This paper presents a comparison of the two surveys as a source of data for the PAI calculation and illustrates the potential effects of moving to the ACS.
This report documents the extent to which CFBOs and the public entities that received food stamp outreach grants in 2001 and 2002 sustained their outreach projects up to three years beyond the funding period, challenges faced in sustaining their projects, and the factors contributing to their sustainability.
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.
An important measure of the Food Stamp Program’s performance is its ability to reach the people it is meant to serve. This report presents estimates of the food stamp participation rate among eligible working poor persons in each state. Working poor persons are defined as individuals living in house holds in which at least one member had earnings from a job. The participation rates are presented for an average month in fiscal years 2003 and 2002. These estimates can be compared to the state food stamp participation rates previously released for all eligible individuals in Reaching Those in Need: State Food Stamp Participation Rates in 2003 (October 2005).
To explore other options for assessing impacts, we awarded a contract to provide us with new information on: experiences and satisfaction of participants in FNA programs, and impacts of program participation on reducing hunger, diet quality, and other indicators of household well-being.
This report is the latest in a series of publications 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.
FNA and other researchers have used a variety of approaches to calculate food stamp participation rates. While different approaches can look similar in concept, the results – for particular states or for the nation as a whole – can often look quite different. These differences can be confusing for users who seek to describe the success of the Food Stamp Program without becoming experts in statistics and data analysis. This paper provides an overview and comparison of two sets of estimates produced by FNA as indicators of Food Stamp Program performance.
Using Food Stamp Quality Control data from fiscal year 2000, this analysis suggests that the simplified reporting policies adopted by states in 2004 could have lowered error rates by 1.2 to 1.5 percentage points.
Low participation rates among low-income people eligible for food stamp benefits have prompted a number of outreach and public education efforts. In 2002, the Food and Nutrition Administration awarded $5 million in grants to community-based organizations in 15 States to investigate how to increase participation among people eligible for food stamp benefits. The evaluation of these grants describes the features and outcomes of these 18 projects.