pictures, I realized we don’t see the faces of hunger,” she said. “They are just like we are, and they are struggling every single day.”
Dr. Chilton said the stereotype of the poor as freeloading welfare recipients “couldn’t be further from the truth.” “First of all, I think people don’t realize that of the people experiencing food insecurity in this country, 85 percent have a working adult in the household,” she said. “The majority of the women that I’ve been working with can’t stand the welfare system, they want to get out.”
Small Bites
Uncelebrated milestone: In January 2010, women held 50.3 percent of nonfarm payroll jobs in the U.S.
Women at work: For the first time this year, women outnumber men in the American workplace.
Negative numbers: Since December 2007, men have lost 7.4 million jobs while only 3.9 million women’s jobs disappeared.
Helping hands always needed: Women are more likely to work in government, education, and health care, relatively safer categories in an economic downturn.
Cellular spending: U.S. consumer spending on cell phones surpassed spending on residential land lines in 2007 for the first time.
Disappearing in thin air: Residential phone services in the U.S. accounted for 43 percent of all telephone expenses in 2007, down from 75 percent in 2001.
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