SALISBURY — “Making Social and Economic Change” was the topic of the morning April 2 at Catawba College as Dr. Deb Figart, of Pennsylvania and professor emerita, Stockton University, addressed a group of students, professors and other guests.

The event, open to the public, was presented by the Ketner School of Business and the Honors Program.

Figart’s presentation began with a two-part story about rotisserie chicken, telling the group there was both bad news and good news involved.

Polling the crowd to see who enjoyed it and many raising their hands, she told them they are not alone.

“The National Chicken Council reported that more than 950 million rotisserie chickens are sold annually,” she said, and pointed out that while it’s not fast food, it is quick, convenient, affordable and nutritious.

She paused with her story as she directed the crowd to the history and several statistics of SNAP or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, the largest nutrition assistance program in the United States, which started back in the 1930s.

In her presentation, she said that 42 million people in the United States in 22 million households are in the program, which relates to 12.5 percent of the total population in the U.S. with 45 percent being white, 28 percent black and 22 percent Hispanic.

The average benefit is $220 per month; however, she did share that the size of the family that receives SNAP benefits is based on their net income and how many people are living in the household. Therefore, the more mouths there are to feed, the higher the benefits.

In 2022, she pointed out, the program cost $119.4 billion.

It is a large program, Figart said, “because food insecurity unfortunately is so prevalent in the United States. SNAP aims to address food insecurity for eligible low-income households, especially the food insecurity of households with children.”

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service is the department that oversees SNAP and its benefits as well as being the entity that monitors retail stores that redeem these benefits.

What once were paper coupons, the benefits are now loaded on a debit card, called an EBT Card or Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, and be used to purchase eligible food in authorized food stores.

It was at this point that Figart got back to her rotisserie chicken story as she stressed the word “eligible” foods.

While SNAPS benefits cover foods such as fruits and vegetables, dairy products, uncooked meats and more, the list of ineligible foods includes heated foods and hot foods, among others foods and all nonfood products.

“Food stamp recipients are busy workers and busy parents just like the rest of us,” Figart said.

She said that one-third of SNAP recipients earn an income with the other two-thirds being children, adults living with a disability or retired.

These busy family homes, she noted, who receive these benefits, as noted in the regulations, cannot use them to purchase ready-made hot foods like rotisserie chickens, hot wings, hot pizza slices, soups and more items available in stores.

“The limitations of SNAP are an example of something economics call institutional rigidity,” Figart said. 

Along with a book she and a colleague wrote, Figart drew upon the works of economist Thorstein Veblen and other colleagues to define the term institution, telling “it is human-constructed organizations, laws, rules, habits and social norms that evolve over time.”

While eating habits and customs here in America have changed, especially for busy working families, “what has not changed is the eligible list of foods for purchase,” she said. “Food stamp rules have not evolved with our eating habits and customs and constrain people’s choices. The rules themselves shape the choices of SNAP recipients while shopping at the grocery store. This is an example of institutional rigidity.” 

This brought her to the good news portion of the presentation, which was about two young men, Alex Imbot and Eli Moraru, graduates of the University of Pennsylvania, who saw good results of social and economic change.

Along with being involved in community and environmental issues, they both volunteered with a group helping haul boxes of food for the USDA to be delivered to the community, Figart said, but noticed that the people didn’t have proper kitchens to cook food in, “and that stuck with them.”

Therefore, they came up with a concept for a new store, The Community Grocer (TCG).

Their plan would be that the TCG would sell groceries and also sell the raw ingredients of portioned out meals in kits like a chicken with potatoes and other vegetables. After the customer buys the uncooked food kit with the EBT card, they leave the grocery store, Figart explained.

The TCG prep kitchen, in their concept, is separated by a wall in the back, relocating it to the back of the store on a different street with a different address. Customers would buy the meal kit, go around to the back of the building, just around the corner, to a separate shop that contains the food prep kitchen and give their kit to a worker who later gives them the cooked version of the raw meal at no charge. 

They presented their idea to the University of Pennsylvania, winning the Sustainability Prize of $100,000, reached out to people for a building site and spoke to groups, checked with multiple attorneys on legalities, found a chef, received help from an architect and knocked on doors talking with the community.

“It took a village,” Figart said.

And, on Sept. 20, 2023, in Philadelphia, a groundbreaking was held for The Community Grocer, which has “created a lot of commotion,” she said, with others asking how they can help and how they can have it in their area.

“Our local congressman, Brian Fitzpatrick, has now co-sponsored in Congress, The Hot Foods Act of 2023 to end the ban on hot foods in the SNAP program,” Figart said. “So the rotisserie chicken story is a case of invidious or unfair status distinctions affecting the poor in our society. Poor people cannot fulfill their potential, their capabilities when facing such discrimination or unequal treatment.”

She pointed out that there are a couple things that can be done. One would be to open more stores like TCG or to change the rules about what foods can be purchased with EBT cards.

She concluded by challenging the next generation to help make social economic changes.

“I have faith in the generations I am passing the torch to you,” she said. “Persist, because that’s what Catawba stands for.”

Dr. Eric Hake, professor of economics at Catawba College, who introduced her, also thanked Figart for coming, noting that he had heard her during a presentation in 2017 and just knew he had to get her to come to the college and speak.

Following her presentation, she opened the floor for questions and comments.

Dr. Imran Chowdhury, dean and Saleeby Professor of Business Administration at the Ketner School of Business at Catawba College, posed several questions during this time.

He shared that he thought this was “a great topic. I really admire the work that Dr. Figart has done. I’ve heard a lot about her from Dr. Hake. We’re also in the business school together. I quite enjoyed preparing and seeing him prepare for this event and bringing students and the community together. We’ve been discussing this since the fall, so it’s amazing to see it come together.”

Robert Johnson, a student at Catawba who serves as Chowdhury’s research assistant, said he loves to write about things going on at the college and showing those who support and donate to the school what is taking place there “and how we are trying to help the students as a whole.”

With a grin, he also added that he’s really into economics, “so I had to come to it.”

Figart told the group that Imbot and Moraru had an idea and had support to explore their idea.

“But there’s a lot of good ideas out there. They need the attention too. If you have an idea, speak up. Somebody is out there who will listen,” she said. “We can fix things. We can do progressive institutional change.”