Release No. 0297.97

                                      Johna Pierce (202) 720-4623
                                            johna.pierce@usda.gov
                                    Darlene Barnes (703) 305-2286
                                      darlene_barnes@fcs.usda.gov

YVETTE JACKSON NAMED TO HEAD USDA'S FOOD AND CONSUMER SERVICE

     WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 1997--Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today
announced he has named Yvette Jackson the Administrator of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Food and Consumer Service.  FCS oversees federal
nutrition assistance programs.

     Jackson is the first African-American women to head the Food and
Consumer Service.  Since 1994, she has served as the agency's Deputy
Administrator in charge of the Food Stamp Program.  As FCS Administrator,
Jackson will oversee USDA's 15 nutrition assistance programs, including the
School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, the Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children -- the WIC program -- and
the Food Stamp Program.  She will manage an agency budget of $40 billion and
a staff of 1,700.

     "I take great pleasure in announcing the appointment of Yvette Jackson
as the Administrator of the Food and Consumer Service," Glickman said.  "She
has done an outstanding job directing the Food Stamp Program, and she has
made a career out of helping people in need.  I look forward to working with
her to continue to make our programs even more responsive to the people who
need them."

     Jackson began her career with the Pennsylvania Department of Public
Welfare 26 years ago as a caseworker in the Philadelphia County Assistance
Office.  She assumed increasing management responsibilities, culminating in
her appointment as Pennsylvania's Deputy Secretary of Income Maintenance in
March, 1991.  As deputy secretary, Jackson oversaw the administration of the
state's income security and medical assistance eligibility programs --
including the Food Stamp Program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children,
State General Assistance, Child Support Enforcement, and Medicaid.

     A native of Philadelphia, Jackson holds a bachelor's degree in social
welfare from Temple University and a Masters of Social Work from Rutgers
University.

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