Attached is a Q&A fact sheet that answers questions and provides further guidance on the new racial/ethnic data collection and the new FNS-101 reporting. The July 31, 2006, memorandum offers further policy guidance on this regulation.

This report provides information about the demographic and economic circumstances of food stamp households in fiscal year 2005. The report draws on data for households participating in the Food Stamp Program under normal rules and thus does not include information about those who received disaster assistance after the Gulf Coast hurricanes in October 2004 and September 2005.

Attached for immediate distribution to your respective state agencies are questions and answers to provide policy clarification on implementing a mini–Simplified Food Stamp Program to replace Food Stamp Program work requirements with those under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

This memorandum addresses questions recently raised about the allowable scope of formal state Food Stamp Program outreach plans. The specific issue is whether state FSP outreach plans may include activities directed to access and retention of current participants in addition to outreach and education efforts directed to nonparticipating persons.

This general USDA Foods guidance memorandum provides instructions on how to reconcile the physical inventory conducted at a distributing agency- or subdistributing agency-level storage facility with the book inventory required to be maintained for that facility.

This rule finalizes the proposed provisions of a rule published on March 19, 2004 to amend Food Stamp Program regulations to codify Food Stamp Employment and Training program provisions of section 4121 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002.

Describe how participants redeem their food stamp  benefits (including the number and types of stores frequented by typical clients, the timing and amount of purchases during the month, the frequency of benefit exhaustion, and the amount of benefits carried over into following months). And, identify redemption patterns across groups and analyze differences in redemption and shopping patterns if such exist.

This report is the latest in a series on food stamp participation rates based on the March Current Population Survey, and presents national participation rates for fiscal year 2004.

Please find attached a question and answer policy clarification package on financial issues related to the  Employment and Training program. In the last several years, state agencies have expanded their approaches to E&T programs, both in component coverage and how activities are funded.

The purpose of this memorandum is to clarify the required frequency of physical inventories, per the recently revised program regulations at 7 CFR Part 247.