In the past year, 61 percent of Chicago's working poor have had trouble getting access to food. That's according to a survey released yesterday by the Greater Chicago Food Depository. The 301 respondents all had "worked at least 20 hours a week for at least 27 weeks" and had incomes "below $17,871," reports Crain's. Here are some of the other findings:
Of those households struggling to secure food, 30% didn’t use any type of food assistance programs, while 43% had at least one family member using food stamps.
And 45% had at least one child enrolled in a free- or reduced-price school lunch program.
In 16% of the households, at least one family member was participating in Women, Infants and Children, a federal and regional food supplemental program for low-income families.
The data exemplifies two major failures in public policy: 1) even some people who work full-time can't afford basic human necessities, and 2) some of Chicago's impoverished still do not (or cannot) avail themselves of food-related assistance.
Indeed, 59 percent of respondents said they did not utilize soup kitchens. Of this group, 40 percent told surveyors that "people will look down on (you) if they know you use a food pantry." But the lack of quality facilities plays a role as well. In 2000, food banks nationwide received $250 million in federal funds through Title IV of the farm bill. Today, that number is $140 million.
Coincidentally, the report was released the same day Sen. Dick Durbin was in Peoria touting his Hunger Free Communities Act, a provision of the recently-passed farm bill that could bring an extra $53 million in Illinois food aid over the next decade. The bill is good news for local food banks feeling stretched by Republican budget cuts and the economic downturn.
Nonetheless, sponsors of the hunger survey think the situation may only get worse as the costs of fuel and food continue to skyrocket.
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