Paper looks at widening participation in food stamps program
The New York Times crunched a bunch of numbers having to do with people on food stamps in the United States and found that as the number of people on those rolls increases, the stigma of being on public assistance has gone down.
Right now, more than 36 million Americans use the funding that helps them buy milk, bread and other staples, and about 20,000 more people are going on food stamps each day. While these people share the characteristic of living at or below the poverty line, they’re across all sorts of demographic categories, from single moms to laid-off workers and those who are considered chronically poor.
Stigma removed from seeking help
During the last presidential administration, much of the stigma of being on food stamps was removed as the program was recast as nutritional assistance rather than welfare. Inconspicuous plastic cards that work like debit cards make it less embarrassing for people to use food stamps, and applying for the program is now easier than it used to be.
Still, it’s estimated that the assistance reaches only about two-thirds of the people who need it, ranging from a high of 98 percent in Missouri to about half of those eligible in California. So while the rolls are growing at an astounding pace, those in charge of the program say 15 or 16 million more people could be benefitting from the program who aren’t.
In all, about 12 percent of Americans now receive assistance, including 28 percent of blacks, 15 percent of Latinos and 8 percent of whites. The average benefit is about $130 per person in the household.
Stamps across America
The Times found 239 counties across the country where at least a quarter of the population gets food stamps; there are more than 750 counties in which food stamps are used by at least a third of blacks and more than 800 counties where they help feed at least a third of children.
These counties are scattered across the nation and the socioeconomic ladder, from suburbs of Atlanta to inner city Philadelphia, the Bronx and Owsley County, Kentucky, where half of the 4,600 residents receive nutrition assistance.
And in about 50 small counties and a dozen or more larger ones, the number of people on food stamps has doubled in the past two years, while the rolls are up by at least two-thirds in 205 other counties since the country’s financial crisis began.
What you can do if you need help
Information on applying for the food stamp program (now officially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) can be found at the Social Security Administration. You can find out if you are eligible for the program and how much you might receive in benefits (the tool is technically expired so should be used for informational purposes only) at the SNAP website.
(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
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