[HPN] Food Stamps in MA - Many eligible but don't know it, DTA reports FWD FWD

[Tom Boland]

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FWD  Associated Press - AP Wire Service - Feb 02, 2000

MANY EX-WELFARE RECIPIENTS DON'T KNOW THEY'RE ELIGIBLE FOR FOOD STAMPS

By CATHERINE IVEY
Associated Press Writer

BOSTON (AP) _ The good news is the number of people on food
stamps plummeted over the last five years.

The bad news is the poverty rate hardly changed and many of
those eligible for food assistance don't know it.

``People mistakenly think that once the cash stops, the food
stamps stop too. And that's not necessarily true,'' said Dick
Powers, spokesman for the Department of Transitional Assistance,
which administers the federal food stamp program for the state.

A department study released Wednesday of 582 families formerly
receiving welfare found that 77 percent didn't receive food stamps
after they left welfare rolls. Nearly 96 percent received the
benefit just prior to their welfare eligibility running out.

Nearly 50 percent of those surveyed incorrectly thought they
were no longer eligible for the assistance.

``The bottom line is there are many people who are eligible for
food stamps and don't realize it,'' Powers said.

The findings come on the heels of a report by the Center on
Hunger and Poverty at Tufts University showing that working
families are increasingly turning to emergency food shelters for
food. The study of 98 emergency providers in Massachusetts found a
63 percent rise in food requests between 1996 and 1997.

The report also found that many who leave welfare rolls for
full-time employment don't realize they can still receive food
stamps, said co-author Ashley Sullivan.

Although food pantries have done a noble job picking up the
slack, they shouldn't be relied on indefinitely, especially when
the food stamp program exists, Sullivan said.

Powers said the state has tried to make former welfare
recipients aware of services available to them since the problem
was identified during another survey last spring. It's published a
brochure outlining services, contacted former recipients after they
left welfare, and granted $1.9 million to groups that provide
outreach services about food stamps.

Powers said the department has also reduced the number of times
a person must visit a food stamp center in order to get benefits.

But advocates for the homeless and hungry say more could be
done. They point out that applying for food stamps is often a
time-consuming and complicated process. Others say federal
eligibility requirements are confusing and need clarification.

Sullivan believes that physically separating welfare offices and
food stamp centers could separate the programs in people's minds so
that when a family leaves welfare, they don't assume they can't get
food stamps.

Others feel a change in attitudes about food stamps is needed.

``Over the past 10 years there has been such a strong negative
connotation about benefits in general _ people have internalized
that and nobody wants to be seen as a lazy person,'' said Ellen
Parker, director of Project Bread, which oversees nearly 400 food
pantries in the state.

Parker said the message needs to be sent that food stamps are a
good option for working people who aren't making ends meet.

``I think there needs to be education of the general public that
food stamps are a real benefit for working families,'' she said.
``That you're not a bad person who gets foods stamps, you're
actually a mother who cares about her family.''

AP-ES-02-02-00 1857EST
Received  Id AP100033EEC80C9A on Feb 02 2000 18:00

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