New Data Reveal Extent of Hunger in Every Corner of the U.S.

[razzleccentric]

FRAC Releases New Data on Food Hardship in 2008 and 2009, with First-Ever Data for MSAs and All Congressional Districts

Download the report:
<http://www.frac.org/pdf/food_hardship_report_2010.pdf>

Food Hardship: A Closer Look at Hunger - Data for the Nation, States, 100 MSAs, and Every
Congressional District

Washington, D.C. - January 26, 2010 - New data released by the Food Research
and Action Center (FRAC) reveal - for the very first time - the extent to
which Americans are struggling to afford enough food in every Congressional
District and 100 of the country's largest metropolitan areas. This
unprecedented set of data also chronicles food hardship through December
2009, providing a unique up-to-date examination of how millions of American
households in every part of the country are struggling with hunger in the
recession. Official government data on food insecurity have a nearly
one-year time lag and do not go below the state level.


The report analyzes survey data that were collected by Gallup and provided
to FRAC. The ability to provide such localized data and such up-to-date data
comes from Gallup, interviewing 1,000 households per day almost every day
since January 2, 2008 for the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index project.
Through December 2009, more than 650,000 people have been asked a series of
questions on a range of topics including emotional health, physical health,
healthy behavior, work environment and access to basic services. Specific to
this report, more than 530,000 people were asked: "Have there been times in
the past twelve months when you did not have enough money to buy food that
you or your family needed?"

Gallup's data take us through December 2009 and reveal pervasive food
hardship at the national, state, MSA, and congressional district level:

* Food hardship in the Gallup survey for the nation as a whole rose
from 16.3 percent of respondent households in the first quarter of 2008 to
19.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008. In 2009, the rate dropped
slightly, with the rate in the four quarters of 2009 hovering between 17.9
and 18.8 percent. In the fourth quarter of 2009, it was 18.5 percent.
* The food hardship rate is even worse for households with children.
Respondents in such households reported food hardship at a rate 1.62 times
that of other households - 24.1 percent versus 14.9 percent in 2009.
* In 2009, in 20 states, more than one in five respondents said that
they experienced food hardship; in 45 states more than 15 percent reported
food hardship. For households with children, in 22 states one quarter or
more of respondents reported food hardship.
* Of the 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), 82 had 15
percent or more of respondents answering that they did not have enough money
to buy needed food at times in the last 12 months. For the 50 largest MSAs,
15 had more than one in four households with children reporting food
hardship.
* Of the 436 Congressional Districts (including the District of
Columbia), 311 had a food hardship rate of 15 percent or higher. In 139 of
them the rate was 20 percent or higher. Practically every Congressional
District in the country had more than a tenth of respondents reporting food
hardship.

"The data in this report show that food hardship - running out of money to
buy the food that families need - is truly a national problem. It is a
national problem in the sense that the rate for the nation is so high," said
Jim Weill, President of FRAC. "And it is a national problem in the sense
that rates are high in virtually every state, Metropolitan Statistical Area,
and Congressional District."

National Trends

For the nation, the monthly data show that the dramatic rise in the food
hardship rate in 2008 tracked key developments in the economy, including
rising unemployment and skyrocketing food prices. After late 2008, the food
hardship rate flattened out and moderated somewhat.

While the economic crisis continued in 2009, several factors likely were
responsible for keeping the food hardship rate from continuing to climb:
Food prices stopped their rapid growth, and increases in SNAP/Food Stamp
benefits and eligibility and in other low-income supports - particularly
through the February 2008 Recovery Act - provided needed help to struggling
families. SNAP/Food Stamp benefit increases occurred in October 2008 and
April 2009, and beginning in December 2008 the number of people receiving
SNAP/Food Stamp assistance began growing even more rapidly than earlier in
the recession. From January 2008 to November 2008 the number rose by 3.3
million. From November 2008 to October 2009 it rose by 6.8 million.

"While it is an encouraging sign that the dramatic growth in 2008 was not
followed by further growth in 2009, the crucial facts are that the most
recent food hardship number, at 18.5 percent, is not only well above the
early 2008 rate," said Jim Weill, "but is simply unacceptable under any
economic conditions. Nearly one in five U.S. households is struggling with
hunger. This should be of tremendous concern to the nation."

Also deeply concerning is the finding that one in four respondents in
households with children reported food hardship.

"President Obama has made it a goal to end childhood hunger by 2015, and
this report shows that not a minute can be wasted between now and 2015 if
we're to reach that goal," said Weill. "Strengthening the economy,
developing good jobs at good wages, boosting income supports, improving
child nutrition programs through the upcoming reauthorization, and
bolstering SNAP/Food Stamps so it helps even more households and does so
with more robust benefits, are all ways that the President, Congress and the
states can tackle this challenge and achieve the 2015 goal."

The report's appendix contains charts providing food hardship data:

* for the nation, by calendar quarter, throughout 2008 and 2009;
* for the nation, month by month, throughout 2008 and 2009;
* for the states in 2009 and in 2008;
* for the states in 2008-2009 combined, broken out by households with children and those without children;
* for the 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas in 2008-2009 combined;
* for the 50 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas in 2008-2009 combined, broken out by households with children and households without children;
* for all Congressional Districts, alphabetically by state, for 2008-2009 combined; and
* for all Congressional Districts, in rank order, for 2008-2009 combined.


The Food Research and Action Center (www.frac.org) is the leading national
nonprofit organization working to improve public policies and public-private
partnerships to eradicate hunger and undernutrition in the United States.



I think FRAC is such an appropriate acronym in this case...

Comments

[bluestocking7.livejournal.com]

In the Capstone this week, we started talking about all the money pouring into Haiti over the past two weeks, and I asked "why now - why not 6 months ago when the poverty there was already horrific? Why do we wait for some disaster to jump in to `help'?"

One of my students commented that Americans like to be heroes, especially about stuff like this, so we can assuage our guilt at having so much, but then another student said "no...I mean yes...but no, because those same people throwing millions at Haiti never look south of Central or in the Appalachians or in all those small towns where the factories have closed. Why can't we find millions of dollars to help people suffering and starving in our own back yards?"

The first student then argued that it was because we couldn't be heroes then and feel good about ourselves. Another brought up Katrina as an example: money WAS raised for Katrina victims, but not on this scale or with this level of pathos.

So we started discussing hunger and food security and health care in America. It was pretty interesting that so many of these students think that health care reform should include nutritional health reform (and NONE suggested diets - they all want healthy foods available to everyone).

[bluestocking7.livejournal.com]

I think I need to re-post this in my journal for the record. I want to *remember* what these students were saying, because I think they had a lot of valid points.

[amethyst-clan.livejournal.com]

Good article. And makes some good points. (Hunger isn't just a third world thing. It's here, every day!)