Some Texas Congressmen Flex Their Political Muscle Against Hunger

Lisa Goddard
Advocay and Online Marketing Director

Congress is listening and acting. Yesterday, the House of Representatives approved HR 2997 which provides hunger relief for families in Texas and across the nation. The $121 billion spending bill temporarily extends expiring provisions of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act and includes:

• $58.2 billion ($4.2 billion more than last year) for SNAP (Food Stamps)
• $7.3 billion ($400 million more than 2009 non-emergency levels) for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program
• $16.9 billion ($1.9 billion more than last year) for aid to school and child care nutrition programs
• $85 million for pilot summer food service program projects to provide nutritious food to low income children during the summer

The bill passed with wide bi-partisan support of 263 to 162. For those representing our 21-county service area the votes were as follows:

Yea Lloyd Doggett (D) District 25 John Carter (R) District 31 Chet Edwards (D) District 17

Nay Michael McCaul (R) District 10 Lamar Smith (R) District 21 Joe Barton (R) District 6 Michael Conaway (R) District 11

The bill now heads to the Senate for voting, and hopefully to the president to be signed into law. For a detailed list of the improvements headed our way, read the Committee on Education & Labor’s blog post here. 

While you’re still reading this blog, I’ll be sending some hand-written thank you cards to our hunger-fighting representatives.  Please join me in a round of thanks by sending a thank you or giving them a call.  For those who voted against the bill, we clearly have more work ahead of us. 

In other news, the Texas Democratic Congressional Delegation is deeply concerned about the SNAP delays at home and wants the USDA to act. Read the letter below, sent to Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack.

View this document on Scribd

Texas Legislative Board says do more with less. Good luck with that.

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director 

This, my friends, is why hunger is more than just a moral issue. It’s a political issue, too.

Hopefully, you’ve been following the recent embarrassment where a class action lawsuit was filed against the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) for failure to process SNAP (food stamp) applications within the timeframes required by federal law.

Federal law says all SNAP applications must be processed within 30 days, or within seven days for emergency SNAP assistance. Not only has Texas failed to meet these standards in three years, but one out-of-every-six SNAP applications is incorrectly processed by state workers, as mentioned in this Statesman article.

Now, the federal government has cracked down. Just last week, the USDA sent a warning to HHSC saying that the future funding for SNAP could be suspended if the state doesn’t comply with federal timeliness standards.

While the ultimate solution is clearly complex, one thing that most folks agree upon is that more qualified case workers will make a big difference.  Well, except for the Texas Legislative Budget Board (LBB) which approves funding for more workers. 

HHSC requested 650 additional workers to help with the backlog of applications from hungry Texans but was only given permission to hire 250 new workers.  And yes, the LBB made this decision in the face of the public tongue-lashing from the USDA, significant increase in SNAP participation this past year and horrendous new poverty data.

What you can do today:

Call your state legislative representatives (both house and senate) and tell them hunger issues are a priority for you, and it is unacceptable for qualified families to be delayed access to SNAP (feel free to say Food Stamps).  The more they hear from you, the better our chances in the upcoming legislative session.  It’s never to early to act.

Not sure who your representative is?  Use our search tool here.

2008 Census data reveals things are pretty bad, and this is just the beginning.

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director

The 2008 American Community Survey (ACS), conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, provides a snapshot of the nation’s economic and social health.

For the Austin-Round Rock MSA (Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties), the report is not promising:

• 206,337 live in poverty
• 66,060 children live below the poverty line
• 30,232 worked this past year and are poor
• 4,293 worked 12 months out of the year and, in spite of their work, was still poor

In a September 10th interview with the Star-Telegram, State demographer Karl Eschbach gave a sobering reminder that the data on income and poverty do not reflect the recession’s impact on earnings. Texas didn’t really enter the recession until late 2008, so the poverty numbers won’t reflect that until next year.  ”In some respect, those are some of the best years for Texas in relation to the nation since 1981 or 1982. But for poverty and income, I would expect to see numbers in the next round to not look as good,” said Karl.

If you missed the Statesman’s recent report on Austin’s poverty numbers, read it here.

Hunger Action Month: Poverty, increase in food demand and Texas

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director

Census shows sharp rise in poverty. Feeding America study shows increase in food demand. Texas ranks above national average.

Last Friday, census numbers revealed the poverty rate climbed to 13.2 percent from 12.5 percent. The number of people living in poverty rose to 39.8 million last year, an increase of 2.6 million from 2007, and 15.9 percent of Texans lived in poverty in 2008.

In early September 2009, Feeding America conducted a survey of food banks to learn more about the challenges they, their member agencies, and clients face. The report shows a staggering increase in food bank demand (99 percent report an increase in demand for emergency food assistance over the past year). I encourage you to learn about what our sister food banks are reporting around the country, what’s going on in Texas, and what we’re facing in Central Texas.  

What happens when families in poverty do not have a safety net through family, friends or federal feeding programs like SNAP (food stamps)?  Food Banks become their lifeline, and it shows.

Putting the numbers into context:

The official U.S. poverty rate is based on income thresholds. According to census calculations, a family of four is considered poor if pretax income falls below $21,660; $10,830 for an individual.  There are some advocacy and interest groups who assert that this number grossly underestimates what it really means to be poor in America. Recently, the Obama administration agreed, and implemented changes to the calculation of poverty, specifically for seniors, to account for medical expenses and other costs of living.

Others feel that in comparison to other poor individuals in the world, America’s poor “aren’t really that bad off.”  Do you think $21,660 can support a family of four’s nutritious diet, provide them with adequate, warm housing for the winter, prepare them for work and school, and support basic health care needs?   

What’s at stake for counting the poor?

According to Nonprofits Count, lower-income individuals are frequently undercounted by the census, leading to underfunding of critical services and infrastructure and underrepresentation in government.  States receive an average $1,200 per person annually through census data-driven federal formula grants. As you can see, Central Texas is leaving money on the table, as evidenced by our low census participation rates in the last census.

What you can do.

Call your Congresspersons today and tell them what you think about the state of poverty in your community.  Share the statistics from the Feeding America report so they know the staggering need for food assistance. Ask for reform and support for Central Texas’s poor, and especially children in poverty.

Get involved with census outreach to ensure all Central Texans are counted. Click here to find out how you can support nonprofits with their outreach.

Delays in SNAP (Food Stamp) Application Processing Hurts More than the Food Budget.

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director

 

Texas doesn’t foot the bill alone for SNAP. Federal dollars pay for the cost of food items through SNAP, as well as half the administrative costs for running the program. But there are some strings attached.

Federal law requires states to process 95 percent of applications within 30 days. It seems simple enough, when technology makes it easy to process government services online – from taxes to defensive driving classes. Unfortunately, Texas puts hunger on hold for too many in need, for too long. Applications in Austin, while fairing better than most areas in Texas, are still below the 95 percent federal threshold. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) faces a class action lawsuit for failing to comply with federal requirements.

According to one of the plaintiffs in the case, Texas-based advocacy nonprofit, Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP), more than one-third of SNAP applications were processed in July 2009 alone, affecting more than 45,000 families in Texas. CPPP also contends that the modest budget increase for additional HHSC staff approved by the Texas legislature this past session is not enough to bring Texas into compliance.

As you know, hunger is just one of the many unfortunate problems of poverty. The LITE-UP TEXAS program recognizes this, and helps low-income individuals reduce the monthly cost of electric service. Individuals receiving SNAP are automatically qualified and enrolled for this program. In a recent press release by Rep. Sylvester Turner, he notes, “over 85 percent of applicants are enrolled in the discount programs through a process known as Automatic Enrollment whereby Food Stamp recipients are matched monthly with contact information provided by electric and telephone companies.” Representative Turner calls for the state to help these families by retroactively qualify those families who have also been denied access to SNAP.

With record 100+ degree weather we’re experiencing this summer, the elderly and children are at increased risk for heat related health problems. Programs like LITE-UP TEXAS can make a big difference in their lives. The summer electricity aid program is set to expire at the end of September.

Have you spoken to your Texas Representative about this problem? We think you should.

If You’ve ever Fallen off the Wagon, You Should Support the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director

Pop quiz:  According to current USDA regulations, what is a junk food?

a) Doughnuts

b) Snack cakes

c) Fruitades/Fruit Drinks (with little fruit – not 100% juice)

d) Seltzer water

Answer:  D

Confused?  You’re not alone.  USDA sets nutrition standards for foods sold at schools, but outside of school meals (such as vending machines, a la carte items and school stores) haven’t changed since the 1970s.  In fact, nutrition criteria for non-meal foods only apply to “foods of minimal nutritional value” and don’t address calories, saturated and trans-fats or sodium. So while little Suzie can’t get a breath mint with her onion-laden chili dog, she can get a side of fries and a candy bar.

Photo credit: shapingyouth.org

The Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act (H.R. 1324), one of the many bills up for review in the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act, would update national school nutrition standards for foods and beverages sold outside of school meals to conform to current nutrition science.

So, how can this legislation help hungry Central Texas children?

By not using the same nutrition standards for junk food/non-food items as we do for the school lunch system, we undermine our investment in these nutrition programs.  Ultimately, the health of our children is undermined – especially low-income children.

States do have the option of exceeding USDA guidelines such as limiting access to competitive foods, or through stricter nutrition standards. Unfortunately, Texas has chosen to simply comply with USDA competitive food guidelines, leaving Texas children subject to these antiquated laws.

Why can’t we just focus on improving participation?

When school revenue is directly linked to the number of meals they serve, schools are forced to focus not on nutrition, but on pleasing the customer for maximum participation. In this School Lunch Talk interview, Leslie Phillips, business development director for Meriwhether Godsey, which runs the lunch program at Sidwell where President Obama’s girls attend school, explains how the retail model used by public schools makes it difficult for children to choose healthy, balanced meals.

If we are to address the problems food-insecure and hungry Texas children face during the school day and the life-long problems from poor nutrition, the answer isn’t to simply increase participation. We must also change incentives and nutrition standards so that profit doesn’t take precedence over nutrition.

If you’ve ever struggled with weight, or quitting cigarettes, or any other vice, you know how important a positive environment is for your success. Let’s make the lunchroom a place for positive experiential learning, where the most vulnerable children can make informed choices based on modern, scientific nutrition standards.

Take action: 
Support the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act by asking your representative to co-sponsor H.R. 1324. Click here to find your congressperson.

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Nutrition and School Related Bills Passed in the 81st Legislative Session

SB 282          Sen. Jane Nelson                                     
Provides for grants for nutrition education and nutrition programs in early childhood programs.

 SB 1027       Sen. Kirk Watson                                  
Establishes a farm-to-school task force so public schools have more locally grown fresh food.

SB 395         Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr.                        
Creates a council to improve nutrition, health and physical activity in early childhood programs.

Bonus advocacy points: 

Tell your Texas legislative representatives that nutrition and health initiatives for low-income children remain a priority for you. Click here to find your representative.

If You Learned in the Forgotten Classroom, You Should Support the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director

In most classrooms, the tools needed for success are not rationed by income.  Children from both poor and wealthy families play on gym equipment, and use textbooks, computers and lab equipment, regardless of income.

However, in the forgotten classroom – the lunchroom – children are not given equal access to the tools needed for success. In some states, children who forget their lunch money, or whose parents were delinquent on paying lunch, or filling out the required paperwork, are at least guaranteed a cold cheese sandwich.  In Texas, it is up to the individual schools to determine if a child receives a lunch if their account is overdrawn. We can only hope that the lunch administrators show compassion for the student – and the teachers attempting to instruct hungry children after lunch period.

Universal Feeding Program – One Lunch, No Paperwork, No Kidding!
The tough economy is not the only reason parents choose not to participate in the program. Paperwork is one of the greatest barriers to the success of the school lunch program.  Language barriers, literacy and stigma prevent otherwise eligible children from properly accessing the free- and reduced-lunch program.  In Philadelphia, the popular two-decade long Universal Feeding pilot program enjoyed participation nearly rates twice as high as in non-Universal sites (80 percent vs. 45 percent, according to state figures). In this program, all children, regardless of income, have access to school lunches.  Similar to how children are allocated textbooks, there is no probing into a family’s financials.

S. 1226 / H.R. 2803, makes the successful Philadelphia “Universal Free” model a national option – one of the many bills to be potentially bundled as part of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act up for review this fall.

Would it be “fair” to have low-income families pay the same for food as other families? Why is it acceptable to treat lunch differently from other school-related experiences?

 TAKE ACTION

Ask your Senator to co-sponsor S. 1226, and your Representative to sponsor  H.R. 2803.  Click here to find your congressperson.

If Your Parents Wax Poetic about their Childhood in the Country, You Should Care About the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act.

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Marketing Online Director

Growing up in New York City, I wasn’t exposed enough to the day-to-day joys of country life – at least that’s what my father told me.  When my preteen world meant trips to the mall and MTV, his stories of playing hide-and-seek in the woods, picking fresh mangoes from the neighbor’s tree and spending an afternoon at the local fishing hole, didn’t make an impression on me.  

When I moved to Texas and met more rural-turned-urban friends, I began to understand why these memories are cherished by my father.  From what I understand, there’s a type of freedom and creativity children experience that is unique to rural life.  I’m proud to say, I’m no longer the ignorant city dweller who thinks Texans spend their days tipping cows for fun.

If Central Texans value these country memories, and wish to preserve these opportunities for future generations, we must also ensure that federal feeding programs don’t forget our rural families.

Kids Cafe, Boys & Girls Club - East Austin

As you know, hunger is not just an urban issue.  However, the majority of sponsors and sites participating in the Summer Food Service program in Central Texas are in urban areas. Summer meals are available in areas where at least 50 percent of the children are eligible for free or reduced-priced meals.  A successful pilot program in Pennsylvania showed that by simply reducing the threshold to 40 percent, significantly increased the number of sites and provided tens of thousands more meals.

H.R. 540, the Summer Food Service Rural Expansion Act, makes the successful pilot program a permanent program and would be effective for every state.  This bill amends the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act up for review this fall.

Let’s give children more than good memories.  Let’s give them good food during the summer.

 

Take Action

Ask your congressman to co-sponsor H.R. 540.

 Click here to find your legislative representative.

Breastfeeding or not – you should care about the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act.

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director 

Returning to work a little more than two months after maternity leave after each of my sons were born was certainly a shock to my system.  The intimate quiet moments I enjoyed to feed my newborn was replaced by a quick dash (well within the speed limit and driving safety guidelines, of course) home during my lunch break.   I feel like I’m one of the lucky ones because I have a private space to pump if I choose, or can go home to nurse, as well as the finances to take an unpaid maternity leave for three months.  Across the nation, and especially in Texas, many women are not as “lucky.”

According to an Institute for Women’s Policy Research study, paid parental leave is still not standard, even among the best U.S. employers. While no federal or state law mandates paid maternity leave, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and Family and Medical Leave Act provide some protection for pregnant women and new families.  This powerful report released by Texans Care for Children made me realize how lucky my family is, and how so many children in Texas have the odds stacked against them. Did you know:

• Texas ranks last in the number of children without health insurance.
• Texas has one of the country’s highest rates of births to teenage mothers (49 out of 50 states).
• Infant mortality rates have steadily climbed in Texas, this decade, while remaining unchanged in the nation as a whole.

And then there’s cost. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that mothers feed their babies only breast milk for the first six months, with some additional nursing as solid food is introduced and continuing at least for the baby’s first year. I again, was one of the lucky moms who didn’t have a great deal of difficulty nursing or maintaining supply. As this Babble.com article points out, breastfeeding isn’t exactly free for everyone, especially moms who return to the workforce. With my second, more than my first boy, work and life responsibilies sometimes got in the way of my desire for breastmilk-only babies, and I needed to suppliment my hapazard supply with formula.

So what happens when you live in a country that doesn’t create laws that make it easy to meet pediatric guidelines, in a state with the odds stacked against you for growing healthy children, and where the cost of breastfeeding while returning to work could cost a small fortune?  I’ll tell you –

Guilt.

I’m sure, I’m not the only mom who experienced this after returning to work, wanting to at least make it to one year exclusively breastfeeding.  A  New York Times article explains this breastfeeding class divide and says that on average, lower-income mothers have less time, fewer resources and less employer support for breastfeeding.  And before anyone thinks I’m going down the path of “formula is poison,” I, like many mothers, clearly made the informed decision that supplementing with formula is good enough. 

Over time, and with the support of my loved ones, I have made peace with my choice. In the end, guilt serves no one. 

For many moms, breastfeeding is a sore subject (no pun intended) which is why we need your voice. Your advocacy for the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act and WIC can help moms have more real choices about how they feed their new babies.

One of the major goals of the Women Infants and Children (WIC) program is to improve the nutrition of infants, and encourage breastfeeding. They do this by offering support and resources that consider the real-life challenges of low-income moms:

• Breastfeeding mothers receive follow-up support through peer counselors
• Breastfeeding mothers are eligible to participate in WIC longer than non-breastfeeding mothers
• Mothers who exclusively breastfeed their infants receive an enhanced food package
• Breastfeeding mothers can receive breast pumps, breast shells or nursing supplementers to help support the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding

WIC is one of five programs under the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act that is not an entitlement program.  This means that Congress does not set aside funds to allow every eligible individual to participate.  Each state has a yearly food expenditure goal and must meet at least 97 percent of its food grant or face penalties in the form of reduced funding for the next year.  Funding does not keep up with rising food costs and increased caseloads from the poor economy.

We need your support to ensure:

• Adequate funding in the FY 2010 budget to meet the growing need
• Combat pay from income for the purposes of determining eligibility (S.581) is excluded

My two boys -

Four Reports Reveal Broken Promises to Hungry Children and Opportunity for Change

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director

Child Nutrition Programs are meant to be a safety net for families struggling to nourish their children. You may be wondering how these programs work, or think they fall short of fulfilling their promise to feed hungry children.  Four reports were released this month, providing an in-depth analysis as well as recommendations for improvements.

Child Food Insecurity: The Economic Impact on Our Nation, by Feeding America, reveals the impact of food insecurity and hunger on child health, growth and development, and details the economic effect of child hunger in the United States.  This is the first report to link food insecurity and hunger to tax-payer burdens, life-time earnings and other long-term economic issues. 

The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) released Ending Childhood Hunger by 2015:  The Essential Strategies for Achieving the President’s Goal. This report is the first in-depth look at a comprehensive and realistic strategy to achieve President Obama’s goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015.

Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation:  Summer Nutrition Status Report 2009 (by FRAC) provides in-depth analysis of an average 2.9 million children (190,174 in Texas) relying on summer nutrition programs in July 2008.  Texas ranks 42 out of 51 states (data counts District of Columbia as a state) in participation, forfeiting millions of dollars in unclaimed summer nutrition funding.

School’s Out… Who Ate?  A Report on Summer Nutrition in California analizes the decline in participation of the federal summer lunch program in California. So why should Texans care? The problems faced in California are not typical and the obstacles states face in achieving full participation in federal feeding programs require adequate resources, funding and community support.

In our own backyard, Agriculture Commissioner, Todd Staple’s rallying cry to Texas Mayors to support summer feeding programs, and the offer of a donation from H-E-B to the top three cities with the largest increase in summer meals served, it was not enough to offset budget cuts in the program.  Austin-based Urban Connection chronicles their recent challenge participating in the program in response to the City of Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department cutting back on the number of feeding sites from 84 to 14.

The message in all of these reports are clear — Child hunger is preventable and unnecessary in the United States.  We have the solutions. We just need the social will.

What are we doing about it?
The Food Bank and Texas Food Bank Network has agreed on a set of detailed policy changes for improving the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act, due to expire this September.  Read the recommendations here.

What can you do about it? 
Click here to send your message to Congress.