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Food Stamp Use Surges In N.M.: State Hails Rise as Proof Program Marketing Works
(Albuquerque Journal (NM) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 30--SANTA FE -- The use of food stamps in New Mexico is soaring.
But that's good news to the state's Human Services Department, which has worked to boost the number of participants in the federal program via television and radio announcements broadcast in three different languages.
From April 1 through June 30, nearly 3,400 new families signed up for the program, driving June caseloads -- or households receiving food stamps -- to 97,989. By the year's end, the number of caseloads is expected to top 100,000.
"We don't look at that as a negative," department spokeswoman Betina Gonzales McCracken said recently in an interview. "There are thousands of families who qualify and don't participate."
However, while concurring the increase in participation is a good thing, University of New Mexico sociology professor Richard Coughlin said he'd be wary of celebrating the recent rise.
"I think more and more of the households at the lower end of the socioeconomic distribution are simply being squeezed," said Coughlin, who's extensively studied social welfare programs. "It is an expression more, I think, of need than of outreach."
Indeed, economic factors -- especially the skyrocketing cost of fuel and food -- appear to be the reason many food stamp recipients are in the position they're in. Rising costs of fuel and food were primary catalysts behind an increase in demand of more than 10 percent at her food bank, said Sherry Hooper, executive director of the Santa Fe-based Food Depot, which serves seven northern New Mexico counties.
And while demand goes up, supply is going down.
Hooper said donations to the Food Depot are declining, forcing the food bank to purchase about 30 percent of its food.
"(Fuel and food costs) are affecting our ability to purchase and provide food," Hooper said.
While Hooper lauded the generosity of New Mexicans and said the stigma attached to food stamps is decreasing thanks to the ability to have the stamps stored on an ATM-like electronic card, the increase in food stamp usage understates New Mexico's ongoing struggle against poverty.
About one in four New Mexico children lived in poverty in 2007, according to new data released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. The national average is about 18 percent. Median income levels are also substantially lower in New Mexico than in most of the rest of the country.
The recent rise of food stamp usage in New Mexico means a 7.2 percent increase from June 2007 and a 3.6 percent increase since March 2008. In two counties, McKinley and Torrance, food stamp recipients currently make up more than 20 percent of the population.
"Is it up for the right reasons?" Coughlin asked. "Is it up because they've done so good a job at making the program more acceptable, or is it up simply because you have more people under pressure? My guess would be the latter."
To see more of the Albuquerque Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.abqjournal.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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