RECESSSION HIT FOOD SECURITY HARD, BUT SNAP HELPED

Roughly 2 million more children live in poverty today than at the start of the recession, according to a new study that analyzes four areas affecting children’s well-being: health, hunger, housing, and abuse and neglect.  Food security, the study finds was the hardest hit. As of 2013, 15.7 million children lived in households where at least one family member didn’t get enough to eat on a regular basis. That’s 3.3 million more than at the onset of the recession. But SNAP helped ease the situation. The number of SNAP beneficiaries rose by 21 million between 2007 and 2013 to 46.5 million, resulting in about 1 in 3 kids receiving some form of nutrition assistance.

Source: Pew Charitable Trust, 3/17/15, Food Security in the Recession