- Number of food stamp recipients skyrockets in the region, By Candy Woodall, February 8, 2016, PennLive.com: “The number of food stamp recipients exploded throughout the midstate during the last five years, according to state and federal data. All counties in the region had increases of about 50 percent or more, compared with data from 2005 to 2009. Some local counties reported gains of 80 percent or more, and Cumberland County’s numbers increased 138 percent. There are now 1.8 million Pennsylvanians receiving food stamps, compared to 1.1 million during fiscal year 2006-07, according to the state Department of Human Services…”
- Pennsylvania nonprofits work to help those facing food stamp restrictions, By Adam Smeltz, February 8, 2016, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Western Pennsylvania nonprofits are hustling to blunt a clamp-down this spring on food stamp benefits, promoting volunteer work and other provisions that can keep low-income households eligible for the aid. More than 9,500 residents of Allegheny County are among some 48,000 Pennsylvanians who could lose the help by June 1, according to state figures and Just Harvest, a South Side anti-hunger organization. Those beneficiaries fall under a renewed three-month limit for many unemployed or underemployed adults ages 18 to 50 who aren’t disabled or raising minor children…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty