Lewin Tapped to Provide Research and Analytic Support to the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
October 30, 2011
The Lewin Group, under a prime contract to the Aclara Group, will assist the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) with analytic, research, and evaluation studies as well as data systems and programming support related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly the Food Stamp Program. SNAP, the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, helps millions of low-income Americans to afford a nutritionally adequate diet. SNAP households receive their benefits on electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards, which can be used only to purchase food. In FY 2010, the average person received about $133.80 a month (or $4.46 a day) for each household member.
The number of Americans receiving food stamps reached 45 million in May 2011, the highest number since the SNAP program began in 1939 and the 37th straight monthly increase. “Despite enormous economic pressures on families since 2008, data show that government support and tax instruments have been able to hold overall rates of poverty constant through the recession and this subsequent shallow recovery,” said David Thomas, a senior project manager in Lewin’s Federal Human Services practice. “SNAP is a critically important part of that success. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities recently estimated that the increase in benefit levels for SNAP through the Recovery Act kept 700,000 people from slipping into poverty through the recession.”
This analytic support contract will assist FNS with policy development for SNAP in FY 2012, during which the agency has established a number of specific SNAP-related research and evaluation priorities. Some of these priorities include: understanding the characteristics and circumstances of zero-income SNAP households; defining and understanding the adequacy of SNAP benefits in the context of alleviating food insecurity, improving diet quality, and relieving poverty; and, understanding the causes and costs of churning in the SNAP caseload.
Possible task orders under the contract will include statistical analysis of existing data, econometric modeling, authoring reports, independent review of reports, creation of analytic files from existing primary source datasets, and related research and analysis tasks. “As one of the nation’s premier organizations studying health issues and health care, Lewin brings unique expertise to the team, including physicians with clinical and research experience in nutrition, diet, and obesity,” said Brent Orrell, Director of Lewin’s Federal Human Services practice. “We’re looking forward to assisting Aclara and FNS in assessing current and emerging policy issues affecting SNAP and SNAP participants. The new work complements the extensive work Lewin has been doing for the Administration for Children and Families on issues for low-income families.”