Program aims to reduce hunger in Mississippi, By Emily Wagster Pettus, June 22, 2012, Businessweek: “Mississippi has the highest obesity rate in the nation, yet it also has the highest percentage of households unable to afford enough food for a healthy lifestyle. It seems like a contradiction, but state Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith says the two problems are intertwined with poverty. “You think hunger-obesity — where’s the connection here? It’s because much of these people do not have access to healthy foods,” Hyde-Smith said Thursday during the announcement of a hunger-fighting effort. The nonprofit National Urban League and meat processor Tyson Foods Inc. are starting a yearlong program to alleviate hunger for about 19,000 people in three Mississippi counties — Hinds County, which is home to the capital city of Jackson, and Warren and Adams counties, which border the Mississippi River. . .”
Day: June 22, 2012
States Cut Aid Programs in Budgets – California, West Virginia
- State leaders reach deal on remaining budget bills, By Wyatt Buchanan and Marisa Lagos, June 22, 2012, San Francisco Chronicle: “Another focus of negotiations was on the Cal Grants program, which provides college aid. Public university students will be spared any change, but new students at private and for-profit colleges will see that aid slashed by thousands of dollars starting in the 2013-14 academic year. The state also will impose strict graduation-rate requirements in order for schools to be part of the program. Some advocates for children immediately criticized the decision to eliminate Healthy Families. They are concerned about care being disrupted for those children if they are forced to find a new provider. They are also worried that health care access will decline for Healthy Family recipients and the 3.6 million children already in Medi-Cal, said Michele Stillwell-Parvensky, a spokeswoman for the Children’s Defense Fund. But others welcomed the change, including the Western Center on Law and Poverty. . .”
- W.Va. to cut child care, social program funding, By Lawrence Messina, June 22, 2012, Businessweek: “West Virginia plans to scale back child-care aid — freezing enrollment and then ending it for some families while increasing costs for the rest — and also will cut $9.5 million in annual funding for other social services, including a summer nutrition program for schoolchildren, state officials announced Thursday. The changes would drop an estimated 1,425 children from a program that helps their parents afford day care and other settings outside the home. The program served more than 24,000 children during the past budget year, at a cost of $54 million, according to figures provided by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. Payment rates to day care centers and other providers won’t change. The estimate reflects income levels of current enrollees. DHHR revisits income qualifications every six months. The reasons behind the cuts vary. The state has exhausted a federal funding surplus. . .”