The 2008

Food Stamp Forum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 9th Food Stamp Forum was held at the Crest Theater in Sacramento on February 13, 2008.  This informative event with an impressive array of speakers was attended by advocates and administrators from all over the state.  The highlights (along with links to PowerPoint presentations and other documents) appear below.

 

Ø      The full agenda for the forum can be found here.

Ø      Ken Hecht, Executive Director of CFPA, started the day off with a welcome.

Ø      George Manalo-LeClair entertained the crowd with a couple of games to highlight the value of food stamps.  First, participants played a quick game of the “Price is Not Right” to highlight the cost of food compared to minimum wage.  Then a lucky contestant got to play “Let’s Make a Meal” - a challenge to make a complete, balanced meal on one hour of minimum wage.  Next, to highlight the value of food stamps, we played “Let’s Make a Meal – with Food Stamps.”  George also pointed out CFPA’s County Nutrition Profiles for California's 58 counties as well as our new analysis of county food stamp performance.

Ø      USDA Undersecretary Nancy Montanez Johner (see bio) then addressed the crowd to outline the Bush Administration nutrition and food stamp priorities.

Ø      Next up was Stacy Dean from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (see bio).  Stacy discussed where we are with the Farm Bill (see long handout or short version) and then highlighted specific strategies to improve food stamps in California.  Stacy’s PowerPoint was full of useful charts and info.  Most notable was California’s problem retaining food stamp participants and Stacy provided a number of strategies to address this problem.

Ø      Casey McKeever won the Stampy “Lifetime Achievement” Award.  (See PowerPoint).

Ø      John Wagner addressed the crowd.  John is the new Director of the California Department of Social Services (see bio).  John outlined his Department’s priorities and identified the unique challenges California faces in improving food stamps.

Ø      Assembly Member John Laird won the Stampy Award for Best Performance by a State Policymaker.  (see Stampy Ballot)

Ø      Our keynote presenter was David Hansell. David is the Commissioner of the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance for the State of New York (see bio).  David shared Governor Spitzer’s new working families food stamp initiative and discussed how New York plans to address many of the barriers faced here in California.  You can view Mr. Hansell’s PowerPoint here.

Ø      Liz Mooney, legislative aide to Assembly Member Mark Leno, won the Stampy Award for Best Performance by a Statewide Non-Elected Official. (see Stampy Ballot)

Ø      Lunch was provided by Fox and Goose.

Ø      After lunch, Phil Ansell, the Assistant Director of the Los Angeles Department of Public Social Services (see bio), shared a number of best practices from his county on improving access to food stamps.  Phil described the interest of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in food stamps, detailed the county's innovative application assistance program, and discussed how proposed cuts to food stamp administrative funding can jeopardize these improvements in outreach and access.

Ø      Mary Sawicki from Calaveras County won the Stamp Award for Best Performance by a County Employee. (see Stampy Ballot)

Ø      A panel on “Health Care Connections” focused on strategies for enrolling MediCAL recipients into the Food Stamp Program.  First, George presented data showing how a significant number of MediCAL families are eligible for substantial food stamp benefits but are not receiving them.  A panel of administrators from Fresno County shared a PowerPoint highlighting the results of their new pilot to enroll MediCAL recipients into food stamps at the time of recertification.  Finally, David Quackenbush of the Central Valley Health Network discussed the role health clinics can play in increasing food stamp participation (see website).

Ø      There was great interest in the new $40 nutrition supplement contained in the Governor’s Budget Proposal.  Christine Webb-Curtis from CDSS shared a PowerPoint overview of the supplement proposal.  Participants discussed the opportunity to use the supplement to make the Food Stamp Program more attractive to working families.

Ø      After some movie-theater popcorn was distributed (along with fresh fruit) we then launched into a “Speed Session” of quick updates on a number of topics (see contact sheet and Powerpoint for more info).  The following updates were given:

o       The Restaurant Meals Program – Dave Badal (DSS)

o       The Food Stamp Hotline – Stephanie Nishio (DPH)

o       Direct Certification – Charlotte Doisy (DSS)

o       EBT – (and Farmer’s Markets) – Yvonne Lee (DSS)

o       Disaster Food Stamps – Dave Bailey (FNS)

o       Food Stamp Outreach – California Association of Food Banks

o       ABAWD Waivers and Exemptions – Mike Papin (DSS)

o       Forms – Leanne Torres (DSS)

o       Health Purchase Pilot – Deborah Pellegrini (DPH)

Ø      Tia Anzellotti (San Diego) and Jeff Bridges (Santa Barbara) shared the Stampy Award for Best Performance by an Advocate (see Stampy Ballot) (see Stampy Ballot)

Ø      George provided a wrap-up urging attendees to get engaged in improving food stamps at the federal, state and local levels.

 

Attendees can fill out an evaluation of the forum here.

 

Stay tuned for a details on the 10th Annual Food Stamp Forum!

 

Special Thanks to our Food Stamp funders:  The California Wellness Foundation, The California Endowment and MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger!