In response to an upswing in food stamp usage, the state of Vermont is taking big strides toward modernizing its food stamp program by streamlining the application process to extend eligibility and increase benefits to include more of the state's most underserved groups who may be reluctant to apply for food stamps.

Earlier this week, members of Vermont's hunger councils met with legislators, heads of state agencies, and two national anti-hunger experts in a roundtable organized by the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger to find ways in which Vermonters' access to food stamps can be improved. According to the Campaign's food stamp policy specialist, the use of food stamps in Vermont is close to an all-time high.

In Vermont, the elderly and working families make up the state's most underserved groups. Since 2005, food stamp enrollment has increased by more than 55,000 people. Currently, about 80 percent of eligible Vermonters participate in the program. Among those who are 60 and older, the participation rate is only 32 percent; however, the elderly and the disabled in Vermont account for a greater share of food stamp recipients than they do nationally. More specifically, 27 percent of food stamp recipients in the state are the elderly or disabled, compared to the 16 percent nationwide.

Food stamps are an entitlement program. While Congress sets the eligibility procedures and the federal government pays for the benefits, the responsibility for administering the program is shared with the states, which can modify eligibility requirements. The income eligibility in Vermont is set at 130 percent of the federal poverty line, or less than $27,560 for a family of four. In an effort to ensure that eligible people take advantage of food stamps, the state plans to launch a three-year "modernization" project by streamlining the program's administration and implementing new technology within its food stamp program. According to Vermont's Food Stamp Program Director, some of the state's initiatives for expanding eligibility and increasing benefits include:

• Eliminating IRAs from the resource limit that keeps many senior citizens from applying for benefits.
• Removing the cap on child care costs, which would increase eligible families' allotments.
• Extending the certification period for reconfirming eligibility from six to 12 months, providing eligible Vermonters with more time to complete the recertification process prevent them from having to reapply for food stamps.

In addition to some of the initiatives mentioned above, the three-year project also involves integrating new technologies within the program, such as the development and implementation of an online food stamp application, an interactive voice response telephone hotline, and a document imaging system, in which all applications will be sent to a centralized in-take processing unit where images of them will be created. Also, indexing capabilities will be available in which applications will be given a bar code, get indexed, and downloaded into a database. The state intends to implement these technologies at all of the Economic Services Division (ESD) offices. Not only will these changes significantly reduce the time needed for application processing, but it will also provide applicants with access to benefits without having to visit a food stamp office. Currently, a person applying for food stamp benefits has to physically go to an office. Thus, as part of these modernization efforts, the the Vermont Agency of Human Services (AHS) intends to eliminate face-to-face interviews for determining eligibility so that Vermonters can apply at any time and in the privacy of their own homes. AHS has developed task force groups to survey service providers and recipients across the state within the next couple of months to determine the desired technological capabilities and to develop functional requirements.

The recent rise in food stamp applications in many states appears to be a reflection of the economic slowdown, with inflation in the prices of food and gas, as well as an increase in layoffs. According to public figures released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in June 2008, food stamp enrollment exceeded 27 million people in March 2008, up by 219,000 people from February and up 1.5 million from March 2007. The USDA estimates that enrollment will average 27.98 million people in fiscal year 2009, which begins on October 1, 2008, at a cost of $40.3 billion.