NH One of the Worst for Food Stamps but Showing Improvement, Study Shows
By Kim Forrest
WASHINGTON–Although New Hampshire has ranked among the lowest of the states in providing food stamps to those in need, it has shown improvement in recent years, a new study released Thursday by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) revealed.
Against a backdrop of this weekend’s winter meeting of the National Governors Association, the start of work on the FY 2004 fiscal budget and the reauthorization of federal child nutrition programs this year, FRAC released state-by-state statistics on federal nutrition programs.
“This report creates a framework for the anti-hunger debate around the country,” said FRAC president Jim Weill, at a news conference here.
Weill noted that President Bush’s proposed 2004 budget does not include new funds for the already troubled child nutrition programs.
“The president’s [proposed] budget has not a single penny for new money for any of the child nutrition programs,” he said. “We think that’s unacceptable.”
According to the report, an estimated 39- 53 percent of those in New Hampshire who qualified for food stamps in 2000, actually received the assistance. The report did not provide comparable figures for 2001 or 2002.
Terry Smith, food stamp program manager for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, said the state has seen much improvement in more recent years. The study showed a 13 percent increase in participation from 2000.
Still, Smith said, the department is working on outreach programs for the people who need the most assistance. This includes distributing information in places frequented by the working poor and the homeless, providing quality customer service and removing what he called “unintentional barriers to participation.”
“We’re working on it,” he said. “We’re working hard.”
Weill noted that one of the major nutrition problems in the United States is food insecurity. Food insecurity, while not as severe as hunger, means that families have “just enough resources to buy adequate food,” Weill said. However, this often means that the nutritional value of their food is insufficient. He relayed the story of an Ohio mother who had to add water to her baby’s milk to increase the supply, despite the lessened nutritional value.
“No mother should have to cut her milk with water in order to feed her baby’s stomach,” Weill said.
As of the latest survey, in 2002, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 33 million Americans are living with either food insecurity or hunger, up from 31 million the year before.
In New Hampshire, the study shows that in 1999, 2000 and 2001, an average of 6.5 percent of all households were food insecure, while 1.9 percent were living in hunger.
The report also revealed statistics about school breakfast and summer nutrition lunch programs. New Hampshire ranked 37th in the nation in providing students with free or reduced-price breakfasts and 38th in offering students free or reduced-price summer nutrition lunches.
In the 370 New Hampshire schools that participate in the school breakfast program (73 percent of schools in the state that have a lunch program), for every 100 students who receive free or reduced-price lunches, 35.9 receive free or reduced-price breakfasts, meaning that 10,136 students receive such discounted breakfasts. This compares with to the national ratio’s average of 42.9 students.
Weill said that breakfast should be much more commonplace in schools. “It makes more and more sense to serve breakfast to all kids,” he said, adding that students who have school-sponsored breakfasts improve in terms of academics, behavior and health. “The breakfast program ought to look at lot more like [the] lunch [program],” he said.
Looking toward the future, FRAC’s study offered two suggestions: to increase federal funds for nutrition programs, and to improve use of those funds by state and local governments. Weill said he hoped that as Congress reauthorizes these programs this year, many of their needs will be met.
FRAC and other groups dealing with hunger sent a letter last November to members of various House and Senate committees in a plea to reform child nutrition programs and to reserve about $1 billion annually for such programs.
“Congress has an opportunity to address the unmet need this year,” Weill said. “Improving access, reducing red tap, and improving the quality of nutrition all must be high priorities during the reauthorization of the child nutrition programs.”
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire.
