Childhood Hunger
Latest News on February 2012
- February 28
Cooking Matters: Cooking Classes for Low-income Minnesotans Offer Healthy, Tasty Tips -
In a kitchen in St. Paul, Minn., a group of girls surround CeAnn Klug, who is about to try to change their cooking and eating habits.
Publication: MPR News
A national survey from the anti-hunger group Share Our Strength recently found nearly 80 percent of low- and moderate-income families cook evening meals at least times a week. Two-thirds said they want to learn more about making healthy food. That contradicts a commonly-held notion that low-income families often turn to processed or fast food.
- February 28
Poverty: One In Five Americans Struggle To Afford Food -
A new report from FRAC was released yesterday saying one out of five Americans struggles to afford food.
Publication: FRAC
Rising food prices, continuing high unemployment and underemployment, and flat food stamp benefit allotments all contributed to the high food hardship rate in 2011,” said FRAC President Jim Weill. “Particularly challenging was the increase in food inflation, especially for the foods the government uses to construct the Thrifty Food Plan, its cheapest diet. Food stamp beneficiaries lost more than six percent of their food purchasing power because of this increase.
- February 16
Nutrition: The Many Questions Surrounding Walmart's 'Great for You' Initiative -
A new piece in the Atlantic highlights Wal-Mart’s new healthy food icon and the work being done by No Kid Hungry.
Publication: The Atlantic
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters survey, which was funded by ConAgra, “busts the myth that poor people eat out and eat junk food whenever they can,” Josh Wachs said. Low-income families eat at home, and eat from-scratch meals, far more often than is widely assumed, at least if the 1,500 families that participated in the Cooking Matters survey are representative of low-income families across the country. And, as Jane Black pointed out in her post about the survey, price is the main barrier to low-income families who want to eat better — more important than access to fresh food, a result that will surprise those who say that food deserts are the first and biggest problem to surmount. But shoppers have difficulty planning and budgeting, Wachs said, to buy the healthy food they want.
- February 16
Poverty: Seniors Climb Out While Kids Fall In -
USA Today has a piece about the generational gap in poverty. As seniors climb out of poverty, kids are falling on hard times.
Publication: USA Today
Beth Mattingly, who researches family poverty at the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire, says child poverty is spreading.”This seems to be a story of social policy,” she says. “Social Security and Medicare are keeping seniors out of poverty.” The same is not happening for children, she says, even though they benefit from programs and tax credits designed to help low-income families with children….”But it’s not about elderly vs. children,” says Olivia Golden, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. Instead, she says, it is important to see what can be learned from the lower poverty rates for seniors and apply it to reducing child poverty. Otherwise, the future looks bleak for this generation of poor children, researchers and advocates say. Poor children are more likely to suffer from health and emotional problems, mediocre educations and fewer job opportunities that will keep them in poverty, they say.
- February 15
SNAP: Portland Film Asks, "Can You Eat Healthfully On Food Stamps?" -
A new film from a husband and wife team in Portland examines whether you can eat a healthful diet on a Food Stamp budget.
Publication: Neighborhood Notes
This backlash is perception-oriented,” Shawn DeCarlo, Metro Services Manager for the Oregon Food Bank, explains. “There are news stories of millionaires receiving unemployment, so people call for means testing [recipients before they] receive public assistance—passing a drug test, can’t own a mobile phone or a laptop. These efforts target the ‘most visible’ low-income people who make poor financial decisions, yet ignore the home-bound kids or the shut-in elderly suffering from hunger.
- February 15
Hunger: Food Bank In NJ Gets It -
The new Food Bank director for Monmouth and Ocean counties in NJ spoke to the press about hunger problems.
Publication: Asbury Park Press
Hunger is a solvable problem in the United States. It’s not that we don’t have enough food, families just don’t have access to it financially,” Rodriguez said.
- February 15
Health: She Said Let's Move - So We Did -
Ezekiel Emanuel writes about the success of Let’s Move!.
Publication: The New York Times
One of the most important results has been increasing public awareness of the importance of obesity. In 2008, over two-thirds of adults and a third of adolescents and children in the United States were obese or overweight. Although most Americans already saw obesity as a major problem, a majority opposed increasing federal spending to combat it. This attitude has begun to change. By 2011, a Pew survey found that most Americans believe the government should play a significant role in reducing obesity among children. Today, 80 percent of Americans acknowledge that childhood obesity is a serious problem
- February 8
SNAP: USDA SNAP efforts -
A blog post from the USDA talks about efforts to crack down harder on the less-than 1% fraud in the SNAP program.
Publication: USDA Blog
Again, cases of abuse in SNAP are pretty rare and the vast majority of SNAP participants and authorized retailers play by the rules using the program as intended. However, it’s important that we stay vigilant and raise awareness of these issues so people know how and where to report any incidences of abuse. This week, we launched a Fighting SNAP Fraud website to raise awareness of integrity issues and provide a direct portal to report suspicious activities.
- February 6
SNAP: Food Stamps Help, Not Hurt The Economy -
A new piece in the Kansas City infoZine reports that food stamps actually boost the economy.
Publication: infoZine
Furthermore, (Center for American Progress economics expert, Donna Cooper) said those who are interested in cutting spending for SNAP simply do not understand that it would hurt entire communities. “A cut in food stamps will reduce store hours in areas where people rely on food stamps,” she said. When store hours are reduced, weekly income is reduced. And when income shrinks, it’s inevitable that more will fall under the poverty level and become eligible for food stamps. More applicants could mean more need for government spending.
- February 6
Poverty: Lack Of Assets In Texas -
A new study shows how tough it can be to climb out on top of this economy in the state of Texas.
Publication: Houston Chronicle
A study by the Corporation for Enterprise Development has found that 27.7 percent of Texas households have no financial cushion in case of an emergency. If you exclude homes and automobiles from the calculation, a full 50 percent of Texans have no assets they could use to survive if they suddenly lost their income…Poverty is also most acute among children, with 25.7 percent of Texas children living in poverty, compared to 21.6 percent nationally. According to former state demographer Steve Murdock, a poor child who attends college is seven times more likely to move into the middle class, so public education is critical.
- February 2
Cooking Matters: Report Surprises The New York Times' Mark Bittman -
Wait. So People Are Cooking?
Publication: The New York Times
Read enough articles about the inequities of the American food system and you are likely to come across something like this: “Lacking sufficient access to real, healthy foods, low- and middle-income Americans rely on inexpensive fast food to feed their families.” (My paraphrase.) It’s a common conjecture that’s neither entirely true nor entirely false, but a survey released yesterday by the anti-childhood hunger organization Share Our Strength gives us reason to believe that low- and middle-income Americans are cooking more than many of us thought.
- February 2
Solutions: Eradicating Childhood Hunger -
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley talked about working to eradicate childhood hunger in the State of the State.
Publication: The Baltimore Sune
Gov. Martin O’Malley used his State of the State address Wednesday to make his case for his most ambitious legislative agenda since taking office.
- February 1
Cooking Matters: It's Dinnertime Report -
Cooking Matters survey on the dinner habits of low-income families featured in The Atlantic.
Publication: The Atlantic
How can we change the way America eats? If there is one thing most people agree on, it’s that we need to make healthy food more accessible and affordable to low-income families. Or do we? A new survey from Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters program challenges a piece of the conventional wisdom. The poll of 1,500 families revealed that most low-income families are satisfied with the availability of good food. Seventy-seven percent of urban families were satisfied with their options, versus 69 percent of rural families. The greater obstacles to healthy meals are planning skills, time and, yes, price.
- February 1
School Breakfast: Colorado No Kid Hungry Campaign -
Colorado No Kid Hungry Campaign and others announced winners in the Colorado School Breakfast Challenge Phase II.
Publication: Denver Post
In the year since Englewood’s Clayton Elementary implemented an in-class breakfast program, the number of students who eat at school jumped so high that it earned a state award. But the real benefit, administrators say, is in the effect it has had in the classroom.
“Teachers are reporting increased participation and attention from students and a dramatic increase in endurance,” said principal Nikki Westfall. “Our families are happier too. They are reporting much less stressful mornings.”
The in-class breakfast model is not new to the state, or even the metro area, but Colorado is trying to expand it through the No Kid Hungry campaign, which includes an awards program for schools that serve breakfast to more kids.
