Beginning in 1998, the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS)
launched a grants program to encourage innovative studies
and evaluations of its food programs. Through partnerships
with five academic institutions—the Harris School through
the Joint Center for Poverty Research among them—the
USDA Research Development grants offered young scholars between
$20,000 and $40,000 to study the nation’s food programs.
Since their origin in the 1930s, food programs have been
a significant part of the nation’s safety net. Food
stamps, WIC, school lunch programs, and others are just some
of the programs that help low-income families stretch their
budgets and put food on the table. When welfare reform in
1996 fundamentally altered the safety net, only food assistance
remained as entitlement programs—there were no strings
attached to program eligibility other than income. The effectiveness
of these programs is a key factor in alleviating hunger and
ensuring a sound diet for the nation’s children.
One of the unique features of the Research Development Grant
program is the scope of research and the diversity of scholars
over the years. Students in economics, sociology, nutrition,
anthropology, human development, and social work have all
been awarded funding. The topics covered are equally wide-ranging,
from food pantry use to food stamp program dynamics, to immigration
and food assistance, to obesity.
“The opportunity to share questions, methods, and
insights within such a diverse group has been a highlight
of the annual small grants conference,” said Ann Vandeman,
a former assistant director of management at ERS, in a Poverty
Research News article describing the program.
This year’s research grants are equally diverse. Thomas
Deleire and Helen Levy (Harris School) examine whether food
stamps lead to healthier diets, Mairead Reidy (Chapin Hall
Center for Children) examines whether choosing not to use
food programs when eligible increases the likelihood of retuning
to cash assistance after leaving the program, and Andrew
London (Syracuse) examines changes in family food security
in the context of welfare reform.
A main benefit of the program, says former JCPR deputy director
and Harris School Professor Robert LaLonde, is that it “has
focused many younger researchers’ attention on questions
related to nutrition and food security.”
In addition to funding, the awardees are offered guidance
on their projects from JCPR affiliates during a one-day workshop,
and they are expected to present their findings at a conference
hosted by the ERS in Washington, DC. Panelists at the conference
offer valuable critiques of the scholars’ research,
which guides revisions of the papers. Final revised papers
are available online at www.jcpr.org/conferences/oldconferences/index.html.
(This year’s papers will be posted later in the year.)
The program will continue to be funded and administered by
the Harris School. In all, the JCPR-USDA grants program launched
17 research projects of young scholars.
The Joint Center for Poverty Research, funded from 1996
through 2003 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
and continuing today in a more limited scope, partnered the
Harris School with the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern
University to stimulate and disseminate research on poverty
in America and to train a new generation of scholars.
Barbara Ray
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