This report responds to the requirement of PL 110-246 to assess the effectiveness of state and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals. Direct certification is a process conducted by the states and by local educational agencies to certify eligible children for free meals without the need for household applications. 

This report is the most recent in a series of annual reports providing information about the demographic and economic circumstances of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program households. In fiscal year 2015, as in prior years, nearly two-thirds of SNAP participants were children (44 percent), elderly (11 percent) or disabled nonelderly adults (10 percent). The average monthly benefit received by SNAP households was $254.

The information in this second year report (school year 2012-13), the first year new lunch standards were implemented, will provide data for observing the improvements resulting from the implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Data was collected from a survey of all state child nutrition directors and a nationally representative sample of school food authorities.

This study examines the impact of SNAP asset limits on low-income households’ financial stability, including their participation in traditional financial markets and their ability to weather financial shocks. It found that low-income households with relatively high asset holdings were older and had more education compared to other low-income households.

This report provides information about the demographic and economic circumstances of SNAP households in fiscal year 2008.