The United States has more poor children now than it did a year ago.
As recession-hammered families increase, more are using food stamps to feed their kids, according to a study by the Brookings Institution and First Focus, a bipartisan child advocacy group.
“They are a really good barometer, a kind of economic needs test,” said Mark Rank, an expert on social welfare programs at Washington University in St. Louis. “If you’re receiving food stamps and you’re a child, by definition, you’re in poverty.”
Across the nation, 7 million people joined the food stamp rolls from August 2008 to August 2009, the study said. Users rose from 29.5 million to 36.5 million. Half were children.
States scattered coast to coast showed “very high growth” in food stamp caseloads. In Florida, almost half a million people joined the rolls, a 34 percent increase; in North Carolina, nearly 200,000, a 21 percent increase.
Other states that showed a high increase in the percentage of food stamp caseloads include Idaho, with a 36 percent increase; Washington state, up 32 percent; Georgia, up 27 percent; California, up 21 percent; and Texas, up 20 percent.
“As parents lose jobs and as work becomes scarcer, it’s only natural to see your needs-based programs have more people applying for that assistance,” said Scott Rowson, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Social Services.
The study appears to buttress a U.S. Census report last fall, which found that nearly one in five children live in poverty. Julia Isaacs, a Brookings scholar, said that could end up closer to one in four by 2012.
The food stamp program is now known as SNAP, for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Participants use ATM-like cards instead of the old scrip.
The benefits always have been aimed at a broader audience of the poor than most anti-poverty programs are. To become eligible, generally one must earn less than 130 percent of poverty guidelines — below $28,665 for a family of four — and have no more than $2,000 in the bank.
Unemployment was 4.9 percent in December 2007, when the government pegs the start of the recession. Now it’s 10 percent. Many workers have seen their paychecks cut and benefits such as health insurance disappear.
Despite the food-stamp safety net, experts worry.
“Children in households that experience poverty are at risk of other kinds of problems, so it’s definitely something to be concerned about,” Rank said. “It has bad effects on families.”
State ………% increase in SNAP participants From Jan-June 2008 to Jan-June 2009
Alabama ……… 19
Alaska ……….. 12
Arizona ………. 30
Arkansas ……… 9
California ……. 21
Colorado ……… 27
Connecticut …… 13
Delaware ……… 22
DC …………… 15
Florida ………. 34
Georgia ………. 27
Hawaii ……….. 19
Idaho ………… 36
Illinois ……… 13
Indiana ………. 14
Iowa …………. 16
Kansas ……….. 17
Kentucky ……… 11
Louisiana …….. 8
Maine ………… 16
Maryland ……… 26
Massachusetts …. 25
Michigan ……… 14
Minnesota …….. 17
Mississippi …… 13
Missouri ……… 16
Montana ………. 15
Nebraska ……… 10
Nevada ……….. 37
New Hampshire …. 23
New Jersey ……. 14
New Mexico ……. 22
New York ……… 18
North Carolina … 21
North Dakota ….. 9
Ohio …………. 18
Oklahoma ……… 11
Oregon ……….. 24
Pennsylvania ….. 12
Rhode Island ….. 19
South Carolina … 17
South Dakota ….. 15
Tennessee …….. 18
Texas ………… 20
Utah …………. 39
Vermont ………. 31
Virginia ……… 20
Washington ……. 32
West Virginia …. 10
Wisconsin …….. 30
Wyoming ………. 18
Source: SNAP data from National Data Bank Version 8.2 Public Use, adjusted by data on disaster assistance from the Disaster Report by Fiscal Year.
ON THE WEB
The Brookings Institution news release
The full report by the Brookings Institution and First Focus
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We are presently looking for 242 new monthly donors in the next 2 days.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy