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 Statesupervised, locally-administered social service departments, serves as a “natural experiment” for gaining an understanding of factors that affect food stamp participation rates across the country. Study findings show that cross-program 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.