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Abstract
Excerpts from the report Introduction: The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) operates over a dozen nutrition assistance programs for children and low-income individuals. The programs aim to improve participants’ access to nutritious food and promote healthier eating habits and lifestyles, by providing specific foods or food purchasing power, and by offering nutrition education. The Food Stamp Program (FSP), which serves nearly all types of low-income households, is the largest of these programs. In fiscal year (FY) 2003, the FSP provided benefits to more than 21 million participants per month. Other sizeable FNS programs serve specific population groups, including the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which serves low-income infants and young children and low-income women who are pregnant or new mothers; and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the School Breakfast Program (SBP), the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), which target preschool- and school-age children. The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) are smaller programs that distribute commodity food packages to Native Americans living on or near reservations (FDPIR) and to low-income women, children, and the elderly (CSFP). As the steward of public funds, FNS is responsible for assessing the extent to which its programs achieve their stated missions as well as for assessing the level of satisfaction among program participants. To help explore options for addressing these requirements, FNS awarded a contract to Abt Associates Inc. The purpose of this contract is to develop a menu of potential survey designs that can provide FNS with new information on: • Experiences and satisfaction of participants in FNS programs, and • Impacts of program participation on food security, diet quality, and other indicators of household well-being.