The number of people participating in the Food Stamp Program has steadily increased across the nation since 2001 – welcome news for many government and community workers.

“There has traditionally been a gap between those participating and those who are eligible (to receive food stamps),” said Ellen Vollinger, legal director of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit research center that focuses on hunger issues.

Vollinger said FRAC sees the increase in participation favorably because it means that more people who need nutritional assistance are receiving it. FRAC hopes to see decreases in program enrollment until the poverty rate significantly decreased, she said.

More than 26 million people participated in the Food Stamp Program in October 2004, according to the most recent data available from the Food and Nutrition Services (FNS), which administers nutritional assistance programs for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In Illinois, the number of people enrolled in the program rose from about 800,000 to more than one million since 2000.

Participation in the Food Stamp Program decreased steadily from the mid-1990s until 2000 because of improved economic conditions and welfare reform restrictions that limited eligibility, Vollinger said. Preliminary data for fiscal year 2004 shows the number of people participating at the highest levels since 1996.

Despite the increase in the number of participants, the rate of eligible people participating decreased from 2001 to 2002, according to FNS research. While the number of people participating rose by nearly two million, the actual rate of participation among those eligible for the Food Stamp Program only rose from 53.2 percent to 53.8 percent. In 1999, the participation rate was calculated at 56.2 percent.

The report attributed the increase in eligibility to policy reforms and a rise in unemployment and poverty.

Participation rates for 2003 and 2004 are not available but the number of individuals enrolled has continued to grow, according to FNS data.

Many attribute continued growth in the numbers enrolled in the Food Stamp Program since 2001 to increased outreach and to a rise in the number of people eligible because of economic conditions and less restrictive participation rules.

The 2002 Farm Bill eased many eligibility rules passed during 1996 welfare reform legislation.

Individual states administer the federal program that is overseen by the USDA. The Farm Bill gave states more control over eligibility rules and restored eligibility to some legal immigrants, said Sue Buggy, spokeswoman for the USDA.

“Another component (of the increase) is a very active outreach campaign,” Buggy said. “We partner very closely with people who are working on the ground in the communities.”

She said community groups, states and the FNS utilized technology to make more people aware of the program and how it works. A campaign featuring radio advertisements and public service announcements informed people about where they can go to receive food stamp assistance.

“Outreach is more than just a leaflet,” Vollinger said.

Some states are also allowing online applications to make the process fit better with working families’ schedules, Vollinger said. Illinois is not one of the participating states.

Many eligible people do not apply because of misconceptions that arose out of welfare reform in 1996, Vollinger said. The three most common false impressions people have are that people who are working can not get public assistance, all public assistance was ended, and legal immigrants are not eligible for food stamps, she said.

The group that is under-participating most in the program is the elderly. They often do not know they are eligible or worry they will take the spot of someone else, which Vollinger said are misconceptions.

Educating the people who are eligible is a key to reaching the people who need assistance, she said.

“It is more likely that a person will apply if they know they’ll be accepted,” Vollinger said.

Poor economic conditions are another reason for the increase, said Steve Anderson, a social work professor at the University.

“Food stamp participation has always been related to the economy,” Anderson said. “As the economy goes down, people lose their jobs (and) they turn to government assistance.”

Anderson also added that many of the jobs people got after welfare reform in the mid-1990s did not pay well enough to get them out of poverty. FNS analysis said 28 percent of people receiving food stamps worked in fiscal year 2003.

Less than 12 percent of households receiving food stamp assistance were above the poverty line and 38 percent were at or below half of the poverty line. The poverty guideline was set at an annual income of $8,980, with an increase of $3,140 for each additional family member in the lower 48 states and Washington, D.C., according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Anderson said he expects the increases in food stamp participation to continue because fighting poverty is not a high priority among many politicians. He also said a continued emphasis on outreach by workers in assistance programs is also likely to contribute to the increase.

The Eastern Illinois Food Bank is a local agency that is cooperating with the state of Illinois to have food stamp applications available to people who come to the food bank, said Jessica Culp, coordinator of communications and volunteerism at the food bank.

Under the initiative, food banks, soup kitchens, food pantries and other agencies that provide government commodities would have applications for food stamp assistance available. Government commodities are food bought by the government to support farm prices. The food is distributed to needy families.

The process is still in the beginning stages and might not be ready for another year or two, Culp said, but she welcomed the idea. She said that many people who use the food bank are in a “transitional period,” and food stamps can supplement the assistance they receive from other agencies to meet the nutritional needs of themselves and their families.

“Our goal is to put ourselves out of business,” by making sure people have the food they need, she said.