“Today's report shows how necessary it is for our nation's leaders to unite around policies that fight hunger and poverty, nourish kids and invest in a bright future for families across the country,” said Gromley.
Contact: Ryan Flaherty, rflaherty@strength.org
9/10/24, WASHINGTON, DC — Today, the Census Bureau released its annual report on poverty in the U.S. for 2023. This year’s study shows another consecutive increase in child poverty rates, up to 13.7%, following last year’s unprecedented spike. This is according to the Supplemental Poverty Measure, which takes into account the impact of government assistance and other resources. The following is a statement from Jason Gromley, Senior Director for Share Our Strength and its No Kid Hungry campaign:
“It keeps getting harder for families to get by. Just three years ago, child poverty was at record lows because of the smart investments made in assistance programs. But, today's report shows that nearly 1 million more kids are facing poverty after pandemic era investments in families ended.
“This trend was mirrored in the USDA Food Security report out last week, which showed a similar uptick in child hunger - not surprising, since we know hunger and poverty are fueled from many of the same root causes.
“And we’re seeing both exacerbated disproportionality in communities of color. The poverty rate for Hispanic children is more than 1.5 times the national average (22%). And nearly 1 in 5 Black kids is living in poverty (19.2%).
“But we have solutions. They include strengthening and protecting programs, like SNAP and WIC, investing in school meals, expanding the Child Tax Credit, and fully implementing new summer nutrition programs, like Summer EBT (SUN Bucks). These programs are investments in our future by connecting kids with the food they need to grow up smart, healthy and strong.
“There is no excuse for Congress to sit on the sidelines as more families slip into poverty. Election year partisanship has already prevented the Senate from passing an expansion of the Child Tax Credit that had overwhelming bipartisan support in the House and would have improved the lives of over 16 million kids and lifted more than 400,000 kids out of poverty.
“Today's report shows how necessary it is for our nation's leaders to unite around policies that fight hunger and poverty, nourish kids and invest in a bright future for families across the country.”
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About No Kid Hungry
No child should go hungry in America. But millions of kids in the United States live with hunger. No Kid Hungry is working to end childhood hunger by helping launch and improve programs that give all kids the healthy food they need to thrive. This is a problem we know how to solve. No Kid Hungry is a campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization committed to ending hunger and poverty.