| Lisa Pino, USDA
Priorities: Pino began, outlining the priorities of the various nutrition programs managed by FNS (USDA's Food and Nutrition Services). Twenty percent of Americans participate in these programs each year. Pino said: "The U.S. Department of Agriculture is committed to making these programs as effective as possible in addressing our top priorities - ending childhood hunger and addressing the obesity epidemic." She also mentioned Obama's proposed 2010 budget that includes a billion dollars each year in new funding for Child Nutrition.
Direct Certification: Pino then went on to call for something I think is very important: Direct Certification of children from SNAP (food stamp) households for free school meals. If you make less than 130% of the poverty line, you are eligible for both programs. So then why on earth should somebody have to fill out two sets of paperwork? I'm glad the USDA sees that too. As Pino put it, "This is an excellent way to simplify the administrative costs while improving access to our hunger-fighting programs."
Increasing Food Stamp Participation: As Pino noted, the 38 million Americans on SNAP (food stamps) represents a 22 percent increase over one year ago. Also, over half of SNAP households have kids.
California's Low Food Stamp Participation: In California, only 48 percent of those eligible for SNAP received benefits in 2007. The national average was 66 percent. California consistently ranks low in participation, and Pino calls that "a serious concern." She says this is so because these households either go hungry or buy less healthy foods than they would on SNAP and because SNAP is an economic stimulus. Every $5 in new SNAP benefits generates $9.20 in total economic activity.
SNAP in the Stimulus: Because of SNAP's power to stimulate the economy, extra SNAP benefits were included in last year's stimulus bill. The stimulus also provided $300 million to help states administer SNAP (because with higher case loads, it costs more money to administer the program).
USDA Recommendations to California: The USDA is trying to help California increase SNAP participation. They recommend that CA simplify the reporting that SNAP recipients must do in order to receive benefits. If those who are eligible for SNAP have to fill out less complex and less reports in order to get benefits, hopefully this will increase enrollment. They also recommend expanding eligibility and "categorical eligibility." For example, California can do things like eliminate asset requirements for people to qualify for SNAP (so if you have a low income but several thousand bucks in the bank, you can qualify without having to burn through your savings first). Categorical eligibility means "if you are eligible for X, then you are automatically eligible to receive food stamps." They also recommend that California eliminate the requirement for face-to-face interviews (using telephone interviews instead) and that they quit fingerprinting SNAP recipients.
Another thing that can be done is to speed up application processing because (as Pino notes) "Every day matters when you're hungry." In 2008, 79.6 percent of applications were processed in a "timely manner" in California, compared to 85.6 percent nationally. That means processed within 30 days or - for applicants with very low income - within one week. And, of course, don't deny applications of people who should qualify. That's something else that California's pretty bad about and the USDA is working on it in California and in several other large states. (Obviously this advice is not only applicable to California - it's just notable that one of the most populous states is also so lousy at SNAP participation.)
Latino Familes and SNAP: For whatever reason, Latino families have a poor SNAP participation rate. Nationwide it is 56 percent and in California it's 43 percent. Pino notes that "Latino families are much more likely to live in poverty and experience food insecurity than white non-Latino households. More than one-quarter of people eligible for SNAP benefits but not receiving them are Latino." She goes on to say, "This is not just a food security issue - it is a question of equitable program access across the USDA's diverse customer base." The USDA is working on this in a very obvious way: Getting information and materials out there IN SPANISH.
SNAP and Farmers Markets: Another initiative is to promote healthy eating among SNAP recipients. This includes getting SNAP into more farmers' markets. In 2009, there was a 25 percent increase in farmers markets that accept SNAP. Yay!
Christine Webb-Curtis, CA Dept of Social Services
As noted above, California ranks poorly in SNAP participation. Webb-Curtis explained several things her department has done to improve participation.
1. Expanded categorical eligibility. Households with minor children can no longer be disqualified for SNAP because they have too many assets.
2. The state has eliminated the face-to-face interview requirement, but it's still just a choice that counties can take or leave. Counties can also postpone fingerprinting for up to one year.
3. Emancipated foster youth will be able to apply for SNAP prior to leaving the foster care system.
4. Homeless, the elderly, and disabled people can use food stamps to eat at restaurants because they probably won't be able to cook at home. This is only the case in five CA counties but those counties account for 42 percent of SNAP recipients.
5. If someone is on SNAP and then fails to renew their enrollment, they can restore their enrollment easily within 30 days of termination instead of having to go through the entire enrollment process all over again.
Between 2007 and 2009, California's SNAP participation has increased by 31 percent, which is higher than the national increase in enrollment.
Webb-Curtis goes on to list a few more things California is doing. Then she talks a bit about The Emergency Food Assitance Program, TEFAP. In this program, the USDA provides surplus agricultural commodities and the state gives them to food banks and soup kitchens. In California, they also receive fruits and vegetables from farmers as donations for this program. Due to the economy, food banks report a 20 percent increase in participation and soup kitchens report a 12 percent increase in meals served.
Nancy Swanson, Human Services Transitional Assistance Dept of San Bernardino, CA
Swanson begins with stats, most notably that her county's SNAP caseload increased by 46.1 percent in 2009. There's also a change in who the applicants are due to the recession, including a huge increase in two-parent families. Many are families who have or had jobs and who have never applied for government help before.
San Bernardino has had great success with an online application for SNAP. They also do outreach at job fairs, foreclosure prevention seminars, senior events, and health events. She notes that one reason why people don't apply for SNAP is that they feel that the benefits are too small to make a difference, and of course due to the stigma of accepting help. Some also don't apply because they assume they aren't eligible or because they find the application too difficult. She also notes a difficulty in paying for her staff, as their salaries went up over the past decade (presumably to match inflation) but funding did not. Predictably, she has fewer staff to work with and that is not good now that there is a rise in the number of SNAP applicants and recipients. |
