This report is the latest in a series presenting estimates of the percentage of eligible persons, by state, who participate in the Food Stamp Program. The participation rate – a ratio of the number of participants to the number of people eligible for benefits – is an important measure of program performance.
The national nutrition safety net consists of 15 programs that provide millions of low-income Americans access to a healthy and nutritious diet. It has been observed that many low-income individuals are both overweight and participants in one or more nutrition assistance programs. This has led some to question whether participation in the nutrition assistance programs contributes to the growing problem of overweight and obesity. This report presents the conclusions of an expert panel convened by the Food and Nutrition Service to determine if there is scientific evidence of a relationship between program participation and excess weight.
The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 directed the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a study of the feasibility of using computer technology to reduce over-certification, waste, fraud and abuse in the National School Lunch Program.
The FNS goal was to document the process (steps, time, and resources) for fully implementing Team Nutrition by communicating the four messages to students using the classroom and cafeteria as delivery channels, as well as other places in their environment such as the school, home, community and local media.
FNS conducted the three-year pilot from SY 2000–2001 through SY 2002–2003. The aim of this pilot was to study the impact of the availability of universal-free school breakfast on breakfast participation and measures related to elementary school students’ nutritional status and academic performance. This pilot was not intended to evaluate the current SBP or the value of consuming breakfast.
In this report we discuss our progress in deriving state participation rates for the working poor. We build upon recent studies examining national participation rates for socioeconomic and demographic subgroups and rates for states among the entire eligible population.
On average, about 21.3 million people living in 9.2 million households received food stamps in the United States each month in FY 2003. Food stamp households are a diverse group. Because food stamps are available to most low-income households with few resources, regardless of age, disability status, or family structure, recipients represent a broad cross-section of the nation's poor. This report provides information about the demographic and economic circumstances of food stamp households.
This report presents estimated participation rates for 2002 and revised estimates of rates for 1999, 2000, and 2001.
In 2001, the Food and Nutrition Service awarded $3.7 million in grants to 14 organizations in 11 states to improve Food Stamp Program access through partnerships and new technology. These projects generally aimed to improve access among the elderly, immigrants, the working poor, and other hard-to-reach groups. The projects used a variety of approaches, including targeted advertising campaigns through community media outlets, informational web sites, computer-assisted pre-screening for eligibility, and direct application assistance.
While a great deal of breastfeeding promotion and support is happening in WIC at both the state and local levels, there has been no systematic effort to evaluate what might work best in the WIC setting. Within this context, FNS contracted for a breastfeeding intervention design study with the following goals: Identify interventions to increase the incidence, duration and intensity of breastfeeding among women participating in WIC; and design an evaluation plan to examine the implementation and effectiveness of these interventions.