THE EMERGENCY FOOD ASSISTANCE SYSTEM - FINDINGS FROM THE PROVIDER SURVEY, VOLUME I: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Findings of the first comprehensive government study of the Emergency Food Assistance System (EFAS) suggest that public and private food assistance may work in tandem to provide more comprehensive food assistance than either could provide by itself. Five major types of organizations (emergency kitchens, food pantries, food banks, food rescue organizations, and emergency food organizations) that operate in the EFAS were studied. About 5,300 emergency kitchens provide more than 173 million meals a year, and 32,700 food pantries distribute about 2.9 billion pounds of food a year, which translates into roughly 2,200 million meals. Despite the substantial amounts of food distributed by the system, the EFAS remains much smaller in scale than the Federal programs. The study, which was sponsored by USDA's Economic Research Service, provides detailed information about the system's operations and about each of the five types of organizations. This report summarizes the results of the study. For more detail on the results, see The Emergency Food Assistance System-Findings From the Provider Survey, Volume II: Final Report at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/fanrr16. For more information on the survey methodology, see The Emergency Food Assistance System-Findings From the Provider Survey, Volume III: Survey Methodology at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan01008.Food pantry, emergency kitchen, food bank, food rescue organization, emergency food organization, TEFAP, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,

THE EMERGENCY FOOD ASSISTANCE SYSTEM - FINDINGS FROM THE PROVIDER SURVEY, VOLUME II: FINAL REPORT

Findings of the first comprehensive government study of the Emergency Food Assistance System (EFAS) suggest that public and private food assistance may work in tandem to provide more comprehensive food assistance than either could provide by itself. Five major types of organizations (emergency kitchens, food pantries, food banks, food rescue organizations, and emergency food organizations) operate in the EFAS. About 5,300 emergency kitchens provide more than 173 million meals a year, and 32,700 food pantries distribute about 2.9 billion pounds of food a year, which translates into roughly 2,200 million meals. Despite substantial amounts of food distributed by the system, the EFAS remains much smaller in scale than the Federal programs. This study, which was sponsored by USDAs Economic Research Service, provides detailed information about the systems operations and about each of the five types of organizations. This report presents the study results in detail. For a summary of the results, see The Emergency Food Assistance SystemFindings from the Provider Survey, Volume I: Executive Summary at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/fanrr16-1. For more information on the survey methodology, see The Emergency Food Assistance SystemFindings from the Provider Survey, Volume III: Survey Methodology at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan01008.Food pantry, emergency kitchen, food bank, food rescue organization, emergency food organization, TEFAP, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,

Evaluation of the USDA Elderly Nutrition Demonstrations: Volume I, Evaluation Findings

Reducing the burden of applying for food stamps or enhancing benefits appears to increase participation of the elderly in the Food Stamp Program (FSP). Historically, low-income seniors ages 60 and older who qualify for FSP benefits participate at low rates because they feel it is not worth the effort to apply. To identify effective strategies for raising participation among this population, USDA designed three models, each using different techniques to reduce the barriers that seniors face in FSP participation. The techniques involve reducing the time and effort of applying for benefits, aiding seniors in navigating the application process, and giving seniors the option of receiving commodity packages instead of getting benefits through electronic benefits transfer cards. The models were tested as county demonstrations in six States between 2002 and 2004. This report presents the findings from an evaluation of the demonstrations. Successful demonstrations increased the number of participating seniors by 20-35 percent after 21 months of operation

Simulated Effects of Changes to State and Federal Asset Eligibility Policies for the Food Stamp Program

This study uses a microsimulation model to assess the effect of changes to State-level Food Stamp Program (FSP) asset rules on household eligibility and on the benefits that eligible households would receive. The findings show that 7 percent of households eligible in 2006 were eligible only through expanded categorical eligibility rules that exempted the households from the standard Federal FSP asset rules and that 1 percent of eligible households were eligible because of State rules that counted fewer vehicle assets toward the asset limits. The number of eligible households would increase by about 3 percent if asset limits were raised by $2,000, by 22 percent if the asset test were eliminated, by 2 percent if retirement accounts were excluded, and by less than half of 1 percent if all vehicles were excluded. Eligibility across States varied widely, with 32 percent of households eligible in at least one State but not eligible in all States. The Food Stamp Program was renamed to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in October 2008