Bread Analysis Shows Hunger and Poverty Among African-American Women and Children Particularly High

A new analysis from Bread for the World shows that African-American women and children are at risk of poor nutrition due to hunger and poverty. Photo by Margaret W. Nea.

Hunger and poverty are putting more and more African-American women and children at risk of poor nutrition, according to Bread for the World's annual analysis of hunger and poverty in the African-American community released today. [Read the full report here.]

Here are some key highlights from the analysis:

• More than one in four African-Americans (27.4 percent) lived in poverty in 2010, compared to one in seven (15.1 percent) Americans.
• More than one-third (39.1 percent) of all African-American children live in poverty, compared to one in five children in the country as a whole.

Furthermore, African-Americans are more likely to go hungry, the analysis reports:

• One in four (25.1 percent) African-American households struggled to put food on the table in 2010.
• Households with children experienced even higher rates of food insecurity -- 32.9 percent of African-American households with children were food insecure, compared to 20.2 percent of all U.S. households with children.

In light of these sobering numbers, it's most important to remember that real families like yours and mine are struggling to put food on their tables every day -- a reality that we can change if we could just find the political will and moral courage to end hunger in our time.

Rev. Derrick Boykin, associate for African-American leadership outreach for Bread for the World, emphasizes that "federal safety-net programs keep many families from going hungry." Boykin encourages us to "urge lawmakers to create a circle of protection around these programs, protecting them from cuts that could result in more hard times for people in need."

Read the full analysis here and learn how you can participate in Bread for the World's 2012 Offering of Letters and tell your members of Congress to protect these vital life-saving programs.

Jeannie Choi is associate editor at Bread for the World.