A Study of Locality, Agency, and Individual Characteristics Affecting Food Stamp Program Participation in Virginia

by Carol Baron, William McMakin, and Susanne Aref

This study explores participation by Food Stamp Program recipients in other government programs, factors that explain variation in food stamp participation across Virginia’s localities, and ways in which the findings support other food stamp participation rate research. Virginia, with its wide range of participation rates across its 120 State-supervised, locally-administered social service departments, serves as a “natural experiment” for gaining an under-standing of factors that affect food stamp participation rates across the country. Study findings show that cross-pro-gram enrollment could be improved and that local agency factors are likely contributing to differing participation rates across Virginia. This project involved a labor-intensive data collection and linking effort of census, survey, and administrative data and a detailed analysis of the dynamics of food stamp participation in Virginia, as well as a survey of local agency policies and practices.

This study was conducted by the Virginia Department of Social Services (contract number 43-3AEM-3-80106) and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (contract number 58-5000-6-0033) under cooperative research contracts with USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) Food and Nutrition Assistance Research Program (FANRP) (ERS project representative: Karen Hamrick). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of ERS or USDA.

Keywords: Food Stamp Program, FSP, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF, food assistance, multi-program participation, program participation rate, Virginia, Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program, FANRP

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