Information that describes how the agency's combined efforts of outreach funding, monitoring, and national evaluations function to help ensure equal treatment for minorities, women, and persons with disabilities.
Due to the impact on SNAP benefits resulting from continuing fluctuations in energy prices, FNS is modifying the Standard Utility Allowance blanket waiver memorandum of Oct. 14, 2010 to allow certain states to extend fiscal year (FY) 2010 SUA amounts through March 31, 2011.
This report – the latest in an annual series – presents estimates of the percentage of eligible persons, by state, who participated in SNAP during an average month in FY 2008 and in the two previous fiscal years.
It has come to our attention that some state agencies are not in compliance with the requirement to issue a household's initial month of benefits within 30 days of the date of application. A survey of a number of states indicates that many state agencies handle initial issuances differently for those households that are determined ineligible for benefits in the month of application (e.g., the household is over income) but eligible for benefits in the subsequent month.
This memorandum provides additional information on the new approval process and includes sample documents that will assist state agencies with their funding requests.
This is the fifth in a series of annual reports that examines administrative error incurred during the local educational agency’s (LEA) approval process of applications for free and reduced-price meals in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).
In response to several inquiries, this memorandum provides guidance on the allowable consumption of FFVP fruits and vegetables by teachers.
This report responds to the legislative requirement of PL 110-246 to assess the effectiveness of state and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals. Under direct certification, children are determined eligible for free school meals without the need for household applications by using data from other means-tested programs.
Policy Memorandum No. FD-022, Adjusted Guide Rates for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (issued June 9, 2003), is cancelled. Refer to Exhibit 0 of FNS Handbook 501 for the current guide rates for fresh produce.
To ensure program integrity, school districts must sample household applications certified for free or reduced-price meals, contact the households, and verify eligibility. This process (known as household verification) can be burdensome for both school officials and households. Direct verification uses information from certain other means-tested programs to verify eligibility without contacting applicants. Potential benefits include: less burden for households, less work for school officials, and fewer students with school meal benefits terminated because of nonresponse to verification requests.