Applying Racial Equity to U.S. Federal Nutrition Assistance Programs - Flipbook - Page 70
Appendix 21: Impact of the Racial Wealth Divide on SNAP Recipients of Color
To learn about the racial wealth divide and its
Racial Inequality Affects Generations
connections with hunger in greater detail, please review
the Racial Wealth Gap Learning Simulation.
The racial wealth divide and racial discrimination
in the workforce impact an individual’s ability to save
enough for the future. See graphic at right.
Racial bias in the workplace means that older
Americans of color are likely to have been paid less
than whites doing the same work for their entire
careers, preventing them from saving as much money
for retirement. African Americans and Latinos who
are nearing retirement have an average savings balance
of $30,000—only one-fourth the average $120,000 in
savings of whites in the same age group.329
As a result, older Americans of color must rely more
If students of color
And adults of
Then seniors of
on their families for support—in most cases, their adult
are 7 times as
color are more
color are less likely
likely to attend
likely to receive
to have saved for
children, who are also likely to work for lower wages.
Caring for an older parent often pushes a family of
color, which is already up to three times as likely to
SOURCE: https://www.bread.org/sites/default/files/downloads/briefing-paper-getting-tolive below the poverty line, even deeper into hunger
and poverty. Families don’t have needed supports such
as fairly paid jobs with benefits.330 This illustrates the generational effects of policies that limit the opportunities available to
people from specific racial groups. Families of color have fewer resources to support themselves and their extended family.
Appendix 22: Health Tool to Screen Food Insecurity
[Excerpt from Bread for the World Institute’s 2016 Hunger Report]
In the mid-2000s, Children’s HealthWatch sites began piloting the use of a 2-item food security screening tool. The
tool is based on a longer food security survey the U.S. Census Bureau administers annually to the population at large...
The objective is to efficiently identify households at risk of food insecurity, so that the research approach of the 18-item
USDA Food Security Scale can be translated into a clinically useful tool. The survey asks the parent or caregiver to rate
two statements as “often true,” “sometimes true,” or “never true”: “Within the past 12 months, we worried whether our
food would run out before we got money to buy more,” and “Within the past 12 months, the food we bought just didn’t
last and we didn’t have money to get more.” This tool, the Hunger VitalSign™, has been validated with a sample of
30,000 caregivers. Responses can be recorded in electronic medical records along with other vital signs. Today, it has
been widely adopted as a routine activity in pediatric and other healthcare settings, including newly established electronic
For more information, read the 2016 Hunger Report, titled “The Nourishing Effect.” The U.S. food security survey
is discussed in the Introduction, pages 16-19. http://hungerreport.org/2016/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/HR2016-FullReport-Web.pdf
Appendix 23: Food Insecurity in Puerto Rico Post-Hurricanes
Before the two massive hurricanes hit Puerto Rico, Bread for the World Institute estimated that 60 percent of all residents
were food insecure.331 Subsequently, people who already faced hunger had less access to food than before, and another large
group of people who had previously been food secure also faced hunger. The hunger rate rose to at least 85 percent.
Because Puerto Rico has only a predetermined amount of money for food assistance (an arrangement known as a block
grant), the government has had little flexibility to respond to the vastly increased needs. This is an important factor that drives
soaring levels of hunger among Puerto Ricans—despite the fact that they are U.S. citizens.
After the hurricanes and at least as recently as March 2019, many communities lacked access both to basic necessities, such
as regular, reliable access to healthy, nutritious foods, and to the resources needed to obtain them, such as functional roads,
fully stocked grocery stores, and fairly paid jobs.
For more, please read “Hunger and Poverty in Puerto Rico.”332
APPLYING RACIAL EQUITY TO U.S. FEDERAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS: SNAP, WIC AND CHILD NUTRITION