Advocacy for the Poor

In early October, Congress approved a $121 billion spending bill for the Department of Agriculture. Recognizing citizens’ increased need for government assistance, Congress increased Fiscal Year 2010 spending (October 2009 – September 2010) on the Women, Infants, and Children nutritional assistance program (WIC) by $400 million. Congress also increased school and childcare nutrition programs funding by $1.9 billion Nutrition, food stamp, dairy programs among winners in spending bill, The Examiner, 10/7/2009.
In June 2009, the United States Department of Agriculture announced that 35.1 million Americans were participating in the governments’ nutrition assistance programs (includes Women, Infant and Children – WIC—and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—SNAP)
- That represents an increase of 713,000 individuals over the previous month, and a 22% jump over the previous year (Food stamp numbers grow for 8th consecutive month, Winston-Salem Journal, 9/1/2009 and Food Stamps, Time Magazine, 9/14/2009).

The Consequences

In February 2009, the Food Research and Action Center updated its State of the States Report, which gathers information on food security and government nutrition assistance programs in each of the United States. The information presented below is the data the organization collected on North Carolina:
- In FY 2006, NC’s average monthly participation in SNAP was 946,978; however, that figure represents only 67% of persons eligible for the program, and even fewer of the working poor who are eligible (that figure is 58%).
- In FY 2006, the average monthly participation in WIC was 260,433 NC residents. Participation in WIC has increased by 31.6% over the last ten years.
- In July 2007, NC schools served meals to an average of 79,500 student participants in the Summer Nutrition Program each day. That figure represents a 17% increase in student participation over the last 10 years; however it’s still a drop in the bucket, only 14% of students who are eligible for the summer meal service.
- Because NC schools reach so few of their eligible population during the summer, the state loses federal funding for the program each year. In 2007, NC effectively returned $8,189,964 dollars to the federal government because it could not reach or provide meals to at least 40% of those eligible for the program. If NC had reached 40% and received that $8 million, the state could have fed 135,888 students in the summer of 2007. Read the report here, Food Research and Action Center, State of the States 2008.
On October 1, 2009 NC Division of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS) instituted new state guidelines for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. These guidelines are to bring NC agencies into line with federal regulations passed in 2007 that give WIC assistance recipients the option to purchase a wider array of healthier foods. Some fruits and vegetables, whole-grain breads, rice, tofu, and canned beans are foods new to the WIC list. The federal regulations also demand that states start limiting the amount of high-fat milk participants are allowed to purchase. NC DHHS began instituting that rule in the state in January 2009 (WIC Changes menu to include healthier foods, The McDowell News, 10/4/2009 and New WIC Food Packages, Food Research and Action Center).

Taking Action

North Carolina Division of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS) collects information from county governments on assistance program participation. The latest data on county participation comes from June 2009 and shows a rapid increase in use of public assistance program between January and June 2009 Food and Nutrition Services, Program Statistics and Review

Between January 2009 and June 2009 DHHS signed up 4,102 more people for nutrition assistance programs, that’s almost 1/3 of the total number of people who enrolled in nutrition programs between 2005 and 2009.

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Resources

Hunger Facts Sheet
Who Else is Working On Hunger?
Hunger In the News