Public Comments

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Children and Family Services
444 Lafayette Rd. N.
Tikki Brown, assistant commissioner
Post Office Box 64244
St. Paul, Minnesota 55164-0244
October 02, 2023

Cindy Long
Administrator, USDA Food and Nutrition Service
USDA – Food and Nutrition Service
3101 Park Center Drive
Alexandria, Virginia, 22302
Re: Docket Number FNS-2023-0026, RIN 0584-AE92, Comments in Response to Proposed Rulemaking:
Food Distribution Programs: Improving Access and Parity
Dear Ms. Long,
As the Assistant Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Children and Family Services, I
applaud the direction and intent of the Proposed Rule: Improving Access and Parity in Food Distribution
Programs and appreciate the opportunity to comment on both the strengths in the rule and the gaps and
opportunities as well. Minnesota has a strong commitment to improve the lives of all Minnesotans by working
collaboratively to implement policies that achieve results. As such, I am glad to see rules proposed to help
increase ease of access, awareness, and alignment across the country for The Emergency Food Assistance
Program (TEFAP) and other USDA food distribution programs.
Minnesota has already proactively taken steps to make TEFAP a low barrier and accessible program for our
partners and to those in need. While there are strengths to the Proposed Rule, there are several aspects that
raise concerns and warrant comment.
Income Eligibility Criteria
While Minnesota supports efforts to reduce the variance in TEFAP income eligibility criteria across states,
changing eligibility to a maximum of 250 percent of Federal Poverty Guidelines will have a negative impact on
hungry Minnesotans. With the support of antihunger agencies, Minnesota has set TEFAP eligibility at 300
percent of Federal Poverty Guidelines since 2020, to the benefit of Minnesotans needing food support. Capping
the income eligibility will move Minnesota backwards in our efforts to fight hunger in our state. I ask that the

proposed rule increase the maximum eligibility threshold to 300 percent of the U.S. Federal Poverty Guidelines
published annually by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
As currently written, the proposed rule will remove a critical safety net for many in Minnesota that helps ensure
access to healthy, nutritious foods for themselves and their family. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 20142018 American Community Survey, approximately 800,000 Minnesotans are living within 200% to 300% of the
Federal Poverty Guidelines. 1 If the proposed income limit were implemented, many of these Minnesotans would
find themselves no longer eligible to receive TEFAP foods. Additionally, many other social support benefits
disappear for families at thresholds at or around 200% of FPG. Ensuring healthy, fresh food is available and
accessible through TEFAP is critical for many families’ stability and wellbeing.
We know that when able, people prefer to buy or grow their own food and not to have to rely on food
assistance programs. In many cases, people are accessing food support from TEFAP food shelves as a last resort.
However, with increasing costs of basic needs like housing, medical care, gas, and food, or with one unexpected
bill or crisis, many people still can’t afford the fresh, balanced, quality food they need to support overall health
and wellness. USDA foods provided by TEFAP to food shelves are the high quality, healthy foods families most
need and want, and are also many of the most expensive foods first cut from a family’s budget.
New Provisions regarding statistics reporting and publicly posted information on TEFAP recipient agencies.
The proposed rule introduces new reporting requirements, including a provision that would require States to
report the total monthly number of individuals receiving USDA Foods through TEFAP. The proposed rule does
not appear to consider the vastly different administrative burdens presented by tracking the monthly number of
people vs. the number of visits in each month. The reality is that people may access USDA Foods through TEFAP
more than once per month, possibly at more than one food distribution site. It is not currently possible to
produce an unduplicated count of people, given the reporting systems available and USDA requirements around
collecting personal information. As written, this proposed reporting requirement has the potential to introduce
a significant administrative burden that ripples across the emergency food system, from State agencies, to food
banks, to food shelves and pantries. In a system that is heavily reliant on volunteers at the local level, a
requirement to provide unduplicated reports of the number of individuals poses serious challenges. In
recognition of these on-the-ground realities, Minnesota closely tracks the number of visits made each month to
TEFAP food shelves, and requests that USDA take this approach to any new reporting requirements stemming
from this proposed rule change.
In addition to quarterly reporting requirements, it must also be noted that the proposed rule would require
state agencies to make TEFAP recipient agencies and eligibility information available on a public webpage. To
implement these provisions well and accurately, it will require notable additional administrative time that
should be accompanied with additional administrative funds to support the work.
The nature and landscape of hunger relief work is ever changing, meaning that the hours, locations, and number
of food programs in operation are also ever changing. Gathering quality data from the various levels of

United States Census Bureau, https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation/tableand-geography-changes/2018/5-year.html , 2021.
1

administration for the state agency, food bank partners, and food shelf partners, requires time and effort to
both support data collection efforts, as well as the compilation, accuracy, and quality of final reports. Many
food shelves are volunteer led and already experience various challenges that come from being underfunded.
Should the proposed rule be implemented, TEFAP agencies will require additional resources as they comply with
new statistical reporting requirements.
DHS supports the intent of the proposed rule to make information about the TEFAP program more easily
accessible to the public and to obtain better data on the reach of current program operations; but request
consideration of the cost to implement and sustain these efforts.
Thank you again for the opportunity to comment on the provisions in the Food Distribution Access & Parity
Proposed Rules. The Minnesota Department of Human Services is committed to helping people in need while
increasing access to critical food support. I urge you to take our state’s recommendations into consideration.
Sincerely,

Tikki Brown
Assistant Commissioner
Children and Family Services
CC: Jodi Harpstead, commissioner, MN Department of Human Services
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