One in four Ohio Households with Children Reporting Food Hardship

This just in from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC): More than 26.3 percent of households with children in Ohio reported they suffered from "food hardship" (an inability to afford enough food) in 2009-2010.

FRAC announced the numbers in the latest report in its “Food Hardship in America" series, which analyzes data that were collected by Gallup and provided to FRAC. FRAC has analyzed responses to the question: “Have there been times in the past twelve months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?”

Some food hardship details for Ohio:

•In 2009-2010, 26.3 percent of households with children in Ohio said they were unable to afford enough food. The food hardship rate for households without children was 16.6 percent.
•All but two congressional districts in Ohio had more than one in four households with children reporting food hardship in 2008-2010.

Ohio Food Hardship 2009-2010:
National Rank: 20th
Households with children 26.3%
Households without children 16.6%

"These data demonstrate...that this is not the time to make our safety net weaker," said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, director Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, "and Congress must ensure that all deficit negotiations protect nutrition programs and other parts of the safety net that help low-income people.”

The data were gathered as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index project, which has interviewed more than one million households since January 2008.

In 16 of Ohio’s 18 Congressional districts at least one in four households with children answered “yes” to the question: “Were their times over the past year when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?”





Find out more at FRAC’s website http://frac.org/pdf/aug2011_food_hardship_report_children.pdf
Find out more at OASHF’s website: http://admin.oashf.org/uploads/news/Food_Hardship_2011_Release_081111.pdf

Great Needs Challenge to Help Raise Funds for Veteran Education Benefits

Columbus Foundation selects Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks as One of Seven Recipients to Receive Great Needs Challenge Funding

As can be felt throughout the state of Ohio, the lingering effects of the economic recession can't be ignored. In central Ohio, thousands of individuals and families continue the uphill battle to make ends meet. Whether unemployed, underemployed, or living with greatly reduced retirement income, our neighbors find they are unable to afford the necessities of life including food, prescriptions, and a roof over their heads.

It is with excitement that we announce that OASHF is one of seven eligible nonprofit organizations included in The Columbus Foundation's Great Needs Challenge. This means that you can make a gift to OASHF for this Critical Need Alert, and The Columbus Foundation will match your gift 50 cents for every dollar you give, while the matching funds last. Gifts can be designated to OASHF or to the Great Needs Challenge as a whole, in which case you gift would be allocated across all seven eligible nonprofits.

Funds raised through dollars given on behalf of OASHF will be utilized to begin the addition of educational benefits for Veterans onto The Ohio Benefit Bank.

"This is truly a great opportunity, not just for the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, but more importantly for the men and women of the Armed Services who defend our freedom each and every day," said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt.

Beginning at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 1, 2010, you are invited to make gifts online through PowerPhilanthropy.

Ohio Sees Steep Rise in Poverty and Income Loss

Decreases in Employment, Increases in Assistance Plague State’s Economy

It comes as no surprise for those who advocate for Ohio’s poor and working classes that Ohio was hit hard by the Great Recession in 2009. Data released today from the United States Census Bureau in the American Community Survey shows that more than 1.7 million Ohioans, representing 15.2 percent of the states population were living at or below the federal poverty level in 2009, an increase of over 217,000 Ohioans or 1.94 percent when compared to the same data in 2008.

The American Community Survey paints a bleak picture of Ohio for 2009 in many respects. The data shows there was a drastic increase in the number of Ohioans who were unemployed from 2008 to 2009, climbing an additional 4.1 percent or over 239,500 Ohioans when comparing the state’s civilian labor force. As the labor force decreased substantially, the average income for Ohio families decreased as well, showing that the recession is a multi-edged sword. In 2008 median household income was $47,428 annually, but in 2009 that annual income decreased to $45,395.

With the increase in the number of Ohioans who were unemployed along with the annual income of Ohioans decreasing, it comes as no surprise that the number of Ohioans who were receiving government assistance increased substantially. Over 7,800 additional Ohioans were in receipt of government cash assistance (Ohio Works First) in 2009, while the number of Ohioans in receipt of Food Assistance (formerly known as Food Stamps) climbed to over 1.4 million Ohioans in 2009, an increase of over 27.8 percent from the number in receipt of Food Assistance in 2008.

Through no fault of their own, Ohioans are being forced to make tough decisions each and every day. Data released by the Mathematica Policy Research Institute in their Hunger in Ohio 2010 study aligns with the stark picture of Ohio painted by the American Community Survey. The Hunger in Ohio 2010 study showed that more Ohioans than ever are being forced into the lines of the emergency food network due to lack of employment, wage stagnation and choices that no individual should be forced to make. In 2009 over 1.4 million Ohioans turned to the emergency food network for assistance with their nutritional needs, while at the same time, nearly 1 in 4 children in Ohio under the age of 5 were considered to live in a home with low food insecurity. This data is matched by the findings of the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which shows that 21.9 percent of Ohio children are living in households that are at or below the federal poverty level.

Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director at the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, is alarmed, but not surprised by the data in the American Community Survey. “The data released today may catch some off guard, but for many, it comes as no surprise. We each know someone who has been affected by this recession and we must now stand up together for the betterment of Ohio and its citizens, especially those who are most vulnerable. It is both wrong and unaffordable to leave such a large number of Ohio families poor and threatened by hunger and sickness. Today’s poverty report should be a wake-up call for urgent investments in helping parents get back to work and to meet the basic needs of Ohioans.”