The Food Data Nerd

Bonus blog! What you need to know about Project 2025's plans for food and nutrition assistance programs before Election Day. Tl;dr: it's really, really bad!

Project 2025 Would Eviscerate Federal Nutrition Programs and Significantly Worsen Food Insecurity GOP asks: How can we help the fewest people the least?

The food security report is out, and it's bad news: 13.5% of households were food insecure in 2023, up from 12.8% in 2022. This is what happens when you abruptly end "pandemic" supports that should have been there all along.

This means one million more food insecure households. In 2023, there were 47.4 million people in food insecure households, 3.2 million more than in 2022. That's a lot of struggling people. Food insecurity leaves scars that last a long time.

The news is especially dire for children: 19.2% lived in food insecure households in 2023, up from 18.5% in 2022 and 12.8% in 2021. That's 4.6 million more children in 2 years. Food insecurity has profound implications for children's health, development, and education.

Wonder why people are still unhappy with the "strong" economy? In 2023, there were 47.4 million people in food insecure households, 13.8 million of them children. The economy isn't Wall Street. It's the American people and their ability to meet their basic needs.

www.ers.usda.gov

The food security report is out, and it's bad news: 13.5% of households were food insecure in 2023, up from 12.8% in 2022. This is what happens when you abruptly end "pandemic" supports that should have been there all along.

This means one million more food insecure households. In 2023, there were 47.4 million people in food insecure households, 3.2 million more than in 2022. That's a lot of struggling people. Food insecurity leaves scars that last a long time.

The news is especially dire for children: 19.2% lived in food insecure households in 2023, up from 18.5% in 2022 and 12.8% in 2021. That's 4.6 million more children in 2 years. Food insecurity has profound implications for children's health, development, and education.

Wonder why people are still unhappy with the "strong" economy? In 2023, there were 47.4 million people in food insecure households, 13.8 million of them children. The economy isn't Wall Street. It's the American people and their ability to meet their basic needs.

What Are We Waiting For? When new data come out this month on U.S.

Today’s the day — USDA will release Food Security in the U.S. 2023 today at a webinar at 1pm ET. I’ll post an update tonight with my thoughts on the new data. Read my thoughts below and let me know what you think.

What Are We Waiting For? When new data come out this month on U.S.

What are we waiting for? We have the tools to end hunger. It's up to us to demand the political will to use them.

What Are We Waiting For? When new data come out this month on U.S.

The way SNAP benefits are calculated is based on old assumptions and older data—like 70 years old. The recent revision of the Thrifty Food Plan helped but there is more to do to make SNAP benefits adequate for meeting nutritional needs.

Get into it on this week’s Make the Math Work.

SNAP Math Needs an Overhaul Outdated formula makes it hard to put food on the table

The Struggle to Get Enough to Eat Is Real, Even When You're Living in a Shelter People experiencing homelessness often go without sufficient nutritious meals, even when they're living in shelters.

Rx Kids gives $1,500 to women mid-pregnancy, regardless of income, and then gives them $500/month for the first year of their infants’ lives.

Cash program for moms and babies expected to expand across Michigan In Flint, where nearly 78% of children under five live in poverty, Rx Kids has so far distributed more than $2 million in cash to 828 families.

I often share bad news, so here's some good news:

Rx Kids, a promising guaranteed income program for pregnant women and infants in Flint, MI, is going to expand across much of Michigan!

Cash program for moms and babies expected to expand across Michigan In Flint, where nearly 78% of children under five live in poverty, Rx Kids has so far distributed more than $2 million in cash to 828 families.

12-Month SNAP Participation Dashboard 2024-4 by Randy Rosso He/Him
12-Month Change in SNAP Participation, April 2024
Map of the United States, with states shaded by the percent change in SNAP participation over the same month in the prior year (April 2023 to April 2024). States with redder shading have larger decreases, and states with bluer shading have larger increases. Alaska and Hawaii are tucked in the bottom left corner of the map screen for easy comparison to the continental US states.

Here's the 12-month change in SNAP participation (April 2024 to April 2024).
tinyurl.com/snapmap12mo

Updated SNAP maps! This map shows the 1-month change in SNAP participation from March to April 2024. Bar chart images show the 5 states with the largest 1-month increase in SNAP participation, and the 5 with the largest decrease.
tinyurl.com/snapmap1mo

I've started a GoFundMe for my friend Ashley, who is disabled and homeless, living in a shelter in Spokane, WA. She has health issues and the shelter meals aren't giving her the nutrition she needs to restore her health.

Please consider donating to help me ensure she has sufficient food.

Donate to Help Ashley Secure Healthy Meals, organized by Randy Rosso Hi, my name is Randy, and I am fundraising for my friend Ashley Shanks. Please help me ra… Randy Rosso needs your support for Help Ashley Secure Healthy Meals

Here's the map of 1-month SNAP changes (February to March 2024).

1-Month SNAP Participation Dashboard 1-Month SNAP Participation Dashboard

It is GREAT to see that Alaska's SNAP caseload is recovering -- 46% increase in participation in March 2024 compared to March 2023! How is SNAP participation changing in your state? Check out the map!

12-Month SNAP Participation Dashboard 12-Month SNAP Participation Dashboard

Shocking news, if true.

fooddatanerdblog.wordpress.com

The “biggest share on food in 30 years” is 11% of Americans’ budgets. The SNAP benefit formula assumes we spend 30% on food, and reduces the final benefit amount (the Benefit Reduction Rate—BRR).

It turns out people can’t devote anywhere close to 30% of their budget to food. Barely one-third of that—11%—is the highest it’s been in 30 years!

It is time to update (or eliminate) the SNAP benefit reduction rate and give people the amount of help they actually need to eat healthily.

Americans are spending the biggest share of their income on food in 3 decades The high cost of food both at home and in restaurants continues to be a sore spot for millions of U.S. households.

States with the largest 1-year percentage increases and decreases in SNAP participation, November 2022-November 2023.
Source: USDA/FNS
https://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap

States with the largest 1-month percentage increases and decreases in SNAP participation, October-November 2023.
Source: USDA/FNS
https://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap

Let's try this again with Tableau Public links people can actually view! 😅
12-month dashboard: https://lnkd.in/ef36KywJ
1-month dashboard:
https://lnkd.in/eRjPSP9k

SNAP participation Tableau maps updated to latest data from FNS (October 2023):
12-month change: https://prod-useast-b.online.tableau.com/t/fooddatanerdsdatavisualizations/views/MonthlySNAPParticipationDashboard/12-MoChgDashboard
1-month change: https://prod-useast-b.online.tableau.com/t/fooddatanerdsdatavisualizations/views/MonthlySNAPParticipationDashboard/1-MoChgDashboard
Source: https://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap

Then there's this. It's about power.

'They’re easiest to step on': The real reason why families in the Delta, one of the nation's poorest regions, are also the most audited by the IRS Humphreys County, where four out of ten people live in poverty, is the single most heavily IRS audited county in the nation.

Rebecca ‘Wood says now that Charlie and her schoolmates all have access, “they’re not even called ‘free meals’ anymore. It’s just lunch. We’re just having lunch.”’

Every Child Has the Right to a Free School Meal When schools offer universal free meals, hungry kids eat. They also have better academic performance, behavior, attendance, and psychosocial functioning. These benefits should be available to all — with no questions asked, and no such thing as lunch debt.