- Food stamp use soars, and stigma fades, By Jason DeParle and Robert Gebeloff, November 28, 2009, New York Times: “With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children. It has grown so rapidly in places so diverse that it is becoming nearly as ordinary as the groceries it buys. More than 36 million people use inconspicuous plastic cards for staples like milk, bread and cheese, swiping them at counters in blighted cities and in suburbs pocked with foreclosure signs. Virtually all have incomes near or below the federal poverty line, but their eclectic ranks testify to the range of people struggling with basic needs. They include single mothers and married couples, the newly jobless and the chronically poor, longtime recipients of welfare checks and workers whose reduced hours or slender wages leave pantries bare…”
- Food stamp estimate sparks poverty debate, By Lindsey Tanner (AP), November 28, 2009, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “The estimate was startling and made headlines around the country: Almost half of all U.S. kids will be on food stamps at some time during childhood. How could it be true in the land of plenty, in the midst of an obesity epidemic, skeptics wondered. Surprisingly, many statisticians and policy analysts say the projection seems about right. Where they differ, along ideological lines, is in interpreting what it all means. Most would agree that people on food stamps aren’t necessarily starving, and some might not be even close to it. It’s also clear that people who need food stamps the most often don’t get them…”
- Food-stamp administration: Pa. ranks high, N.J. low, By Alfred Lubrano, November 28, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Critical of how some states administer food stamps for the hungriest Americans, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has ranked state performance, with Pennsylvania listed among the best and New Jersey among the worst. USDA officials indicated last week that certain states ‘have not served . . . taxpayers well,’ according to a letter from the agency to state food-stamp administrators that was first reported on by the Associated Press. The essential criticism is that although many people are eligible for food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, they do not receive them, in part because of bureaucratic processing difficulties…”
- One in six Alabamians get funds for food, By Kim Chandler, November 29, 2009, Birmingham News: “Nearly one in six Alabamians receive food assistance, according to the most recent numbers available from the state Department of Human Resources. The troubled economy is sending Alabamians in record numbers to sign up for help in feeding their families…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty