INNOVATIVE THINKING
RIGOROUS APPROACHES
REAL WORLD IMPACT
IMPAQ developed a resource guide to aid health systems in implementing food security screening and referral processes for older adults in primary care practices. Health practitioners and community partners will use it to address this issue, which is an increasing problem with significant health implications, especially for those with chronic conditions.
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) depends upon the Access, Participation, Eligibility and Certification (APEC) Study Series to provide “reliable, national estimates of erroneous payments made to school districts in which the NSLP and SBP operate.” IMPAQ provided background research assistance to the third study in the APEC series. We delivered subject matter expertise on multiple tasks, including: participating in weekly team meetings, advising the research team on school meal program integrity policy, and providing comments on draft deliverables.
The objectives of this study for the U.S Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) were to:
IMPAQ supported the Tennessee Department of Human Services’ (TDHS) effort to develop a plan for long-term improvement and innovation in the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of fraud and trafficking of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. The work had four phases: assessment, testing and implementation, sustainability, and evaluation. Our role included providing business process reengineering (BPR) training and technical assistance.
The objective of this study is to review and document School Food Authority (SFA), state National School Lunch Program, and School Breakfast Program Management Information Systems, to show FNS how data systems are used beyond fulfilling their reporting requirements.
IMPAQ is performing an “as is” review, which will focus on school meal program management data collected or generated at the SFA or state agency levels but not reported to FNS on any of their program forms. We will collect the data from vendor presentations, interviews, and surveys of state and SFA administrators.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 required significant changes to nutrition standards for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. Since implementing the updated standards in school districts across the nation starting in the 2012-2013 school year, USDA, state agencies, researchers, and public health advocates have followed their progress closely and provided significant broad-based training and technical assistance to help schools meet the updated standards.
The Maryland Governor's Office for Children (GOC) requires that each county’s Local Management Board conduct a community needs assessment of their Strategic Goal Areas. They base the assessment on the general mandate "for all children to live fulfilled and successful lives." The GOC defined the 2016 needs assessment areas as: families of incarcerated parents, disconnected youth, youth homelessness, and childhood hunger.
IMPAQ conducted an analysis of the practices in five Colorado counties—Adams, Boulder, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson—used to reduce SNAP error rates. The goals of this project were to assess their practices for identifying systems, tools, practices, staff capacity, and other issues affecting SNAP error rates and to develop strategies to improve compliance with SNAP processing, benefits payment, and program service delivery.
