{"id":64719,"date":"2009-05-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uris-feinstein-center-for-a-hunger-free-america-helps-put-food-stamps-on-the-table\/"},"modified":"2009-05-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-05-12T00:00:00","slug":"uris-feinstein-center-for-a-hunger-free-america-helps-put-food-stamps-on-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2009\/05\/uris-feinstein-center-for-a-hunger-free-america-helps-put-food-stamps-on-the-table\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Feinstein Center for a Hunger Free America helps put food stamps on the table"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I.\u2014May 12, 2009 –Combating hunger has been on the University\u2019s front burner ever since the Feinstein Center for a Hunger Free America was established in 2001.<\/p>\n


\n\tToday that help is even more critical. With 10.5 percent of its workforce without a job —Rhode Island holds the dubious distinction of having one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.<\/p>\n


\n\tAlthough times are tough, applying for food stamps shouldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n


\nKathleen Gorman, director of the hunger center, heads an extensive outreach project that assists the state\u2019s Department of Human Services to improve access to, participation and retention in, the Food Stamp Program. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThere are 100,000 Rhode Islanders now receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the new name of the food stamp program,\u201d says Gorman. \u201cWe estimate that there are at least 20,000 more Rhode Islanders who are eligible. With the economy tanking, that\u2019s probably a low estimate. More than 3,700 people enrolled in the program in March 2009 alone.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe center collaborates with 38 partners and nearly 300 agencies to get the word out and people enrolled. Student employees and interns provide information, prescreening, and application assistance to help people at pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, group homes, senior high risers, and more find out if they qualify for the program. In addition, trainings are held at social service agencies across the state. \u201cWe go anywhere to help people in need or to train people who work directly with low income populations,\u201d says Gorman.


\n\tThe center also partners with grocery stores. The Brigido family, hosts outreach workers at their three markets in Northern Rhode Island. \u201cWe want to be sure all our neighbors take advantage of this federal nutrition program,\u201d says Lee Ann Brigido. <\/p>\n


\n\tThe center publishes brochures and printed materials and hosts a busy food stamp hotline at 866-306-0270 where people can call for information or request an application. <\/p>\n


\n\tIt places advertisements on the back of statewide buses and on radio programs directed toward their target populations: seniors, working poor households and immigrant populations. <\/p>\n


\n\tRecently Rhode Islanders receiving SNAP benefits got a boost in their monthly benefits, thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The state also removed a number of bureaucratic obstacles that could otherwise derail the recently poor from receiving benefits. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThe increased benefit is arguably a powerful source of economic stimulus since benefits are spent almost immediately in the local economy, \u201c says Gorman. \u201cIn Rhode Island, that brings the total average monthly benefit to $125 for each participant, which means more than $12.5 million federal dollars is being spent at local grocery stores in just one month.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t溏心vlog免费B站 offers an interdisciplinary minor in hunger studies. The minor is intended to prepare students for leadership roles and understanding and eradicating hunger, and in facilitating students and other 溏心vlog免费B站 community members to be life-long advocates for hunger cessation. Courses are offered on 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Kingston and Providence campuses. To learn how to make a difference while earning college credit, go to uri.edu\/endhunger.<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\n溏心vlog免费B站 Food Stamp Outreach worker Alicia Olson of Lincoln greets a market customer at Bridigo\u2019s marketplace in Pascoag. 溏心vlog免费B站 Department of Communications & Marketing photo by Michael Salerno Photography.<\/p>\n


\nREADY TO HELP: From left: Nutrition educator Kate Balestracci, Mark Bridigo, Food Stamp Outreach workers Alicia Olson of Lincoln and Lisa Lao of Cranston at Bridigo\u2019s Marketplace in Pascoag. 溏心vlog免费B站 Department of Communications & Marketing photo by Michael Salerno Photography.<\/p>\n

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KINGSTON, R.I.\u2014May 12, 2009 –Combating hunger has been on the University\u2019s front burner ever since the Feinstein Center for a Hunger Free America was established in 2001. Today that help is even more critical. With 10.5 percent of its workforce without a job —Rhode Island holds the dubious distinction of having one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64722,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}