Hunger Hits the Baystate

Project Bread, the state’s leading antihunger organization, released numbers from its upcoming annual Status Report on Hunger in Massachusetts 2011. The report is the state’s annual report card on hunger, and the grades are not good: it reveals that over 700,000 people in the Commonwealth are struggling to make ends meet — the highest rate recorded in Massachusetts since this data was first collected by the U.S. Census Bureau in 1995.

The report demonstrates that Massachusetts suffers from a dramatic and increasing income gap. Over the last ten years, the number of high-paying technology jobs has increased in the Commonwealth, while the number of manufacturing jobs has dwindled, leaving Massachusetts with one of the greatest income gaps in the nation. From 1979 to 2008 (the latest year for which data are available), the median income of the poorest families went from $22,452 to $22,688. During this same period, the median income for the most affluent families, increased 43 percent, from $136,099 to $194,899.

"The concentration of wealth and poverty in towns as different as Duxbury and Holyoke, creates a very different day-to-day experience for residents," Project Bread's executive director Ellen Parker said. Even the state’s averaged numbers distort the painful reality faced by families who live in areas of concentrated poverty."

With 10.8 percent of Massachusetts families identified as food insecure, the report notes that many families who were once considered "middle-class" are now struggling to make ends meet.

The isolation of families in areas of concentrated poverty is one of the report’s most disturbing findings.

"Low-income communities have fewer food resources," Parker said. "They tend to live in food deserts, which means that they do not have grocery stores nearby but have to rely on expensive convenience stores for each week’s groceries. They have fewer farmers’ markets. Their schools have a more difficult time providing healthy, tasty food with fresh produce for kids, and their emergency food programs are either nonexistent or overwhelmed by the demand."

Because areas of concentrated poverty also suffer from fewer community resources to help in an economic downturn, the report argues that hunger solutions should not only help the hungry person but also the community. Creating win-win hunger relief programs such as community gardens, food co-ops, market-based solutions, which engage local grocers, and community dinners with nutrition education, while also utilizing existing federal programs, including SNAP (formerly known as food stamps), Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), school nutrition programs, and summer food programs will help families remain healthy and nourish the community at the same time.

Major findings of the report include the following items:

• The number of households in Massachusetts facing hunger continues to climb. In 2010 (the latest study for which data are available), 10.8 percent of households were food insecure. This is the highest rate recorded in the Commonwealth since this data was first collected in 1995.
• There are two “states” of Massachusetts: one in which the median income for wealthy residents continues to rise; and the other where thousands of families slide backward. 
• Families on the wrong side of the income gap tend to be isolated in communities that are food deserts, lack the resources to serve healthy school food, and struggle to offer comprehensive emergency food programs.
• The new thinking about hunger relief shows that no one response adequately fits all situations. Focusing on solutions that help the individual and strengthen the community is the best way to have a sustainable impact.

The complete report is available online at www.projectbread.org/statusreport, will present the data to support these findings and solutions as well as downloadable graphs and graphics.

(Courtesy Project Bread)