Food for Thought

Agriculture Undersecretary Shirley Watkins says she wants to create a seamless federal nutrition safety net. To accomplish that goal, she must coordinate 15 separate federal nutrition programs:

Food Stamps: Begun as a pilot project under an executive order in 1961, food stamps were permanently authorized under the 1964 Food Stamp Act and dramatically revamped under the 1977 Food Stamp Act and the 1996 welfare reform act. The program is an entitlement with standardized eligibility and benefits for which the federal government pays the full cost. The federal government also pays about half the states' administrative costs for processing applications. The number of participants varies with the economy and changes in eligibility. In 1997, 19.7 million people in 8.2 million households got an average of $71.38 in food stamp benefits per month. Cost: $25.1 billion

School Lunch: Established under the 1946 National School Lunch Act, the school lunch program operates in 95,300 schools, serving 26.7 million children, of whom 49.2 percent get free lunches and 8.3 percent get reduced-price lunches. Cost: $5.2 billion

School Breakfast: Begun as pilot project under the 1966 Child Nutrition Act and made permanent under the 1975 Child Nutrition Act, the school breakfast program serves free or reduced-cost breakfasts in 70,100 schools to 7.2 million children. Cost: $1.2 billion

Special Milk Program: Established in 1955, the Special Milk Program provides more than 140 million half-pints of milk to children in schools, summer camps and child-care institutions that have no federally supported meal program. Cost: $18.2 million

Summer Food Service: Begun in 1969, this program provides reimbursement to local sponsoring organizations for free meals served to more than 2 million low-income children during school vacation periods. Cost: $272 million

Child and Adult Care: Established as a three-year pilot program in 1968 and permanently authorized in 1978, the Child and Adult Care program provides cash reimbursements and commodity foods for 769.8 million meals served in child and adult care centers and 775.3 million meals in 190,226 family and group day-care homes for children. Cost: $1.57 billion

Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC): Established as a pilot program and authorized since 1973, the WIC program provides food, nutrition counseling and referral to health services to 7.4 million low-income women, infants and children. Cost: $239 million for food; $327.1 million total

WIC Farmers' Markets: Authorized in 1992 to provide WIC participants with increased access to fresh produce, the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program provides WIC participants with coupons to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables at authorized local farmers' markets. Cost: $12 million

Commodity Supplemental Food Program: Established in 1969, CSFP distributes food directly to 370,000 women, young children and the elderly. Cost: $96 million

Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR): A remnant of the food distribution programs of the 1930s and re-authorized in 1977 and 1981, this program provides commodities to low-income households made up of 123,800 people living on 109 Indian reservations or residing in designated areas near reservations. Cost: $3.7 million

Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP): Initiated in 1981, TEFAP provides surplus and purchased commodity foods to states for distribution to households, soup kitchens and food banks. Cost: $145 million

Nutrition Program for the Elderly: Authorized by the 1965 Older Americans Act, this program distributes cash and commodities to the states for an average of more than 20 million meals a month for food served in senior citizen centers or delivered by meals-on-wheels programs. Cost: $140 million

Commodity Distribution to Charitable Institutions: Begun in 1988, this program provides commodities from Agriculture Department surplus stocks to nonprofit charitable institutions that serve meals to needy persons on a regular basis. Amounts vary according to market conditions. Cost: $8 million

Nutrition Assistance to Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands: In 1982, the food stamp program in these territories was replaced by block grants. These territories provide cash and coupons to participants rather than food stamps or food distribution. Cost: $1.2 billion for Puerto Rico; $1.2 billion for the Pacific Islands

Homeless Children Nutrition Program: First established as a demonstration project in 1989 and made permanent in 1994, this program reimburses emergency shelters for providing meals to homeless preschool-age children. Cost: $3.4 million