Introduction to outreach
Food Stamp benefit program outreach provides information on eligibility and benefits to potentially eligible people with a primary goal of increasing participation. Outreach can also include assisting eligible individuals who have difficulty handling program procedural steps. Most Food Stamp Program outreach efforts combine general program public education campaigns with direct assistance to individual households in completing the application process (e.g., prescreening households, helping to fill out applications, providing information on applicants' rights and gathering necessary documentation).
Food stamp outreach serves not only to ensure that eligible households are aware of how to obtain benefits to which they are entitled, but also helps meet larger community needs. The federal government pays the full cost of food stamp benefits and half of the administrative costs associated with them. Raising program participation through outreach efforts increases the purchasing power of low-income community residents, and contributes to the local economy. The San Luis Obispo County Nutrition Profile 2005, reports that San Luis Obispo County alone lost over $5,833,416 in Federal dollars due to underutilization of the Food Stamp Program.[1]
Recent studies confirm that, despite a strong overall economy, hunger and food insecurity are prevalent in communities across the country. Thirty-one million Americans live in hunger, or on the edge of hunger -- "food insecure without hunger," meaning the household can't afford balanced, adequate diets, or parents are skipping meals so their children can eat, or the family otherwise is on the very edge of hunger because it is so poor and must take extraordinary steps to get food, such as going to a food bank.
While unemployment is low, and more adults than ever are working, wages at the bottom are still lower than wages a generation ago, when adjusted for inflation, and often are too low to support a family. When income from work is not enough, the nation's nutrition programs are essential to alleviating and eliminating hunger and food insecurity. But the low earnings of lower-income Americans have been exacerbated by the dramatic decline in food stamp participation among eligible families. Millions of families have lost food stamps over the last three years, even though they are still poor and struggling.
Some of this decline is due to Congress' enactment of the 1996 welfare law, excluding substantial groups (e.g., most legal immigrants, and many 18-50 year old childless, unemployed adults) from food stamps. Some of it is due to the growing economy and falling unemployment. But much of the drop-off is because many states that have focused on reducing cash welfare participation are failing in the task of getting poor families, including working families, the food stamps for which they are still eligible under the law. From 1995 to 1998, the number of poor Americans fell by 1.949 million but the number of food stamp beneficiaries fell by 7.207 million. Food stamp eligibility fell further in 1999. This is in significant part because poor families not being given cash welfare under the new Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) law are also being denied the chance to get food stamps for which they are still eligible. The effects of these food stamp declines show up in the USDA hunger/food insecurity numbers, which remain high in spite of a booming economy, and in the state studies showing high rates of hunger among people leaving cash welfare for low wage jobs (or no jobs) and not receiving food stamps.
More than a third of those eligible for the Food Stamp Program are not receiving benefits, according to a study released in December 1999 by Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman. The participation rate fell five percentage points between 1996 and 1997 alone. A July 1999 report prepared for USDA by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. identified lack of client information as one key barrier to participation in the Food Stamp Program. Among non-participating persons eligible for food stamp benefits surveyed in late 1996, nearly three-quarters (72%) were not aware that they were eligible. Many may not know they are eligible or may be unable to navigate the complicated application process.
Misinformation regarding Food Stamp Program eligibility requirements and program regulations is still common within communities. Program rules have been amended at various times, both increasing and decreasing the availability of benefits. Recent federal welfare reform legislation and the resulting state initiatives have added to the confusion among applicants, front-line eligibility workers and community case managers. This confusion can result in potentially eligible households not applying for benefits and/or eligibility workers incorrectly implementing regulations, thereby causing households to lose benefits.
Low-income working families, elderly households and rural populations have traditionally had particularly low food stamp participation rates. In many cases, this can be traced to administrative and systemic obstacles for the program's application process. Access to food stamp offices for these populations often is undermined by the distances needed to travel, lack of evening hours of operation, and limited public transportation within communities. The complexity of the application itself and the application process may also deter many eligible households from applying. The public stigma attached to receipt of government benefits may also be a barrier, and people may be afraid of immigration consequences.
Outreach is critical to overcome all these barriers and get hungry
households the food stamps they need. Food stamp outreach programs attempt to
ensure that there is a flow of accurate information regarding program
eligibility requirements, train human service providers on program regulations,
provide assistance to thousands of eligible households in obtaining critically
needed benefits, and otherwise raise the proportion of eligible families getting
the food stamps they need.
Is
your Agency interested in conducting Food Stamp Outreach Activites?
Federal funds are available for many aspects of outreach. And USDA is giving new emphasis to informational activities. In April 1999, USDA started a public education campaign about the Food Stamp Program with a toll free line (1-800-221-5689) to assist in getting eligibility information out. The agency has developed helpful informational materials, including flyers and pamphlets, accessible from the USDA website (www.fns.usda.gov/fsp). Copies for distribution can also be obtained by calling the toll free number.
The Food Bank Coalition has
developed English and Spanish Food Stamp informational materials that are
unique to San Luis Obispo County. If
you are searching for new resource materials, for more information call Sherri
Waltiere, our outreach coordinator at 805-459-9839.
Compiled by Sherri Waltiere, for
the Food Bank Coalition’s Food Stamp Outreach Program.