Legislative changes made to USDA’s Child and Adult Care
Food Program as part of the landmark 1996 welfare reform act have
succeeded in focusing the benefits of this program on the intended
recipients: low-income children. Findings like these—based
on objective, rigorous research—help policymakers to make
informed decisions.
Policymakers are increasingly interested in the efficacy of the
Nation’s food assistance programs—the Food Stamp Program,
the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children
(WIC), and the child nutrition programs—which represent over
half of the USDA budget. One in five people in the U.S. uses at
least one of the programs during any given year. Seeking to assess
and improve the effectiveness of these programs, Congress directed
ERS to study various aspects of their design and
implementation. In 1998, ERS launched the Food Assistance and Nutrition Research
Program (FANRP).
The FANRP team, composed of Margaret Andrews, Elizabeth Frazao,
Joanne Guthrie, Victor Oliveira, and Tina Terry and led by David
Smallwood, a senior economist with over 20 years’ experience
in studying food assistance issues, manages an impressive amount
of research through a large network of experts. In partnership
with USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, the agency that administers
the food assistance programs, David and his staff developed a comprehensive
research program that addresses such questions as whether benefits
are going to the right people, whether the people who should benefit
from the programs have access to them, and whether the programs
are serving their intended purposes.
To answer these questions, FANRP funds research by public and
private research institutions through grants, cooperative agreements,
and contracts that are competitively awarded through a tightly
run peer review process. It also relies on the expertise of ERS
staff. The FANRP team now manages a research
portfolio of over 100 projects and makes all the research findings
publicly
available through the ERS website.
David says that the FANRP research “helps policymakers ensure
the programs are having a positive effect on the lives of ordinary
individuals.”
