DURHAM -- Durham officials were advised Wednesday to explore partnerships with retailers, schools and nonprofit groups in order to boost food stamp enrollment.

Officially, nearly 66 percent of eligible Durham County residents are signed up for the federal government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which until October was known as the Food Stamp Program. But the real participation rate is thought to be around 50 percent because the official calculation relies upon 2000 Census data on people living in poverty -- a group that has since grown.

"It's always important that our community is healthy," Gladys Dunston, chairwoman of Durham County's Board of Social Services, said when asked why increasing food aid participation is a worthwhile endeavor. "And if people are hungry, they're not healthy."

In 2007, SNAP paid an average of $96 per person per month and $215 per household per month. The main eligibility rule is that recipients earn 130 percent or less of the federal poverty guidelines.

North Carolina's food stamp participation rate in 2006, the most recent year for which national rankings are available, was 67 percent, lower than the mark in 25 other states.

UNC Chapel Hill master's of public health candidates Glenn Baldwin, Courtney Lyndrup and Kat McDougal reported to the Durham Board of Social Services Wednesday on possible enrollment expansion strategies for SNAP. Fellow student Josh Evans also worked on the project.

The suggestions included:

- Having food sellers print information about the food aid program on receipts or bags. The group cited a study suggesting that every $5 in new food stamp benefits yields more than $9 in community spending.

- Obtaining data from the public schools' free or reduced-price lunch program to find eligible families that have not enrolled in SNAP.

- Partnering with the AmeriCorps volunteer service to help screen potential clientele for a variety of public benefits using a Web site called The Benefit Bank. The site, an offering of Philadelphia-based Solutions for Progress, can determine eligibility for food stamps, health care coverage, home energy help and other assistance at no charge and in one sitting.

The students also compared Durham food aid registrations and 2000 poverty data and found that two groups have fewer than half of eligible members receiving food assistance: people aged 18 to 24 and those aged 55 and over. Those younger than 18 have the highest participation rates.

Sammy Haithcock, director of Durham's Department of Social Services, thanked the students for their work and said his staff would look into implementing some of their ideas.

Participation in food assistance in Durham is at an all-time record level, with 25,524 recipients drawing more than $2.9 million in November. That's up from 24,115 recipients of $2.5 million in aid in July of this year.

Through the end of last month, the county Department of Social Services had already spent nearly $13.5 million on food assistance, or roughly 47 percent of the $28.9 million food assistance budget.