Link: http://www.usda.gov/2005/10/0468.xml Release No. 0468.05 Ed Loyd (202) 720-4623 Mary Reardon (202) 694-5136 USDA AWARDS $1.3 MILLION FOR RESEARCH ON FOOD ASSISTANCE AND NUTRITION PROGRAMS WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2005- Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced that organizations in four states and the District of Columbia will receive $1.3 million to examine and evaluate USDA-administered food assistance programs. "USDA's food assistance programs increase food security and reduce hunger in our communities by providing access to healthful, nutritious food to children and low-income individuals," said Johanns. "This research will help ensure that the programs are effectively meeting the changing needs of the people they are designed to serve." The grants and cooperative agreements will fund eight projects in California, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Texas. The projects will examine a number of program-related issues: · how states administer the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and who among the eligible population tend to participate in the program; · effect of Food Stamp Program policies on household decisions to apply for food stamps, on length of stay in the program, and on decisions to exit the program; · effect of school food policies on the choices students make from school meal programs, school snack bars, and vending machines; · impact of program rules that effectively reduce the level of Food Stamp Program benefits for families who increase their work effort or receive additional unearned income; · effects of Food Stamp Program policy, welfare policy, and the economy on food stamp caseloads; · relationship between food insecurity and a variety of health, nutrition, motor development, cognitive, social, and emotional outcomes for infants and toddlers; · factors associated with participation in USDA's school meals program at both the school and individual level; · relationship of Food Stamp Program benefits to household spending decisions for food consumed at home and away from home, and the implications of those decisions for household food security. All of the research projects are competitively awarded by the Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP), administered by USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS). FANRP studies and evaluates the performance of the nation's domestic food and nutrition assistance programs, including the Food Stamp Program, child nutrition programs, and the WIC program. A complete list of this year's award recipients follows. Further information is available on the web at http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/foodnutritionassistance/funding/ , or from program contact Vic Oliveira, (202) 694-5434, victoro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Research Funding Opportunities: Fiscal 2005 Awards FANRP's competitive grants and cooperative agreements program made awards in fiscal 2005 to fund research on strengthening economic incentives in food assistance programs; food choices, diet quality, obesity, and health outcomes; and food assistance as a safety net. The program is publicly announced and competitively awarded through the use of peer review panels. Investigator City/State Title Awardamount Strengthening Economic Incentives in Food Assistance Programs Kenneth Finegold The Urban Institute Washington, DC Commodity Supplemental Food Program: Participation and Administration $210,000 David Ribar George Washington University Washington, DC The Processes of Getting and Staying on Food Stamps in South Carolina $200,000 Karen Cullen Baylor College of Medicine Houston, TX Evaluation of State Food Policy Changes as Incentives to Foster Improved Middle School Lunch Selection and Consumption $149,085 James Ziliak University of Kentucky Lexington, KY Effective Tax Rates and Guarantees and Food Stamp Program Participation $100,000 Jacob KlermanRAND Santa Monica, CA Determinants of the Food Stamp Caseload $125,000 Food Choices, Diet Quality, Obesity, and Health Outcomes Jacinta Bronte-Tinkew Child Trends Washington, DC Food Insecurity and Outcomes for Infants and Toddlers in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort-B $200,000 Ashlesha Datar RAND Santa Monica, CA Economic Determinants of School Meal Participation $199,971 Food Assistance as a Safety Net Parke Wilde Tufts University Boston, MA Household Food Security and Tradeoffs in the Food Budget: A Revitalized Engel Approach Including Food Stamps $75,000 See below for project descriptions Research Funding Opportunities: Fiscal 2005 Awards Strengthening Economic Incentives in Food Assistance Programs Commodity Supplemental Food Program: Participation and Administration Kenneth Finegold The Urban Institute. Washington, DC This project will combine administrative data with telephone interviews in nine states and field work at eight sites to assess how the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) fits into states' overall designs to address food insecurity among target populations, how states administer the program, why some States choose not to participate, who among the eligible population tend to participate, and expectations for the future of the CSFP. Assistance Type Cooperative Agreement: $210,000 The Processes of Getting and Staying on Food Stamps in South Carolina David Ribar George Washington University. Washington, DC Using administrative data for South Carolina, the project will examine how household Food Stamp Program policies such as recertification intervals, time limits for able bodied adults without children, and outreach activities affect decisions to apply, the length of stay on the program, and decisions to exit the program. The study will focus on how these policy impacts differ across various household types, including those with and without earnings, and how they differ according to the number of adults, the presence of elderly adults, and the presence of children. Cooperative Research Agreement: $200,000 Evaluation of State Food Policy Changes as Incentives to Foster Improved Middle School Lunch Selection and Consumption Karen Cullen Baylor College of Medicine. Houston, TX This study will examine how well recent school food policy changes in Texas act as incentives to improve middle school students' food selection and consumption from various school sources, including the National School Lunch Program, snack bars, and vending machines. A new Texas school policy targeting all school food environments takes effect during the 2005-06 school year, and data obtained from students in three schools during that period will be compared with data from the 2001-02 and 2002-03 school years. Grant: $149,085 Effective Tax Rates and Guarantees and Food Stamp Program Participation James Ziliak University of Kentucky. Lexington, KY Concern has arisen about possible work-disincentive effects of Food Stamp Program rules that impose high effective tax rates on families choosing to increase their work effort and about program actions that effectively reduce the level of program guarantees. The rules in question reduce actual benefits from cash transfers and the Food Stamp Program. This study will examine the impact on household food stamp participation decisions, conditional on other macroeconomic, demographic, and policy factors. The analysis will be based on administrative data combined with national survey data for 1983-2003. Cooperative Research Agreement: $100,000 Determinants of the Food Stamp Caseload Jacob Klerman RAND. Santa Monica, CA This study will examine the determinants of the large drop in the food stamp caseload in the 1990s and large rise in the mid-2000s. State-level panel data constructed from the Food Stamp Program Quality Control administrative data from 1990 to 2004 will be used. The analysis will consider the separate effects of Food Stamp Program policy, welfare policy, and the economy. Assistance Type Cooperative Agreement: $125,000 Food Choices, Diet Quality, Obesity, and Health Outcomes Food Insecurity and Outcomes for Infants and Toddlers in the ECLS-B Jacinta Bronte-Tinkew Child Trends. Washington, DC The subject of this study is the association between food insecurity and a variety of health, nutrition, motor development, cognitive, social, and emotional outcomes for infants and toddlers. Researchers will determine how the associations and pathways differ based on characteristics of children and their families, including birth weight, income, parental nativity, and participation in food assistance programs. The study will use data from the 9- and 24-month waves of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). Assistance Type Cooperative Agreement: $200,000 Economic Determinants of School Meal Participation Ashlesha Datar RAND. Santa Monica, CA This project will examine the factors associated with variations in participation in USDA's school meals programs at both the school and individual level, with particular emphasis on how participation varies with local food prices. Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) will be combined with contextual data on local area food prices, and on neighborhood and school district characteristics. Researchers will use the data to examine the neighborhood, school, family, and individual characteristics associated with elementary school children's participation in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. Assistance Type Cooperative Agreement: $199,971 Food Assistance as a Safety Net Household Food Security and Tradeoffs in the Food Budget: A Revitalized Engel Approach Including Food Stamps Parke Wilde Tufts University. Boston, MA This project will model and analyze the relationship between Food Stamp Program benefits and household spending decisions for food consumed at home and away from home, and the implications of those decisions for household food security. The empirical analysis will use data from the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement and the Food Stamp Program Quality Control system files for 2001-04. Cooperative Research Agreement: $75,000 # USDA News oc.news@xxxxxxxx 202 720-4623 ---------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to webservices@xxxxxxxx and reference your email address.
