Navigation

Public Records Request
Natural Resources Building
P.O. Box 42560
1111 Washington ST SE
Olympia, WA 98504-2560
Phone: (360) 902-1800

CSFP Section 12

Back
Home / Services / Food Access / Hunger Relief Agency Hub / CSFP / CSFP Plan / Section 12

What do you need today?

CSFP State Plan Section 12: Expansion Request

Expansion Request

Prior Year Participation Levels:

As noted under the CSFP Final Rule, State agencies qualify for additional caseload if the participation level was equal to or greater than 95 percent of existing caseload. Our CSFP caseload participation level average for FFY 2024 exceeded 95 percent of our existing caseload. Our base caseload in FFY 2024 was 5,463. 

Expansion Request:

WSDA Food Assistance is requesting 1,087 additional caseload slots for CSFP in FFY 2025 to be able to accommodate the growing number of CSFP eligible participants and anticipated expansion of CSFP into new areas. The total requested caseload for FFY 2025 is 6,550, which is comprised of our adjusted base caseload of 5,463 and the additional requested caseload of 1,087.  This data is also shown in the CSFP State Agency Worksheet.

Lead Agency Counties Served Adjusted Base Caseload Existing Areas Request New Areas Request Total Caseload Request
Blue Mountain Action Council Asotin, Columbia, Franklin, Garfield, Walla Walla 200 16 0 216
Central Kitsap Food Bank Kitsap, Jefferson (partial) 650 0 0 650
Pending - Chelan Douglas Community Action Council Chelan, Douglas 0 0 200 200
Coastal Harvest Grays Harbor, Pacific 270 100 0 370
Community Services of Moses Lake Adams, Benton, Grant, Lincoln, Whitman, Yakima (partial)  925 0 0 925
Emergency Food Network Pierce 250 50 0 300
FISH Food Bank Kittatas 120 0 0 120
Olympic Community Action Council Clallam, Jefferson (partial) 129 0 0 129
Okanogan County Community Action Council Okanogan 280 20 0 300
Partners Inland Northwest Spokane 900 150 0 1,050
Rural Resources Community Action Ferry, Pend Oreille, Stevens 450 0 0 450
Skagit County Community Action Agency Skagit 240 0 0 240
Thurston County Food Bank Thurston, Lewis, Mason (partial) 800 200 0 1,000
Washington Gorge Action Programs Klickitat, Skamania 249 51 0 300
Pending - Volunteers of America Snohomish 0 0 300 300
Total 5,463 587 500 6,550
Adjusted Base Caseload from USDA Worksheet 5,463
Expansion Request for FFY 2025 1,087
FFY 2025 Total Caseload Request 6,550

Expansion Request Details for New Areas:

Our plan is to expand CSFP into these new areas: Chelan, Douglas, and Snohomish Counties. The expansion into new areas is projected to serve an additional 500 participants.

The specific expansion plan for these new areas include:

  • Expansion into Chelan and Douglas Counties – anticipate 200 participants.  We have had initial promising conversations with Chelan-Douglas Community Action Council but have not finalized the details. Chelan-Douglas Community Action Council is also a long-time TEFAP Lead Agency.
  • Expansion into Snohomish County – anticipate 300 participants.  We have had initial preliminary conversations with several organizations that have expressed interest in CSFP.  We will be having additional conversations to determine if any of these organizations are well suited to successfully administer this program in FFY 2025.
Please note that if expansion into these new areas is not successful, then we will redistribute any additional caseload into our existing areas that have the ability to serve more participants. With the increase of the income eligibility guidelines to 150 percent, all current Lead Agencies will have additional participants that did not previously meet the guidelines.

Additional Information:

While we have heard from our local agencies that CSFP is administratively difficult to operate they have always found a way to make it work.  We will also be able to provide state CSFP Gap funding to help reduce the overall “unpaid” costs of the program and increase the success of Lead Agencies administering the program at the local level. 

Our state, like many others, is continuing to see a dramatic rise in the number of people seeking relief from food pantries.  CSFP will be even more of a critical strategy to address the continued rise in client needs, including for seniors.

In one of our programs the number of client visits to food pantries increased from 10.99 million visits in SFY 2023 to over 13.38 million visits in SFY 2024, seniors make up over 24% of all clients. In the proposed expansion to the new areas alone, seniors comprised:

  • Chelan County: 25% of client visits
  • Douglas County: 33% of client visits
  • Snohomish County: 22% of all client visits
    • One important piece of information about Snohomish County, whose number of seniors served is below the state average, is that it is one of the fastest growing counties in the state with an ever-increasing cost of living which has the potential to strain fixed-income seniors in that county. 

We are committed to working with our current Lead Agencies and adding new Lead Agencies to better serve seniors across the state. It is our hope that we will be able to increase our caseload so that we can better meet the anticipated needs of seniors in FFY 2025. 

Click here to return to CSFP page
CSFP State Plan Table of Contents
Section 11  
Revision 2024-12