Despite progress, number of children in poverty remains the same

Texas has progressed significantly in making sure more children have access to meals, but the number of children living in poverty remains about the same, speakers told participants at the Together at the Table Texas Hunger and Poverty Summit at Baylor University.

Click to see full-size PDF file.The Texas Hunger Initiative—a project within the Baylor School of Social Work, launched in partnership with Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission—sponsored the event in conjunction with Feeding Texas and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food & Nutrition Service Southwest Regional Office.

Jeremy Everett, director of the Texas Hunger Initiative, noted progress since his group sponsored the first hunger summit on the Baylor campus in 2009:

• The number of Texas sites offering summer meals to students who receive free or reduced meals during the school year increased by more than 2,100.

• The number of children and youth in the state receiving summer meals increased by 63,000, and the number of meals served increased by 6 million.

• The school breakfast program in Texas expanded, with 60 million more school breakfasts served each year, and 300,000 more students per day eating school breakfasts.

• Even so, the poverty rate remains about the same, and one in four Texas children lives in a food-insecure household.

Sheena Meade, interim deputy director for the southern region of the Bread for the World faith-based advocacy group, noted:

• Texas ranks third among all states in terms of hunger. Last year, 18 percent of Texas households were at risk of hunger.

• Texas has the 14th highest poverty rate in the nation. In 2013, more than 17 percent of Texans lived in poverty.

• More than half of Texas recipients of SNAP—the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as Food Stamps—are children or elderly.

• Of the Texas households that receive SNAP benefits, a little more than half—50.4 percent—are working households. But they either are working for such low wages or at such reduced hours, the families remain in poverty.