Public Assistance as Economic Stimulus Ending Hunger in Oregon: 2012 Food Security Summit Gregory Tooman Department of Human Services, State of Oregon Jessica Chanay Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon

Public Benefits: Food Assistance Programs National School Lunch Program (NSLP) School Breakfast Program (SBP) Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Child & Adult Care Feeding Program (CACFP) Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

National School Lunch Program school year Served more than 311,000 students More than 1,300 schools across the state Majority were free & reduced-price students (families earn less than 185% of the Federal Poverty Level) $95 million in federal dollars to local economies Farm to School efforts ramping up

School Breakfast Program school year Served more than 139,000 students More than 1,200 schools across the state Majority free & reduced-price students (families earn less than 185% of the Federal Poverty Level) $31 million in federal dollars to local economies

Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Served more than 34,000 kids daily More than 600 locations across the state Majority free & reduced-price students (families earn less than 185% of the Federal Poverty Level) $4 million in federal dollars to local economies

Child & Adult Care Feeding Program (CACFP) Served 15,000+ kids in child care settings More than 2,500 homes/560 centers Majority are low-income children (families earn less than 185% of the Federal Poverty Level) $25 million in federal dollars to local economies

Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Served more than 113,000 women, infants & children More than 52 locations statewide All participants are low-income (families earn less than 185% of the Federal Poverty Level) $80 million in federal dollars to local economies

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Nearly 800,000 Oregonians (433,000 households) in December All participants are low-income (Household earns less than 185% of the Federal Poverty Level) More than $1 billion in federal dollars to local economies

Mark M. Zandi, Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics: "If someone who is literally living paycheck to paycheck gets an extra dollar, it's very likely that they will spend that dollar immediately on whatever they need - groceries, to pay the telephone bill, to pay the electric bill."

Economic “Bang for the Buck”

Economic Stimulus and Public Assistance Economic impact models ◦ Quantify how money flows through a community ◦ Assume regional economy is static, until other forces intervene Public assistance as economic stimulus ◦ Best defined as aid to households or persons who had not previously accessed those services

Economic Impact Models: How they work Public assistance spurs activity throughout the wider economy: Increased household purchasing power ◦ Social assistance increases overall household spending. Economic activity beyond initial point of purchase ◦ Economic activity in one business leads to additional spending by employees of those and other businesses.

Transportation Labor SNAP Participation Change in Demand, Retail Food Grocery Store Warehousing/ Distribution Increased spending beyond the point of purchase

Transportation Increase $ Additional Labor New Trucks RentRetail Food $ Leave

IMPACTS Direct Impact ◦ More jobs & spending based on increase in demand for goods & services. Indirect Impact ◦ Increase in spending by industries that provide goods and services to industries directly impacted. Induced Impact ◦ Increase in household spending by individuals employed by industries directly and indirectly impacted. NOTE: Indirect and Induced impacts include TAX IMPACT – increase in local taxes due to increased economic activity.

Building a SNAP Impact Model SNAP reduces the portion of income devoted to food spending, allowing the purchase of other essential goods and services. SNAP improves overall household income, therefore, overall household spending should be modeled.

Patterns of Household Spending: HOUSEHOLD INCOME<$10kHOUSEHOLD INCOME $ k RankIndustrial Sector $ in MillionsRankIndustrial Sector $ in Millions 1Hospitals, physicians, etc Mortgage Mortgage, Rents493.72Hospitals, physicians, etc Banks/Insurance/investments116.33Wholesale trade businesses Food services/drinking places113.04Food services drinking places "Rest of world adjustment"111.25Retail Stores (Food & Vehicle) Wholesale trade businesses109.66Banks/Insurance/investments Telecommunications97.47College/University Petroleum Products96.78Petroleum Products Retail Stores (Food & Vehicle)87.29Telecommunications Electric Utilities75.710Light truck manufacturing156.1

Building a SNAP Impact Model Average monthly SNAP Income: $290 Income Assumption (family of 3): ◦ Income at 100% FPL ~ $18,000/year. ◦ Income at 133% FPL ~ 24,000/year. Household Income Matrix: ◦ 15,000-25,000/year

Counties for Modeling Impact Model for Three Oregon Counties:  Deschutes (pop 157,733)  Klamath (pop 66,380)  Malheur (pop 31,313) Does Rural vs. Urban Matter? ◦ Yes – Due to “economic leakage” via the limits of regional purchasing

Profile: Deschutes County Average monthly caseload: 13,546 Value at $209 per case: $3,928,282 Yearly SNAP expenditure: $47,139,384 Additional economic impact: $26,410,378 ◦ As employment income: $14,581,230 ◦ As jobs (FTE): ◦ As Indirect local taxes: $2,672,763

Profile: Klamath County Average monthly caseload: 6,861 Value at $209 per case: $1,989,574 Yearly SNAP expenditure: $23,874,888 Additional economic impact: $8,949,405 ◦ As employment income: $5,325,174 ◦ As jobs (FTE): ◦ As Indirect local taxes: $878,907

Profile: Malheur County Average monthly caseload: 2,608 Value at $209 per case: $756,436 Yearly SNAP expenditure: $9,077,232 Additional economic impact: $2,954,094 ◦ As employment income: $1,776,265 ◦ As jobs (FTE): 47.9 ◦ As Indirect local taxes: $275,488

Increased SNAP Participation and Economic Stimulus Each new SNAP household represents $209 in Direct economic impact (avg. SNAP benefit) per month, PLUS: Deschutes: $162 in additional impact Klamath: $108 in additional impact Malheur: $94 in additional impact

In Conclusion… Increased public assistance provides local economic stimulus in the same way as other improvements in economic activity. Food aid increases a household standard of living by decreasing amount of income spent on food. SNAP and other forms of food aid can be seen as PURE STIMULUS – they are federally based and do not include state general funds.

Questions: Who should receive this information in your community? What is the best way to share this information? Other thoughts…?

Question: What other types of information could you use for community education?

Thank you!