FRAC Report Identifies Strengths and Weaknesses in National Nutrition Programs
WASHINGTON—An annual report from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) released Thursday finds that while eight key federal nutrition programs are producing positive results, there are still many gaps and weak spots in the federal government’s plans to feed the hungry in New Hampshire and Maine and across America, especially with the current state of the economy.
“The resources are there to improve this situation dramatically, but the federal government and the states have to do a far better job of making anti-hunger programs available,” said FRAC president Jim Weill in a statement. “Our political leaders have to see what is happening in every community and respond.”
The “gaps” that the report describes extend to every state, including New Hampshire, which according to the report was one of the worst-performing states when it comes to food stamps. It also was ranked 37th in the nation in performance for the school breakfast program, and 38th for the summer nutrition program, two programs vital to feeding hungry children. Maine ranked 27th and 36th in those programs, respectively.
The rankings were based on the percentage of people eligible to receive program benefits who actually received them.
FRAC compiled the report by analyzing federal data, including statistics from the Department of Agriculture and the Census Bureau. According to the agencies’ 2002 research, more than 33 million people in the United States are hungry or live on the edge of hunger. As of 2001, 6.5 percent of households in New Hampshire were living on the edge of hunger and 1.9 percent were hungry. The percentages in Maine were 9.4 and 3.1, respectively.
Federal nutrition programs such as the food stamp program and the national school lunch program are suffering when they are needed most, Weill said, adding that the federal government has all the means available to improve the situation. President Bush’s proposed fiscal 2004 budget includes no additional funding for these programs, and “therein lies the problem,” Weill said.
The report proposes two concurrent strategies for improving the situation: a greater commitment by the federal government, beginning with additional funding, and a redoubling of efforts by state and local governments to use those funds in the most effective ways.
Terry Smith, food stamp program manager for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, said that more work is being done to increase the visibility of programs like these. As of 2000, the most recent figures available, only about half of the people in New Hampshire eligible for food stamps were actually participating, but the number was steadily improving, he said.
“We are working on [the problem]; we’re working hard,” Smith said in an interview.
Congress reviews the federal nutrition programs every four to five years. The food stamp program was reauthorized last year, and all federal child nutrition programs will be reviewed this year as lawmakers begin work on the fiscal 2004 budget.
A letter detailing the importance of the child nutrition programs was sent to all members of the Senate and House Budget Committees and some other lawmakers in November from a group of organizations, including FRAC, the American Federation of Teachers, the YMCA of USA and the Children’s Defense Fund.
“Numerous studies show hunger’s detrimental effect on a child’s ability to learn and thrive in school,” said the letter, co-authored by several officials of the participating organizations. “Through a targeted expansion of universal programs, we can ensure that many more children [have] the nutrition they need to succeed.”
FRAC is a national organization working to combat national hunger and lack of nutrition. The group will present its report, State of the States: A Profile of Food and Nutrition Programs Across the Nation, to national lawmakers at the annual National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference here this weekend. They also have made the report available to state officials in time for this weekend’s winter meeting of the National Governors Association.
“Many private citizens are taking heroic measures to stem a rising tide of hunger in communities across America,” Weill said. “But they are saying to the president and to the nation’s governors that they have done as much as one person or one hundred thousand persons can do; the government must do its share.”
Published in Foster’s Daily Democrat, in New Hampshire.
