GLENWOOD SPRINGS (AP) – For the first time since the beginning of the Great Recession, Garfield County’s residents’ enrollment for food stamps dropped year over year in the Roaring Fork Valley.
Between 2012 and 2013, the county saw a 1 percent reduction in the number of recipients of what is now called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The average Colorado county experienced a 7 percent increase.
Between 2008 and 2009, Garfield County saw an 82 percent increase in recipients – well above the state average of 32 percent for the same year.
These numbers, released by Rocky Mountain PBS, paint a picture of the recession in the Roaring Fork Valley relative to the rest of Colorado. While the local economy seems to have fallen the farthest at the outset, it also seems to be recovering faster, at least with respect to the demand for public food assistance.
“A large portion of Garfield County’s population consists of young families who were disproportionately affected by the recession,” said Mary Baydarian, director of Human Services for Garfield County. “As employment opportunities decreased, primarily in oil and gas and construction, the need for assistance rose.”
She also emphasized one year of decreased enrollment isn’t a guaranteed sign of recovery.
“We had an increase of 153 cases in January,” she said.
The January 2014 increase of 153 cases could be partially caused by the Affordable Care Act. Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s portal for government health insurance, sends applicants through the Medicaid application as part of the process. Most of those approved for Medicaid would also be eligible for food assistance.
So far, Baydarian said, the county has seen many more new Medicaid cases than new food-assistance cases.
“From the department’s perspective, it is too soon to make a connection between the slight reduction in recipients of food assistance and improvement in the economy,” she said.
