Comment Request- Understanding the Relationship Between Poverty, Well-Being and Food Security

Summary

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This new collection will provide the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) with new information about food security and individual and family circumstances and environmental factors related to poverty in six persistently poor counties.

Abstract

This is a new information collection request. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the nation's largest federal program aimed at reducing food insecurity and increasing access to healthy food. SNAP is administered by USDA, FNS and provides nutrition assistance benefits to program participants, the majority of whom are children, the elderly, or people with disabilities. Through this data collection effort, FNS seeks to understand the interrelated factors that lead to household food insecurity. Data will be collected in six counties experiencing persistent intergenerational poverty through a study titled Understanding the Relationship Between Poverty, Well-Being, and Food Security.

Understanding the Relationship Between Poverty, Well-Being, and Food Security will allow FNS to gain a deeper understanding of the interrelated factors that affect the food security status of SNAP beneficiaries and SNAP-eligible nonparticipants, information which has not previously collected in persistently poor counties. The USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) defines counties as being persistently poor if 20 percent or more of county residents were poor at each of several points in time over a 30-year period, measured by the 1980, 1990, and 2000 censuses and the 2007-2011 American Community Survey. Examining food insecurity and poverty in these populations will help FNS better understand the association between SNAP, other USDA-administered programs, and community-based assistance with well-being and the food environment.