[P]articipation in 3SquaresVT, the state’s federally funded nutrition program, has been declining each year since a 2013 peak as the economy has improved and unemployment has dropped.
But state officials and anti-hunger advocates say many people in Vermont are still experiencing malnutrition and food insecurity, and they are looking for ways to help eligible people enroll in the program. 3SquaresVT provides cash benefits to the elderly and disabled, and benefits on a card that can be used in stores to those who qualify by income.
On Tuesday, Hunger Free Vermont and other groups held a conference at Vermont Law School in Royalton where providers exchanged ideas for reaching out to the eligible and encouraging them to sign up for the program.
“We need to continue working together to make sure we meet the nutrition needs of our community members,” said Ken Schatz, the commissioner of the Vermont Department for Children and Families. “3SquaresVT is an anti-poverty tool.”
Food insecurity is a national issue, affecting an estimated 15 million households in 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the federal food assistance program known as SNAP. DCF administers the federal program through its 3SquaresVT. The USDA defines food-insecure households as those where food is unavailable, or could be unavailable, because of insufficient money or other resources.
Use of 3SquaresVT peaked in 2013 at an average of 100,000 people per month, according to state statistics. In the fiscal year that ended June 30, that number had dropped 26 percent to an average of 74,000 per month, according to Hunger Free Vermont, a nonprofit organization in South Burlington.
Use of food assistance is also declining nationally, according to the USDA. Advocates for the hungry largely credit the improving job market for this change. Also, many states including Vermont dropped work requirements for the program during the recession, but resumed them in the years after — in Vermont’s case in 2014.
Vermont has also participated in a three-year, $9 million federal pilot program to examine ways of providing employment and training for SNAP participants, said Sean Brown, the deputy commissioner for the economic services division at DCF.
“We believe that contributed to our caseload decline,” Brown said on Tuesday.
But food pantries and food banks report increasing demands on their supplies, suggesting that there are still many Vermonters who could benefit from 3SquaresVT, said Anore Horton, executive director of Hunger Free Vermont. Horton spoke at the Oct. 2 conference.
“You are the people on the front lines assisting Vermonters,” she told the audience, many of whom work directly with people eligible for 3SquaresVT.
Horton said many people don’t want to sign up for the program.
“The most challenging part is helping people come to a place where they feel OK about accepting the benefit that is theirs by right,” she said. “They have worked, they have put in their taxes, they have contributed to our society in so many ways, by raising kids, by working, by taking care of ill or disabled family members, and yet to sign up for that program is just incredibly painful for people in many many cases.”
Later, Horton said that while many people have found work, in some cases those jobs pay so little that they would still qualify for 3SquaresVT. She also feels the national political climate might be suppressing the use of food assistance programs.
“That affects people’s willingness to do something that already I think is generally stigmatized in our culture, which is to accept government help,” she said.
Horton said every dollar of federal SNAP funds distributed in Vermont generates $1.70 of economic activity in the state.
“SNAP benefits are a significant source of support for our small-town stores, our grocery stores,” she said. “These are federal funds that come to Vermont and support our food economy.”
The area where Vermont is weakest in reaching eligible SNAP participants is among the elderly, said Brown, of DCF. State data shows that in June of this year, 25 percent of the 41,000 households receiving 3SquaresVT benefits included someone who was working; 47 percent included a person with a disability, and 32 percent included an older adult.
“We know from Census data that we lag in participation for older Vermont households versus the rest of our caseload,” Brown said.
Travis Poulin, director of Chittenden Community Action, said that on Monday, he spoke to a 3SquaresVT user who had recently been declared ineligible for the program because of a slight change in his income. Poulin said the man still needs the food assistance.
“He’s lost 13 pounds in the last month, and he’s not in great health,” Poulin said.
