Opportunities, ceo in new york. Since 2009 he has worked to expand Employment Services provided by ceo to 18 cities, oklahoma, colorado, ohio, pennsylvania, california and new york. He previously served as director of Economic Development for senator schumer. I look forward to your testimony, sir. Next, we have mr. Brian parker, of the Community Food bank of eastern oklahoma. Mr. Parker joins us today from tulsa, on behalf of the Community Food bank of eastern oklahoma. He is currently enrolled in the lo reisbeck taylor Culinary Trade Program, which provides training and professional skills for the Restaurant Industry. Previously, mr. Parker served in the navy on the uss midway, thank you for your service and semper fi for all the marines you helped and ran a Small Business in japan for more than 20 years. [ speaking Foreign Language ] thank you for being here today and i look forward to your testimony. Mr. Jimmie wright of wrights market, i would like to welcome the witness from alabama, mr. Jimmie right. I know the senator from alabama is extremely proud of the great work that youre doing. In alabama. Were all excited to hear from you today. He is the owner and president of wrights market, opalocka, did i nail that . Alabama, a Small Convenience store to 22,000 supermarket. He is an active member of his Community Serving as president of the opalocka Development Corporation on the board of east alabamas food bank. Welcome, sir, i look forward to hearing your perspective. Fourth witness is dr. Diane shonaback, pard me, she is our fourth witness the director of institute for policy research at Northwestern University i am sorry. Youre to introduce her. Thats totally fine. Mr. Chairman, whatever you would like to do is totally fine. Go ahead, i apologize. It only took two taps on the shoulder for me to understand you were going to no, no, either way is fine. Dr. Diane, you are so important, both of us are introducing you. Were very pleased you are here director for the institute of policy research and market Walker Alexander professor in the school of education social policy at Northwestern University. You deserve the award for the longest title of anyone we will have in front of us today from evanston, illinois also Research Associate for the National Bureau of economic research. In this role she studies policy aimed to improve lives and poverty of children with the influence of snap and Early Childhood education on childrens long term outcomes. She was formerly the director of the amount project at the Brookings Institute and received her ph. D. In economics from princeton university. Welcome. We have one more person. I understand that. Ive got this. Im going to recognize senator strange with regards to mr. Wright. I know you want to have an opportunity to Say Something in his behalf, sir. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I apologize for being late. Have you had a chance to introduce him . Ive already introduced him and can certainly add to it. Im glad to add to it. Its a rare opportunity to introduce not only a fellow alabamian and friend to this panel. What he is doing is cutting edge. It will benefit a lot of people and ive been to wrights supermarket, i know it well, creative way to serve a pop laigts that desperately needs to be served. Im glad jimmie is my friend. When i was attorney general i had the opportunity to encourage our food banks with a challenge to lawyers across our state i think has been particularly effective restocking them during the summer months. Its a team effort. Jimmie, im glad youre here, look forward to your testimony. Thank you, senator. My last wednesday is mr. Brian rendo. Did i get that right . Close. Senator mcconnell has to introduce you, sir but he cannot attend at this particular time. You have served as the director of Care Food Bank and overseen the delivery of over 19 million meals per year. Previously you were the Vice President of the government and Community Affairs for yum brands as well as legislative assistant for senator mcconnell for six years. Thank you for being here today. I look forward to your input. Lets start it off with mr. Schaeffer. Chairman roberts, Ranking Member stabenow and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify in this program in the lives of millions of america. I am director of a nonprofit that will provide Employment Services for roughly 5,000 men and women released from incarceration. In ohio, new york, pennsylvania, individuals come to ceo sometimes just days after being released from prison. Although half have never had a job they are all eager to work, eager to support themselves and their families. 41 of ceo participants report that since exiting prison they have run out of food and lack the resources to secure more. Meet tomas kabon. He served 16 years for a crime he is deeply remorseful and took advantage of every opportunity in prison and earning a degree in social studies. And the day after he signed up for snap benefits and he wasnt comfortable taking what he calls food stamps but he would have gone hungry otherwise. He spend two months at ceo showing up everyday for a basic job and showing team work and punctuality. He wanted to be here today and the reason he couldnt come and we couldnt get the smile on this photo off his face he is preparing to start his a first job in 17 years working as a client advocate in a homeless shelter in brooklyn. He is relieved and proud. He has a way to support himself and his time on snap is ending and he has a job he can get back. We support many people through this program. As a Third Party Company ceo will match every federal dollar representing 2 million and significant leveraging of resources. It has been proven to work through randomized control panel and we are one of many programs to use ent help men and women on snap to get security. I would like to highlight the following for the committee. First, i urge the continued funding of the snap ent program addressing food and security employment through a single Government Intervention is aligned with what we know about hunger and poverty. Hungry people are incapable focusing on the things we ask them. Showing up and making a career plan and showing up on time. Even motivated individuals cannot focus when their mind is on when they will next week. Flexibility has been a hallmark from inception. It allows states to provide initiative responsive to local needs. That said it must balance is on a rigorous data collection. Based on the previous farm bill the committee should authorize an additional 100 million for states that adopt activities proven to work through rigorous evaluation. We should build a collection of ent specific best practices to scale across the country. Finally reconsider the three month limit to barriers to employment such as formerly incarcerated. Men and women on parole have obligations like mandatory drug treatment and parole checkin that make it difficult to make those threshholds. Waivers should be applied for those who have severe difficulty entering the labor market. Snap is a key to the survival of people and their prosperity and communities. Without snap any other opportunities and keeping the Community Safe and supporting Strong Families become harder if not impossible. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony and that excellent presentation in regards to that individual that has now is now a working part of our society. That is very helpful. Thank you for allowing me to testify today. My name is brian parker. Im a 51yearold father of two, native of tulsa, oklahoma and the recipient of food stamps, sorry, snap benefits. Im also a veteran and served on board the uss midway from 1985 to 1988 and then lived in japan the next 20 years as the owner of a small chain of english schools. I was also a physical fitness trainer for mma fighters and professional wrestlers. 2010 i moved back to tulsa to be with family and friends here. I left behind my two daughters who are both successful, my oldest being an architectural engineer and my youngest a chef. Both quite successful moving forward with their lives as adults. Ive been in the Restaurant Industry myself my entire life. I held every position from dishwasher to general manager and still take great pride being able to step into any one of those positions any given time to help my career through a crunch. Always been hard worker and i believe in it. I always felt accomplish and successful. I never worried about paying a bill or buying food or wondering where i would get the next meal. That was a thought that never crossed my mind. Like many people do i lost my job. This happened two or three years ago. Its rough. I felt down on my luck, depression, i battled anxiety and everyday it seemed to grow a little bit stronger. You lose hope after a while. Everyday that goes by without landing a job, it gets rougher. While trying to find work, i had to find ways to cut spending. It wasnt too long before i would no longer before i could no longer afford keep my car or home or anything else with that matter. With each interview that went without the promise of a new job the struggles just kept becoming more and more complicated. When it seemed nobody was willing to give an opportunity to man, its tough when youre 51 years old for anybody. When youre looking for work its daunting. When you find yourself trying to land these jobs when youre working out of a cheap midtown motel it gets even more difficult. Snap, during this time, was a life saver. It provided nutrition and gave me a lot of hope. A man can endure a lot of pain and suffering but one thing almost impossible to ignore is hunger. Excuse me. Its hard to live up to your responsibilities as a provider when youre not providing. Im very thankful for the snap program and for the snap benefits i received while trying to get back on my feet. Im happy to say someones finally decided to give me a Second Chance. Im currently enrolled in the Community Food bank eastern oklahomas Culinary Trade Program and over halfway finished with the 16 week course. The Culinary Trade Program is free to qualified participants and helps people needing a Second Chance in life. Im currently working there five days a week at least seven hours a day. The Program Teaches professional Cooking Skills and life skills. The executive chef, jeff marlo, likes to remind us of his a. A. And e. That stands for motto, attitude, attendance and effort. He likes to tell us these are the keys to life. When i graduate from the Culinary Trade Program, i will upon successful completion of the program and final examination ill leave the course with food handlers managers certificate and a set of chef knifes and some little perks. This certification is also transferable anywhere in the united states. Its a good program and its a program that helped put me in a position i can land any position i want in the food industry. Ultimately id like to get my own food truck and further down the line move that into a brick and mortar scenario with larger atmosphere. At the completion of the course ill find myself in almost any professional kitchen id like to work in. With hard work and really hard work and training and passion for cooking and my dream of owning my own business will become a reality. None of this would have been possible without the help of the snap program and Culinary Trade Program. I see how important everyday snap is to many lives in the community. Everyone needs to eat, not just the employed or the wealthy or middle class, Everyone Needs food. And food provides the fuel and strength that we need. Snap helps those in need one step closer to selfsufficiency. Most dont consider uncer to be an obstacle. Its hard to unless youve been there. If it werent for snap i would probably be homeless. Thats not easy to say. Im a proud man. Unless youve been there, you wouldnt understand. All you can do is focus on when you might eat again or how youre going to come up with the 40 bucks it takes to stay in a cheap motel one more night. This is why snap is important to me and those that need it. Any working class individual is one life altering change or bad event away from being in the same situation. One of day i want to pay it forward and hopefully im doing that right now. Thank you for allowing me to tell my story today. Im blessed and fortunate to be here. Thank you. Brian, from a marine to a navy veteran, i thank you for your service, well done. Thank you, sir. Mr. Wright. Good morning, chairman roberts. Ranking member stabenow and distinguished members of the agricultural committee. My name is Jimmie Wright and owner of wrights market in palatka, alabama, it is an honor and privilege to testify before you today and testifying on behalf of retailers and wholesalers that comprise the independent sector of the supermarket industry. Wrights market is a small family owned fullservice supermarket and accepted snap as a form of tender essentially since the store opened and understand the needs of these customers extremely well including many who are elderly. We began a Shuttle Service three years ago caught wright to you for customers who were unable to get to the store for lack of transportation. We expanded this last august and launched a delivery option. Ive been very pleased with the success of this service. Im greatful it gave us an opportunity for this and confident we can operate this officially for the snap customers. Weve been willing to take the risk by investing time and capital and still wait going for the green light for the usda. The supermarket is changing and we need the government to keep up to pace with our ambitions. When the usa transitions from paper vouchers to ebt cards our customers benefitted and stores with efficiency. Implementing this pilot will be the right step much like the ebt transition. One example of what it can bring, were planning to leverage our snap customers to other service. For example i am working on a program with East Alabama Medical Center to put physician assistants or rns on our delivery vehicles to provide basic medical checkups or care and many live in rural areas and lack access to medical care and wind up in er with chronic medical issues. As they discover other ways for medical nutrition programs i suggest you start with a federal regulatory climate for supermarkets. We understand theres a desire for some lawmakers to restrict food choices for snapple recipients. While we support the goal of promoting healthier eating the implementation of such an idea would be unworkable for the supermarket community. The burden may put some grocers out of business and therefore make Food Security worse. Instead of federal mandates we believe programs such as fini and hssi and snap ed have proven to be effective in Health Access and incentivizing the purchases and we support their reauthorizing in the next farm bill. I also recommend a more efficient process for approval of snap applications. For small retailers in Good Standing with the program. We appreciate the effort made for making it more efficient for larger store groups and encourage it to other retailers in Good Standing. Not long ago i helped a nonprofit open a store in carver. It took nearly three months to get the snap license approval from usda. It is frustrating and we appreciate any potential improvements to the process. The snap program, in my opinion, is one of the most important and official programs our nation offers and our business creates jobs and our Community Helps those in need. Nga commenced usga and the team at fns for their tireless work to respond to the back to back disasters caused by hurricanes harvey and irma and it has been in communication with the retailers and state agencies. We appreciate the hard work that has been done and continues to be done by the fns staff. Thank you for your time. I look forward to your questions. Doctor. Thank you, chairman roberts and Ranking Member stabenow and members of the committee. Thanks for the opportunity to appear before you today. Im the director of the institute for policy research and professor at Northwestern University. Snap is a highly efficient and effective program. It kept 8. 4 Million People out of poverty in 2014 including almost 4 million children. Its sufficiently targeted to families that need the benefits the most and reduces the likelihood they have trouble affording food and is a stabilizer in economic down turns. The key reason for its success is it relies the private sector for food and other outlets. The reliance has been a critical future of snap since the beginning. It serves a diverse caseload. The overwhelming majority of those who participate, nearly 80 or children, elderly or working adults. It has consistently declined over the past two decades. No evidence snap has a sizable impact on employment rates. Snap benefits the wider economy by providing an effective stimulus during difficult economic time snms by design, it can quickly adapt to economic down turns. As more households become eligible do to job loss they can be quickly enrolled along with need. The payments increased in the wake of the Great Recession but falling since their peek at the end of 2012 with the congressional Biggest Office predicting further declines in coming years in response to the recovering economy. It provides stimulus to the local economy including retail, wholesale and Transportation Systems that differ the foods purchase. Every 5 in snap benefits generates 9 in economic activity. Allen blinder and mark zandi have found congresss authorizationization of the temporary increase during the Great Depression had a larger stimulus impact than any other spending increase or tax policy. One of its greatest strengths, blocking granting would fundamentally undermine its stabilizing impact on the macro economy. Snap also allows families to buy nutritious foods they could not otherwise afford. Recent research i conducted shows snap is a good investment that has Lasting Impact on children. Those who had access to the program during childhood were 18 Percentage Points more likely to graduate during high school and grew up healthier and women more likely to grow up to selfsufficient adults. Snap is not a welfare but an investment in children. In terms of essential reforms to snap, it would be more effective if better aligned with familys needs. Evidence suggests modest increase in snap benefits would improve dietary quality. It could adapt marketbased policy tones courage consumers to consume a healthier diet. Rebates for purchase of Healthy Foods or bonus dollars at farmers markets and Grocery Stores would help with the benefits. And for cross enrollment of eligible snap participants intowick similar to the match program. And it would help this group. Strengthening snap is a smart Public Investment that would help mcand economic growth. Thank you and i look forward to answering any questions that you have. Thank you, doctor. Chairman roberts and Ranking Members of the committee. Im here as director of the food bank in louisville, kentucky. Im honored to represent not only my food bank but Americas Network of 200 food banks that serve more than 246 Million People in need. America is a country where everyone has enough to eat at all times to live an active and healthy life. Dear to care is in counties of kentucky through indiana and expands more than 4,000 square miles and suburban and urban and rural counties. You need sound data. Ive submitted extensive written testimony that hopefully supplies some of that. In my remarks id like to provide two testimonials to provide context. After all behind each data is a person. Please meet ray a client in kentucky who receives tfat. He said im a veteran and diagnosed with stage 4 cancer unable to work and had a sick wife and sister to care for. My local food bank signed me up and we have enough to eat. I cannot begin to thank those who made this program possible. Second, meet sara, director of one of our partner agencies. In saras words at our food pantry we have regular volunteers who get to hear the stories of the clients they serve and heard the woman so grateful for her box because she had to pay extra for medicine that month. They know the grandparents raising their family without assistance and one family didnt leave the parking lot after getting their box, they ate it immediately in the car. It helps us stabilize our familys lives. Throughout this process, lets remember they are real people whose lives may be impacted by decisions we make here. Last year, dear to care distributed 19 million meals to 400,000 struggling individuals, including 7. 2 Million Pounds of Fresh Produce and 4. 7 Million Pounds of tfap product. It represents 70 of the food we distribute. We contribute tfap with food donated and food purchased to meet the foods we receive in kentucky. The highly Nutrition Products we receive greatly increased our overall nutritional mix of our food, contributing to the health of our clients. It is particularly important among federal nutrition programs, because nearly 50 of neighbors have incomes too high to care for snap. The food is often all thats available to offset hunger. Yes, unemployment is down but food unavailability is exceptionally high and i urge all the programs to consider tfap on the bill. And the Kentucky Farm food bank program, this initiative increases access to strong food by kentuckians and produce that is fresh and edible but not saleable because of the policies. The state Kentucky Food Bank helps farmers to pack and package their food. Through the commissioner ryan quarles, this program provided support to farmers and feeds the hungry. I would urge the committee to consider scaling it nationwide. In conclusion i firmly believe hunger is solvable. My food Bank Colleagues and i are dedicated to the task and will continue to Work Together with you and private stakeholders to contribute to a hungerfree america. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Our thanks to panel two for taking the time to join us today and share your insight. Mr. Schaeffer, leading up to snap is the concept of work, unfortunately we dont have the last pilots and the question is how best to facilitate snaps participants return to selfsufficiency. Your testimony ref reynolds a personal case and made several recommendations to improve employment and training authorities. Conversely, what pitfalls should the committee avoid . Thank you, mr. Chairman. While there certainly are pitfalls for the committee and next farm bill to avoid i would emphasize this committee in particular has positioned the work requirements under staff very well, highlighting those 10 pilots operating across the country will help us build an Evidence Base of whats effective and i would further add the usda investments and staff initiatives are giving the right Technical Assistance to staipts to invest in programs and Third Party Partners and ceos. Were on good footing as we build this Knowledge Base and operational efficiencies, theres not a one size fits all model as referenced numerous times in this hearing this morning. The recipients, participants of snap and ent programs represent a tremendously Diverse Group of americans, to folks like mr. Parker and folks coming home from prison. For each group a different set of job and training and activities is more appropriate. Some less intensive and some more. Resisting the urge to funnel everyone through one path would be incredibly important. We need the right program for the right person at the right time. I would further emphasize Job Retention is critical. For many individuals who participate in ceos program is a challenge. And it allows for intensive investments to help people manage employment over the long term and move up the economic ladder is a key point. Finally the snap program, 507 million spent, 200 million, 199 million to be specific comes from a match program in which states, philanthropy, private donors help. While thats a tremendous leveraging ability, i would be mindful certain communities and Third Party Providers across the country might not have access to those needs. The pitfall to avoid is to make sure every participant can help in this program. Thank you for that. Mr. Parker, thank you for your service to this country. What made you decide to enroll specifically in the Culinary Trade Program. Thank you, mr. Chairman. It was easy. It was a passion for food. I think my mom had something to do with that when she taught me how to scramble an egg. It started as a child and continued through my adult life, just something i love to do. This particular course came to me through my participation with barracks program, and they pointed it out to me and got me set in the right direction, to have an opportunity to work with a great team of chefs is something thats worth paying for and im fortunate enough to be able to go there and, frankly, i get a stipend for going there. Theyre almost paying me. Theres the opportunity to go there and learn from great chefs and one you dont pass up. As you continue your success with your food truck there in tulsa, what are you going to offer the good folks . At the food bank, we offer quality product on a daily basis. I didnt anticipate walking in and seeing a walkin full of high quality proteins. We handcuff ribeye steaks and we have anything you want. It goes out to people who need it. Weve got Quality Ingredients and we put it out on a daily basis with pride. It means a lot to me. I thought i was going to be walking into a bunch of flour and sugar and dried goods, not the case at all. Its a pleasure to be there and im learning from a lot of good people. The question i had for you, sir, you said you had ambition to get your own food truck. Yes, sir. I want to know what youre going to serve the good folks in tulsa. If you get something pretty good, ill come down. All right. Yes. Anywhere from burgers to taco. I have to wait until i get there to figure it all out, im thinking probably burgers or taco. Youre more than welcome, mr. Chairman. It would be brians maybe brians burgers. All right. Thats what were going with. Done. I offer that at no cost, of course. Thank you, sir. Mr. Wright, like many grocers in Rural Communities, your store faces a lot of challenges related to a supply chain serving a smaller customer base. Snap authorized retailers, as youve indicated in your statement must also comply with additional rules and regs that add layer of Administrative Burden to say the least. I share your concern not to create additional burdens under the well intended guise of promoting nutrition by dictating what people should eat and forcing cashiers to be the food police. We dont need that. Are there any other regulatory burdens we should seek to address or avoid . Mr. Chairman, thank you. That is certainly concern for our industry and how we would handle that. Again, back to my testimony, just the ability, if we decide to grow, and in Good Standing with the usda, that we be able to obtain a license and move very quickly on that. Wed also ask a fast track so to speak would be set up for retailers in Good Standing and also people committed to serve the food deserts of america. Those would really help us in again our big concern we see looming out there right now is the food choice and any other things that would have to do with the processing of the program that would add cost to it unfortunately would force us to have to pass those costs on to our those costs onto the buying customer, thus reducing the amount of buying power they had. You mentioned the importance of food banks to your operation. But you depend on private support as well. Can you give us what percentage of food dud your food bank receive versus private donations . Certainly. It carries about 20 of the food we receive comes from the tfap program. We also receive donations from national retailers, local retailers. And increasingly we find ourselves purchasing more food. So almost 10 of the food we acquire or distribute is purchased food. I understand you all extend for of your own storage for tfap commodities. Can you give us a percentage of those costs they cover and what percent you have to chip in . Thats a great question. It covers about 23 of the cost to daily Care Food Bank to acquire, store, and distribute tfap products. So clearly its not covering a majority of those costs. And frankly, you know, we would love to discuss or love to see the committee increasing storage distribution allocations. It would free up funding we could then allocate towards other programs and acquiring healthy nutritious food and feeding more people. Well, we would both, all of us on the committee would like to encourage that at the national level. Let me point out what you hear time and time and time again that we have some very tough spending decisions as we head into this farm bill. Are there aspects that are low or no cost . Well, let me say first of all i certainly understand and sympathize with the tough challenge facing you and the committee. On the farms of food bank program, i would love to welcome the opportunity to sit with you and your staff and talk about that program and how it might be leveraged at the federal level. I know in kentucky its a jointly funded program. The state kicks in about 600,000, and taxpayers have an opportunity to donate a portion of their return on the tax check off. And then theres also a significant private sector funding. So most aspects of the program do require costs. In kentucky we found a wonderful private Public Partnership that works and would love to see if that could be replicated here. Senator. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. And thank you to each of you for the excellent panel. And i first want to say to mr. Parker, thank you for paying it forward on behalf of a lot of people that either wouldnt be here today and talking about the country has your back when in need of some temporary assistance. And by the way, we are roaring back in detroit with hundreds of new restaurants being opened as well as food trucks. So you ought to come on up. Wed love to have you join us up in this great new effort thats happening. I was just meeting the other day with folks in restaurants saying theyre desperately in need of chefs and culinary help. So thats just a plug. So let me Start Talking about the fact that snap enrollment does go up and down. Thats what its supposed to do, and the good news is the costs are going down, spending going down because were seeing the economy getting better. And the Budget Office says were going to save about 80 billion over the next ten years. Can you tell us a little bit about what the Research Shows in participation and why its important snap is able to shrink as well as grow when theres need . Absolutely. The snap program was one of our most Important Programs during the Great Recession. Of course, we all remember we saw labor market devastation on a scale not seen since the Great RecessionGreat Depression, actually. In fact, our calculations at the Brookings Institution suggested that economies just in july recovered back to had the jobs numbers we had at the beginning of that. A lot of times its the people on snap who will be the first to lose their jobs and last to get them back. So what the research has found is that every dollar that got spent on the snap program really stimulated the local economy, right . Because people spend those very quickly. Spend them at local Grocery Stores. Helps families make sure theyre kids are able to go to school and learn. The program has many, many terrific strengths. Thank you so much. Mr. Shafer, you clearly run a very Impressive Program and appreciate you being here today. Can you talk a bit more about why voluntary support programs and training are more effective in connecting snap recipients than time restrictions or other kinds of punitive actions . Thank you for the kind words Ranking Member, and yes, happy to address that question. The participants will come into a program like ours weeks, sometimes just days after being released from prison. And its an incredible volatile tame in their lives. The challenges they face are tremendous from reconnecting to family, finding a nice affordable place to live to accessing Substance Abuse treatment that so many will need. Putting incredibly hard and tight work requirements on those individuals given those competing obligations is sometimes just not realistic for individuals. We also find with many populations that access snap benefits, they have to be able to choose the program, enroll in the program thats going to best fit their needs, their interest and allow them to be successful. But we found in our program and criminal justice literature generally, if you mandate someone in a a program, youre less likely to have longterm success. To give folks the opportunity and the appropriate amount of time to find food and economic security. Thank you. So youre saying government mandates, in this case, are not as productive as voluntary program. Correct. Thank you. Mr. Wright, im so impressed with what you have been doing with wrights market, and also very impressed youre talking about combining that with health in terms of reaching out to people. And obviously the connection between nutrition, health, outcomes is so important and really appreciate the fact that youre really leading in that effort. Thank you. Could you talk a bit more about the Economic Impacts that the incensive programs have for independent grocers like yours. Certainly in our business snap is almost 40 of our retail sales. And so it certainly creates jobs, and its very helpful to us from an economic standpoint. Some of the other things that snap Program Brings to the table is just reaching, you know, weve seen examples already of reaching people that are desperately in need. So there certainly is a business side of that. But by the same time, just the other benefits for our community. We still see a lot of elderly people, and so it is an economic driver. I saw some stutics in 2015. For every one dollar of snap benefits, i think a colleague referred here to 9. So it is certainly an economic generator. It is something good for industry and i think a very Efficient Program the government does to get that kind of return back on it. Thank you so much. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator. Thank you, mr. Chairman. In arkansas, one in four children struggles with hunger, and yet theyre not receiving access to the programs they need. Dr. Did i get that right . Youre probably like me and answer to anything. Your Program Benefits children. Do you see interaction between snap and the school meals and how are these interaction programs working on the ground . Yes, as i mentioned in my testimony, i think the performance standards you all put in last time relating snap and the National SchoolLunch Program have done a tremendous amount of good making sure children have access to both sets of programs. And i would really encourage you to do the same with whick this time, because participation with whick is really low, while 85 of infants that are eligible to participate with whick, that falls down by age 4. And establishing some performance standards there would really help these vulnerable children. Very good. Can you expand on the online snap Pilot Program youre Grocery Store is participating in . How do you think it can be an effective tool to fight hunger in rural food deserts like ones we be in arkansas and i know in alabama . Again, were very pleased and honored to be part of the Pilot Program. You know, when people typically think of a food desert they think of an urban area, philadelphia, chicago, somewhere like that. Alabama much like arkansas, the challenge we have are in rural areas. And earn fortunately areas that dont have a population density to support a fullsize brick and mortar super market. So we believe in using ecommerce and online delivery we can reach into these areas and bring a full variety of products, especially fresh meat and Fresh Produce to these kpusmers. Again partnered with the health care component, which is another area thats missing these Rural Communities, we feel like weve got a great model that can make a difference nutritionally and in health care also. Mr. Wright, mr. Rendone, you both are serving Rural Communities that have food access issues. Again, the deserts. What are some of the measure barriers to food access, and how are these being solved from the local level . Sometimes its difficult to, you know, push things out at the federal level to the arkansas is very different from massachusetts or wherever. Where we get into trouble is the onesize fits all. Yes, and serving rural areas in our world in our world presents unique challenges. Theres distances traveled which we dont see in urban areas. Theres the lack of good partners or just the fewer partners that we can work with to distribute food. And then theres, you know, particularly in the case of children, kids dont congregate in rural areas like they congregate in urban areas. And i was here two years ago to talk about the Summer Food Service program and the importance of injecting inflexibility into that program to allow states like yours and my counties to adapt some unique changes. And anything the community can do to encourage that flexibility to allow food banks like mine to adopt programs that fit the unique circumstances we see are slae certainly worthwhile. Very good. I know those congruigate and feeding issues have very important. And thats something we have to work with and provide some flexibility. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator brown. Sorry about that. Hes taller. You didnt see me. Well, he sneaked in. Fair enough. First off, weve been tax reform, Banking Community issues, and i apologize for not being here. Mr. Parkerer ive heard already recounting of your story and thank you for sharing with us. And mr. Wright, thank you for what you do in alabama. We have a store. Why wife and i live in the city of cleveland. My zip code has had morefore cloches in my zip code than any zip code in america that year. And we have stores not too different from yours, one in particular that serves what people call food desert. And thank you when you step up as a Small Business person like that, to both of you. And if i could director a question to you, doctor. Last week i met with a food bank in columbus. Theyre partnering to tackle hunger and had one message for me. How food and nutrition are so linked to help outcomes. The zip code you come from, whether its appalachia, ohio, or inner city dayton, relies a whole lot. Good nutrition leads to patients who can recover more quickly, patients that have access to food and better nutrition to avoid Chronic Health issues. As one executive said we can pay now or pay later. Your Research Shows improvements in snap and improvements in health and education outcomes. Are there improvement that we make specifically to snap that would accelerate these gains . In my opinion, the best improvements we make are two fold. One, i think the benefits right now are very meager. I think about 4. 50 per person per day. I think the evidence suggests a slightly larger benefit would just improve the effectiveness of the program all the more, allow people to escape Food Insecurity, buy healthier foods and so on. The second would be really expanding those market based incentives to buy hlgtier foods. Whether thats a double up food program or other programs like that. Talk in more detail if the first of all, i think americans dont really know you know, we use the term food stamps for years. That term was seen by far too many people in a negative light. I think thats one reason its now called snap. But surely people think the benefits are much greater than they are. People always have a story that somebody they judge standing in line next to them or whatever. Sometimes its a bit about race. Oftentimes its not. Its just whenever taxpayers see others up close, the stories are told as you know. But talk to us about what having access to food, having a bit more in snap, what it would mean for families trying to move out poverty . We dont experience it nearly often enough, so talk that through if you would. Sure, so theres Good Research that moderate differences will allow people to buy healthier food. So those first dollars you have, if youre facing a lot of scarcity, youre going to have hi calorie, dense foods. Modest increase in food snap benefits would increase the purchase of vegetables, greens, high quality proteins. In fact would reduce the likelihood that people buy fast food. So people buy healthier foods with more money. Is there evidence that the programs weve done and experimented with and done in sort of fits and starts to allow snap to be used at farmers markets, buying fruits and vegetables, increasing value, are those working . They sure seem to be, right . As an economist i would tell youcome anytime you change the relative price of something, people will buy more of them. And indeed thats what the research is showing based on the healthy incentives pilot. And the chairman has worked on the breakfast, food Lunch Program and worked with a number of leaders in my state and others to get young people exposed particularly if theyre not getting at home, to more fruits and vegetables. And that can have lifelong impact on their eating habits. Thanks to all five of you on the panel. Thank you, senator. Senator strange. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thanks to the panelists from being here. This is very informative to me. Couple of things you didnt mention, and i want to committee to be aware of. You mentioned partnering with the East Alabama Medical Center i want to compliment you on that. Also appreciate the chairman asking questions about, and youre raising them in your testimony, about the processing times, some of the regulatory burdens you face. Sounds to me thats more of a regulatory issue than,a legislative issue, but well be open to any suggestions you have there. Id like to ask you first im so proud youre in this Pilot Program. But as a small retailer addressing a unique problem i wish you would address the challenges you face or explain opportunities, maybe, in dealing with other participants like the other ones. Amazons, walmarts of the world, how do you see that working and different yourself and your challenges from them . Well, thank you, senator strange. Ive always looked at my business in two ways. Ive looked at it on the transactional side and the gross side. Were anchored in our communities, stay here good times and bads. Sp our competitors when it gets tough, they leave. The transaction actional side and just getting a package from a to b. And thats fine. We have to compete in that space, and we certainly understand that, and thats part of our business. The relational side is more to things were interested in and knowing people we serve and knowing them on a personal basis. Thats why we want to add the component of health care. Looking at a much more holistic model of that. Love these relationships we could build would carry over in some of the programs youve heard from today. But essentially my Business Model and the Business Model of independent grocers from coast to coast is we are anchored in our communities whether its in. Store or online, were going to make the relationships personal in our communities and be there to serve. I love that holistic approach, and mr. Chairman, he has an assistant, emily, whos 13, showed me around the store. You might tell us a bit about the delivery route you implemented, because it is an Important Service to the community, people that cant get to your great facility and how that is what feedback youve gotten, any advice you might offer to other retailers who might consider doing that. Thong. Three components to that. As we said in our opening statements, back to some of the conversations weve aurd had transportation is still a big issue. We still see a lot of elderly people that still have a tough time getting to the Grocery Store. So we started out letting people call the store, take them out. As to ecommerce of this, we is see in the same way as we saw in our initial launch, a lot of seniors out there we are reaching now that cant get out to the store. Even if they wanted to ride in our shuttle, theyre just not physically able to do that. So we week ability to do that. Certainly as we reach into the rural areas, there are four communities that surround alabama that do not have Grocery Store, fresh food options are extremely limited. And this is a way the bill may route to be able to get people to go out to the Grocery Store without the Grocery Store actually being there. I want to compliment the panelists. I appreciate the reentry efforts youre making. Thats a very significant component of the justice system. And the food banks, obviously, are a critical part of the chain of support. And appreciate our economiests validating some of the things we think are going on. So thank the panelists and thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. I want to thank the panel and particularly mr. Parker for being here to testify before the committee. Thanks for your service to our country. Were very, very grateful for you to that and taking the time to share your story. And to the entire panel. And to mr. Wright, i will tell you that some of my dear friends back home are independent grocers who work hard every day to make sure they not only run good shops but that folks in our community have a decent meal in front of them. And so wereigateful for your american engine uty, entrepreneurship and hard work. And that goes for the entire panel as well. One of the things you do is help hoosiers in Southern Indiana be able to meet their needs and be able to take care of their families, and i want to thank you for that. I hear regularly on hoosiers on getting hoosier grown meat and produce to people in our country that need them post most. And thats supported by tfap. Can you share in more detail how tfap adds value to the food you zrint from food doimations and other programs at dairy care . Certainly. Ill highlight two things. First of all, the volume of the product we receive from tfap and critical as we face what nears to be near record levels. So its important in terms of providing meals to people in need. Dare to care has worked over the last few years to really begin using our food programs to improve the health and nutrition of our cliepts. We know theres a direct link between poor diet and health. And in terms of the donated product we receive, we cant always count on whats that going to be. We get what we get. And tfap is considered 100 nutritious foods to encourage. So tfap is an incredible component to our client nord to get healthier foods and address Health Issues we see. The importance of knowing how to stretch food dollars is really significant. Perdue extension in our state does a great job in helping families gain skills that make food trips more successful. Can you share with us more about the Nutrition Education and the skill building programs that you talk to families about, help them stretch their dollars and make good food decisions . Mr. Wright, would you like to go first . Yes, senator. The program we have Going Forward is the snap ed program, and certainly education on how to shop smarter and how to cook smarter and how to cook healthier. I cant stress the huge importance of that. The store im actually involved with in atlanta has a program now thats a sixweek Cooking Program and addresses the same issues of how to shop, how to stretch your dollars, how to make your budget work for you and what youre putting in basket and how to prepare that and in a healthy way. So i cant speak to the prns of the education piece. And you raise a great point. One of the things weve come to realize is we push more healthy food out and make it available is that access is only part of the issue. Understanding why its important to eat, changing Cultural Habits and attitudes, and then understanding what to do with Healthy Products is super critical. So we have a program called cooking matters. Its a six week program that teaches adults and children and families how to shop for, prepare, and consume healthy food on a budget. We have a dietician on staff that helps with that program. We also hand out food and recipes. A lot of pproduct we get from tfap, oftentimes our clients will ask what do i do with it . Its healthy, but i dont know what to do with it. So nutritional education is a critical component of all the work we do. And anything the committee could do to help us on that front would be very important. One last question. Can you describe in greater detail some of the threats in Food Security to children and why the challenges they face are a little bit different than adults . Sure. Ive been studying food and security especially among children for quite some time. Its a really hard nut to crack. In particular what we find is a lot of times in those poorest families, the adults in the household are suffering from other challenges Like Mental Health problems, depression and so on. So as a result not omis it hard to get a job and hold down a job but hard to go grocery shopping, cook meals and et cetera. Its no fault of the childrens. Thank you, senator. Senat senat senator clobchar. Thank you, senator. This Nutrition Assistance Program is very important in our state. And i am proud to say that our snap Program Last Year minnesota was one of 11 states that had its air rate validated by the usda and as a result received some bonus palts. Last year 749,000 minnesotaens participated in the snap program. But almost 60 of those participants were in families with children. My state was not alone in terms of need. What can we do to strengthen snap, Nutrition Education programs to ensure snap participants with make healthy choices . I really think we want to capitalize whats great about snap, which is that it works well with the free market system. And to do that typically we need to either change demand for fruits and vegetables and Healthy Foods either through Education Programs or by chaechging prices, giving bonuses for purchase of Healthy Foods. Very good. Bringing broadband is one of my Top Priorities to Rural Communities. And we have some real issues in our state with that, farmers that do their business at mcdonalds parking lots and things like that. So in case of the last farm bill it included a Pilot Program to test the feasibility of online snap purchases. Rural broadband, do you anticipate its going to be a barrier of participating in the program . Im sure were going to find some of the proverbial deserts out there. Its a challenge, but also gives us an opportunity to address some of those issues. But we think we can do that with some technology. We actually have some people today actually using a satellite dish and other things on buildings to be able to access technology. So we will find a way to work, make this work. Buttl it would be great if this continues to be at the forefront of discussion, that Broadband Access has improved in these areas. One Important Program that helps alleviate hunger is the food Emergency Assistance program. And i recently joined with senators casey and purdue to be proactive in purchasing bonus commodities in places like st. Paul. And the bonus issue was just raised by a doctor. Can you talk about the importance of usda commodities and have they kept pace with the demand . Thank you, and thank you for your support of that Important Program. Yes, the bonus compone want is very important to us. Its in addition to the base, and it all goes towards helping us meet what we see as near records level and unacceptable high levels of Food Insecurity. Again, i guess i would talk about the nutritional aspelkts of the products we receive in that program. These are high quality foods, vegetables, fruits. Things that we have to either buy through this program. Its critical to not only meet the need but meeting it with the rights type of food. And thank you for your continued support of that. Mr. Shafer, Public Private partnerships pool resources, maximizing the value. Can you talk about your experience and the result the. Absolutely. Its been not just a hallmark of the ceos approach, but also a program of the snap and training program. I think an element thats helped extend its reach far more broadly. Giving you an example, pennsylvania and ohio. In ohio there was a strong interest in bringing ceos Reentry Services to the state across cincinnati, columbus and cleveland. You know, large numbers of people coming home every year facing both Food Insecurity and a lack of employment. And those folks almost universally eager to work. The department of state correct, darlt of job and Family Services to support ceos reentering the state. But part of that was a 50 50 match through the snap program well be able to leverage in ohio over the next two years i think over 2 million in that match program. So its an ability for states to design programs and projects and initiatives that are responsive to local needs that meet their priorities but also gain far more resources than they would otherwise without the match. All right, very good. Thank you all of you. You brought me a gift. Thank you for asking such nice questions. Thank you. Its amazing what you have to do to achieve bipartisan support. That will conclude our hearing today. And i want to thank each of our witnesses for taking time to share your views on the nutrition programs within the farm bill. The testimonies provided today are valuable for the committee to hear firsthand. And we will follow up with the suggestions of various witnesses to meet with our staff so we can further learn from you, what we can do better to improve the program. And for those in the audience to want to provide additional thoughts, we have setup a part on the committees web site to provide input. Please go to ag. Senate. Gov and click on the farm bill hearing box on the leftside of your screen. That link will be open for five Business Days following todays hearing. My fellow members we would ask that any additional questions you may have for the record be submitted to the committee today or by 5 00 p. M. Next thursday on september 21st. We stand adjourned. Thank you so much