ARIZONA HUNGER FACTS
Mid-Year Update
Poverty in Arizona
The poverty guidelines updated annually in the Federal Register
by the U. S. Dept. of Health and Human Services sets the poverty
guideline for a family of four at $20,650 annual gross income.
14.2% or 824,008 Arizonans live in poverty. This percentage is
based on the 2005 American Community Survey from the U.S. Census
Bureau.
314,658 of those living in poverty are children under the age of
18 (nearly 1 in 4) with 37% of them under age five.
31.4% or 1,833,023 people in Arizona live at or below 185% ($38,203
for a family of four) of the Federal Poverty Guideline, considered
to be the working poor.
34.6% or 2,019,359 live at or below 200% ($41,300 for a family
of four) of the Federal Poverty Guideline which is where people
become ineligible for most food assistance programs.
Status of Food Stamp Participation
As of January 2007, 534,181 Arizonans receive food stamps. Starting
in September 1995, more than 192,439 low-income Arizonans dropped
off the Food Stamp roles due to program eligibility changes and
misunderstandings about benefit eligibility. It took more than seven
years to exceed participation rates of September 1995.
As of January 2007, the average Arizona Food Stamp benefit is $1.05
per meal. The average food stamp allotment per person in Arizona
was $97.82 and the average food stamp allotment per household in
Arizona was $239.88.
As of January 2007, reports show 588,795 Arizonans are living at
or below 130% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, but DO NOT receive
food stamps.
Of Those Receiving Emergency Food in Arizona
41% are children and senior citizens.
30% of the households are headed by single-parents among households
with children under 18.
13% of the families had children under age five. These are children
who are at a critical stage of development, which will in part determine
their future success and productivity.
15% of families reported their children skipped meals because there
was not enough money for food.
The racial/ethnic make-up is 42% White, 9% Black, 7% Native American
and 41% Hispanic.
42% of the households reported having someone in the household
who is employed.
27% reported that work provided the primary source of income and
32% reported that it was Social Security.
47% of the households have annual incomes of $10,000 or less. While
75% of the households had an income of 130% or below the Federal
Poverty Guideline.
28% of the people within the past year had to choose between buying
food and paying for medical care.
41% of the people within the past year had to choose between buying
food and paying for utilities.
83% of people interviewed are United States Citizens.
30% of people interviewed are homeless.
Food Distribution in Arizona
In 2006, nearly 1,100 food banks, pantries and other agencies provided
“first -line” defenses against hunger for Arizona’s
children, adults and senior citizens.
The Association of Arizona Food Bank members and their emergency
food bank network distributed more than 132 million pounds of food
last year. This amount is equivalent to feeding every person in
Gila and Santa Cruz Counties (total population 95,289) three meals
a day for an entire year. The gap still remains between the number
of hungry people in our state and the ability of existing food programs
to feed them.
For the past 25 years, food bank distribution of emergency food
boxes has been growing and continued to do so in 2006. There has
been a 167% increase in annual food distribution from 1990 to 2006.
For the past 12 months, Arizona food banks have been distributing
an average of nearly 11.2 million pounds of food each month.
36% of pantry programs reported lack of food as the most frequent
reason for having to turn clients away.
In 2005, the four America’s Second Harvest food banks in
Arizona provided emergency food and meals to 479,300 low-income
individuals, a 16% decrease over the 2001 number of 570,342 and
a 17% increase over the 1997 number of 397,155.
Sources of information:
Arizona Department of Economic Security
Association of Arizona Food Banks – Hunger in America 2006
– Arizona Report
U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000.
Association of Arizona Food Banks – Emergency Food Providers
Directory
Association of Arizona Food Banks
America’s Second Harvest food bank members in Arizona are:
St. Mary’s / Westside Food Bank Alliance, Community Food Bank,
United Food Bank and Yuma Community Food Bank.
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 15 / Tuesday, January 24, 2006
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