The director of Alabama’s Food Stamp Program has been selected to represent the Southeast Region on the Executive Board of the American Association of Food Stamp Directors (AAFSD). Dallas County native Joyce P. O’Neal is director of the Food Assistance Division of the state Department of Human Resources.
Ms. O’Neal, who has been with the agency for 32 years, was Perry County DHR director before joining the department’s central office staff in Montgomery in 2002.
Ms. O’Neal will be the Southeast Region’s liaison for policy and administrative issues related to the food stamp program. “It is a distinct honor for me to serve on the AAFSD’s Executive Board,” Ms. O’Neal said. “I appreciate the opportunity to articulate the concerns and views of my colleagues in the Southeast Region, being ever mindful of the importance of the food stamp program to millions of American families,” she added.
The Southeast Region includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
DHR Commissioner Page Walley was pleased that Ms. O’Neal has the opportunity to share the expertise that she has shown as Alabama’s food stamp director. “She possesses keen insight into the food stamp program’s administrative challenges, and she has genuine compassion for the needy families who rely upon the program,” Commissioner Walley said. “Because of this combination, Ms. O’Neal will be a great asset to the AAFSD’s Executive Board,” he stated.
The AAFSD is affiliated with the American Public Human Services Association, a nonprofit, bipartisan organization whose members are representatives of state and local human service agencies.