Assistant Secretary Mary Jarratt talks about the food programs - Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Food and Consumer Services

Assistant Secretary Mary Jarratt Talks About the Food Programs

The national inquiry into hunger in America has put the spotlight of national attention on the sophisticated network of federal programs that exist in this country to ensure that less fortunate people get the food help they need.

This network includes more than a dozen specialized programs, from food stamps to school lunch. In fiscal year 1983, the federal government spent more than $19 billion to subsidize 95 million meals a day. The food programs are uniquely crafted to support farm programs and use agricultural surpluses at the same time they feed the needy.

Women benefit in many ways

Women are integrally involved in the network. In fact, women and children are the primary beneficiaries of the food programs. For example, in the Food Stamp Program, the largest of the federal food programs with an annual budget of about $12 billion, 7 million of the 22 million people getting food stamps each month are adult women. Another 11 million are children.

The National School Lunch Program serves more than 23 million children each day, and the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) serves nearly 3 million mothers and children under age 5.

Women not only benefit from the food programs--they also contribute to them. Across the nation, women are involved in managing and working with the food programs at all levels. Women serve as national, state, and local food program directors. They are WIC nutritionists, food stamp caseworkers, school food service professionals, food bank coordinators, computer management specialists . . . the list goes on and on.

In the Food and Nutrition Service, the agency at USDA that administers the programs, about 1,300 employees --over half the work force-- are women. Of these, more than 100 are managers or supervisors.

And, there is a woman at the top in Washington, D.C., administering these diverse and complicated programs. That woman is Mary Jarratt, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Food and Consumer Services.

A demanding but rewarding job

Since May 1981 Jarratt has overseen USDA's food programs as well as the nutritional research and survey activities under the Human Nutrition Information Service and the Office of the Consumer Advisor.

She brought to the job a wealth of experience from 14 years on Capitol Hill, where she was the first woman to be named to the House Agriculture Committee's professional staff in its 130-year history.

While working for the committee, she developed an expertise in consumer nutrition issues and the Food Stamp Program, and helped staff the special House Committee on Welfare Reform in the 95th Congress. Before working for the committee, Jarratt had been a staffer for her Congressional representative from Virginia, the Honorable Richard H. Poff.

Her Congressional experience gave Jarratt a familiarity with the people and processes involved in reaching legislative goals. Perhaps most important, she says, it gave her a "sense of compassion for the programs.'

"I think a lot of the programs are misunderstood,' Jarratt says. "I've also developed persistence, because policy development is a complex and lengthy process.'

Managers have a dual responsibility

Jarratt feels federal food program managers have a dual responsibility --to help those who need food assistance, and at the same time to see that the job is done as efficiently and effectively as possible.

"We have a federal responsibility for helping people who can't help themselves,' she explains. "I think that all of our citizens sympathize with people who can't fend for themselves, but they still want to make sure that the benefits they are generously funding are going to people who are legitimately entitled.'

Jarratt cites the change of prorating food stamp benefits as the kind of improvement she has worked for in the programs. Food stamp applicants now receive benefits from the date they apply at the welfare office rather than for the entire month. This accommodates the concern about responsible federal spending, yet does not deny needy people benefits to which they are entitled.

This dual responsibility has at times been frustrating for Jarratt. "I think we have had a dramatic impact on the way the programs are oriented, in that we are trying to serve more people at the lower income range, at 130 percent of the poverty line and below,' she says.

"There's been a lot of misunderstanding that the Administration doesn't want to fund programs for low-income people, and that's not the case at all.

"We've submitted requests for supplemental appropriations early because we needed increased funding to feed more children free lunches, or because we were short of food stamp funds when unemployment was higher than had been predicted. At times Congress acted late on these supplemental requests, but the Administration hasn't been reluctant to fund the benefits.'

Several special projects underway

Being an Assistant Secretary "is pretty hectic some days,' Jarratt laughs. "Almost every week there's some kind of Congressional activity, either testimony or meetings with members of Congress. In addition, hardly a day goes by that I don't spend some time considering a regulation USDA is developing. With a lot of media interest now in our programs, I also have a lot of inquiries from the press.'

Jarratt also works with national groups like the March of Dimes on special projects such as the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies campaign. "This private sector initiative with the March of Dimes is a very important compliment to our food assistance programs,' she says.

"There's no reason why low-income people should be in need of food with our array of assistance, but sometimes the more vulnerable don't avail themselves of help. For example, pregnant teenagers are more likely to have low-birthweight infants, but for a number of reasons don't seek help.'

An important objective of the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies campaign is to encourage pregnant teenagers to seek prenatal care. "We're working with the March of Dimes to try to make teenagers more aware of the importance of early health care both for the mother and her developing baby,' Jarratt says.

Jarratt has emphasized nutrition education as a means to help food stamp recipients stretch their food dollars. Last year USDA launched a series of workshops across the nation called "Making Food Dollars Count' to offer advice on food buying and preparation and to provide low-cost, nutritious recipes.

"We had regional workshops for state and local nutrition professionals who returned to their communities and repeated those same workshops for food stamp recipients and other low-income people,' Jarratt explains. These activities are still going on in many communities.

USDA is following up this effort this year by distributing short informational materials with nutrition messages to local food stamp offices. These materials will be handed out or mailed to recipients.

Jarratt sees this as especially important. "It's hard to get a nutrition education message across in the Food Stamp Program,' she says. "Eligibility is determined in the hurried environment of a welfare office, and a nutritionist is rarely, if ever, present. People take the benefits and make the best food choices they can.'

Photo: Above: During a visit to food program sites in Miami, Assistant Secretary Jarratt meets with officers of the Latin Chamber of Commerce. Among the group's members are many merchants who participate as authorized grocers in WIC and the Food Stamp Program. Right: At a Miami WIC clinic, she holds a young WIC participant and talks with Dade County nutrition coordinator Denise West.

COPYRIGHT 1984 U.S. Government Printing Office
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