MAHONING VALLEY Drop in food stamp use puzzling

The working poor did not get the help feeding their families that is readily available.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR HEALTH WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Children's Hunger Alliance says there was a large, unexplained drop in federal food stamp program participants in Columbiana, Trumbull and Mahoning counties, and across the state, between 1996 to 2001.
The drop in participation occurred despite the poverty level's remaining relatively constant. The drop, 58 percent statewide, was 47.3 percent in Trumbull County, 46.5 percent in Mahoning County, and 42.3 percent in Columbiana County, according to the 2002 Hunger in Ohio report by the alliance (former Ohio Hunger Task Force).
The drop in food stamp program participation, statistically not related to a decreased need for assistance, had two major negative affects, explained William J. Dolan, Children's Hunger Alliance chief executive officer.
Here they are: First, the working poor did not get the help feeding their families that is readily available to them. Second, the counties, figuring from a base line of the nation's top participation rate, lost an estimated $30.7 million that would have been spent in stores during that period.
The loss statewide of underusing the stamp program is more than $400 million, Dolan said.
He said there is no good reason why participation dropped, but noted there is tremendous confusion and misinformation about who is eligible.
Dolan was in Youngstown on Wednesday for the opening of the Mahoning County Early Care and Education Resource Center, the alliance's sixth resource center in Ohio.
The Mahoning County resource center is unique in that it focuses on special-needs children, such as those with autism, he said.
Functions: The center, a collaboration among Children's Hunger Alliance, Mahoning County Department of Job & amp; Family Services, and the Potential Development Center, is at 209 W. Woodland Ave.
It will conduct training and mentoring sessions and provide activity kits for the more than 230 licensed caregivers who operate home-based family child care centers here.
Along with a new name, the Children's Hunger Alliance also has a new motto -- "Hunger, Minds & amp; Bodies" -- that reflects its emphasis on not just feeding children, but nourishing them with programming at in-home day care sites and after-school and summer programs.
There are 500,000 Ohioans 18 and under who face "food insecurity," defined as times, such as at the end of the month or during the summer, when nutrition is uncertain. Of that half-million, 100,000 face chronic, persistent hunger, Dolan said.
The bottom line, Dolan said, is that hungry kids can't learn as well, which can result in developmental delays, and eventually affect their ability to get the education needed to get a good job and break out of poverty.
alcorn@vindy.com