NAP preparing for influx of new clients

The Department of Community & Cultural Affairs, which oversees the Nutrition Assistance Program office, says that the “CNMI needs to brace itself for an increase in demand in NAP’s supplemental assistance.”

Acting secretary Melvin Faisao said that “DCCA has been projecting and planning to make certain that the program is organized and prepared for the landslide influx of new clients.”

He said the influx of new food stamp clients is a consequence of the economic woes that may contribute in an increase of as many as 40 or more households per month.

NAP has over 7,000 active participants in the assistance program, which represents over 2,000 households per month, 25 percent of this number is composed ot the total indigenous population.

“DCCA NAP takes the anticipated projections and the statistical numbers along with latest Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) and grim economic situation as alarming factors or indicators for revision of current NAP Federal Assistance Funding,” Faisao said.

For fiscal year 2007, NAP received $8.22 million for benefits and $1.2 million for operations and then capped at $9.42 million.

As a result of this, on Oct. 1, 2007, NAP was forced to reduce the benefits by .03 percent due to financial limitations.

“We did not get an additional funding for benefits this fiscal year from our grantor agency so we had to do whatever is necessary to continue this service,” NAP administrator Eleanor Cruz said.

She added that the funding cap set for fiscal year 2008 restricts the program from providing full benefits to all qualified recipients in the CNMI.

“The [.03 percent] reduction is necessary to sufficiently provide benefits to all existing NAP recipients from October 2007 to September 2008,” Cruz said.

On Jan. 11, 2008, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial wrote a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture administrator Allen Ng for consideration in budget increase and the removal of the budget cap imposed by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

According to Faisao, the DCCA-NAP expects a “projected increase of roughly around $13 million or more as in the NAP federal assistance program budget, since the CPI has increased in voluminous jumps at about 17 percent to date. Besides, this request will be contingently in place upon approval by our counterpart in Region IX.”