In 2024, Tens of Millions of Americans Still Cannot Afford Food. What Can We Do About It?

Introduction.

The purpose of this article is to draw attention to the current state of poverty — a problem which impedes many humans’ right to life — in the United States, by analyzing facts present in the latest, highest quality, data on the matter. The article concludes by giving a brief overview of popular schools of thought on possible interventions to meet and alleviate the suffering caused by this rampant and challenging situation.

Historically, humankind has experimented with many ways of cooperating in groups to achieve common, desirable end goals. Some systems, like capitalism, have proven useful, especially under certain conditions, while many, many others have failed altogether.

Designing systems to improve interpersonal collaboration is hard — really hard. It begs important questions. Who should be rewarded? When and for what should they be rewarded? How and how much? This process can easily go wrong: it is easy to bring to mind images of tyrants who design a biased and flawed value system and then impose it on others by force. In recent human history, the age of imperialism was particularly flush with such examples of flourishing leaders and nation-states which believed so strongly that their values should be adopted worldwide that they justified military campaigns in order to spread them.

When one begins to research and discover in an attempt to design and develop more useful systems for interpersonal collaboration for the future of humanity, one idea may stick out as fundamentally important: certainly, if nothing else, we can agree that people should be allowed and enabled to be alive, no? This begs the question of what the necessary inputs are for human life, to which some answers include, from more to less basic: oxygen, water, nourishment, and shelter from the elements.

Interestingly, our definitions of poverty (in the U.S. at least) are focused on defining the minimum income threshold necessary for a person (or family) to be able to afford some of these basic inputs for human life. According to the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the poverty threshold in the U.S. is defined by the Census Bureau, which “determines poverty status by using an official poverty measure (OPM) that compares … income against a threshold that is set at three times the cost of a minimum food diet in 1963 and adjusted for family size. The OPM uses calculations of these three elements — income, threshold, and family — to estimate what percentage of the population is poor” [1]. Therefore, because they cannot afford the inputs for life, impoverished people may be seen as being without the fundamental ability or right to live.

But just how many humans are afflicted with poverty? Certainly, in developed nations such as the U.S. in the 21st century, this number must be exceedingly low, right?

U.S. Poverty in 2024

How have U.S. poverty rates changed over time, and what are they currently?

Figure 1: U.S. poverty levels by (top) total number of people and (bottom) percentage of population, over time. Source: U.S. Census Bureau [2].

Not exactly. Astonishingly, at least 10 percent of United States citizens are living in poverty as defined by the OPM, equivalent to approximately 40 million people, according to the U.S. census bureau’s January 2024 report [2]. In all likelihood, one in ten U.S. citizens are unlikely to be able to afford basic needs. The trends from this data show an unsteady and slow decline from around the 20% poverty level in the 1950s and 1960s, whereas the actual volume of impoverished people has stayed about the same, or even climbed as a general trend.

Poverty by state in the U.S.

Figure 2: Poverty levels by state. Source: U.S. Census Bureau [12].

While ten percent of U.S. citizens living in poverty, on average, the actual percentages fluctuate by geography.

Figure 3: The thirteen most impoverished states in the U.S. Source: U.S. Census Bureau [12].

As seen in figure 3 above, the most impoverished state in the U.S. is by far Puerto Rico, with an unbelievable poverty rate of greater than 40% of inhabitants.

Prevailing ideas for reducing the suffering of poverty.

The point of this article is not only to lay out the staggering levels of poverty in the U.S., but also to provide some ideas on solutions that the reader can take into their lives and combine creatively with other ideas so that we can, collectively, solve this problem. Accordingly, a brief description of some popular schools of thought on potential solutions are provided, focusing in particular on interventions at the level of hunger and nourishment.

SNAP (Formerly, “Food Stamps”)

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, has evolved significantly since its inception in 1939 as part of the New Deal. Initially, it allowed low-income individuals to buy food stamps and receive additional bonus stamps for surplus food items. Major legislative changes in the 1970s, such as the Food Stamp Act Amendment of 1970 and the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973, introduced standardized national eligibility and work requirements, and expanded the program nationwide. The Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 was pivotal, eliminating the requirement for participants to purchase stamps, thereby increasing accessibility. This act also set uniform national standards of eligibility and strengthened program integrity and accessibility [5] [6].

In recent years, SNAP has embraced technology and broadened its scope to better serve diverse populations. The transition from physical food stamps to Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards has modernized the program, enhancing convenience and reducing stigma for participants. SNAP now offers various forms of assistance, including nutrition education (SNAP-Ed) and streamlined application processes, to support low-income individuals and families in accessing healthy food. The program continues to evolve, balancing the need to provide nutritional support with measures to ensure effective administration and prevent fraud [7].

Figure 4: SNAP benefits by household size. Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture [13].

Donations and Fundraising for Food Banks (Nourish RI Fundraiser)

Recent trends in food bank donations reveal a significant shift in both the volume and source of contributions. While donations to food banks had surged during the pandemic, they have continued to remain higher than pre-pandemic levels. This sustained increase is partly due to heightened public awareness of food insecurity issues. Additionally, there’s been a demographic shift in donors, with younger generations like Millennials and Gen X becoming more active and giving larger donations, often through digital channels. These donors are motivated by different factors compared to older generations, such as the desire to increase the reach or influence of the organizations they support. This evolving donor base presents new opportunities for food banks to engage with a more diverse and technologically savvy audience​​​​ [8][9].

For example, “Nourish Rhode Island” is a fundraising initiative started by the author which is dedicated to supporting Rhode Island food banks. This campaign aims to harness the growing awareness and concern about food insecurity within the state, leveraging the trend of increased and diversified donations to maximize impact. By focusing on digital channels and engaging with the younger demographic, “Nourish Rhode Island” seeks to tap into the enthusiasm and generosity of a broader supporter base. Based on the SNAP calculations, every donation of about $300 can feed approximately one person for one month. Please share Nourish Rhode Island with your community on social media and, if possible, donate to nourish Rhode Island today!

Nourish Rhode Island: Join a Fight Against Hunger, organized by Brennan Richards

Universal Basic Income

Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a concept that has garnered increasing attention as a potential solution to various socio-economic issues including poverty. UBI involves regular cash payments made by affluent groups to every individual, often with no requirement to work or demonstrate need. This approach contrasts with current welfare systems that are often targeted at populations facing specific conditions, i.e., those who are searching for, but unable to find, employment [10].

The debate around UBI hinges on its potential to provide a safety net in times of economic uncertainty while not diminishing the total amount of useful work done in the economy by incentivizing able-bodied people not to work. Intuition indicates that UBI could lead to improvements in health outcomes by providing a stable income floor, which might reduce the health risks associated with poverty and chronic stress, including those caused by a lack of access to food and proper nutrition. However, of the pilot programs which have been executed for testing the effects of UBI thus far, the results are mixed (for more on pilot projects, see: [11]).

New Economics

Is capitalism the best system for handling the distribution of basic means of human survival? Capitalism incentivizes innovation and entrepreneurship in pursuit of maximizing profits by individuals and organizations. This incentive is imperfect, however, and creates some negative externalities. For example, in the media industry, organizations maximize profits by getting the most attention, instead of by telling the most truth, creating more wealth for quippy, divisive, and provocative public figures than for truth-seekers. In basic resource markets like those for food, organizations are incentivized to maximize profits by charging as much as most people are willing to pay, instead of being rewarded for serving those in need. This leaves impoverished groups out of luck, unable to afford supporting themselves and their families.

The author’s project, Good Karma, is aimed at creating better systems for collaborating to reduce basic needs as effectively as possible. Early experiments include a system that rewards skilled professionals for donating their time to innovating at nonprofits and an AI assistant for surfacing technologies that can be leveraged by nonprofits, with more on the way.

Conclusion

Everyone’s life has its challenges. The challenges of insufficient food, water, and other forms of nourishment are especially debilitating, including fatigue and large amounts of excess stress. People living in poverty, almost by definition, are unable to afford these basic necessities. Even in first world countries like the U.S., tens of millions of people suffer from this condition which is antithetical to life. Poverty is clearly a problem hindering basic human rights and requires unprecedented collaboration, creativity, and innovation but, when solved, will provide major upsides for humankind.

To stay engaged in a community interested in topics like those discussed here, follow Good Karma and/or connect with Brennan on LinkedIn — let’s improve humanity together!

Sources:

1. Institute for Research on Poverty: How is poverty measured?. https://www.irp.wisc.edu/resources/how-is-poverty-measured/
2. U.S. Census Bureau: National Poverty in America Awareness Month. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/poverty-awareness-month.html
3. World Bank: Poverty and Inequality Platform. https://pip.worldbank.org/home
4. U.S. Census Bureau: Number (in thousands) and Percentage of People in Poverty by State. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/supplemental-poverty-measure/tables/time-series/SPM-Table1.pdf
5. U.S. Department of Agriculture: A Short History of SNAP. https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/short-history-snap
6. Snaptohealth.org: The History of SNAP. https://www.snaptohealth.org/snap/the-history-of-snap/
7. U.S. Department of Agriculture: SNAP. https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program
8. RKD Group: What does the future of fundraising look like…. https://blog.rkdgroup.com/what-does-the-future-of-fundraising-look-like-for-food-banks
9. McKinsey: Food banks apply 2020 lessons to their future. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/food-security/food-banks-apply-2020-lessons-to-plan-for-their-future
10. Wikipedia: Universal basic income. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_basic_income
11. Wikipedia: Universal basic income pilots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_basic_income_pilots
12. U.S. Census Bureau: Quick Facts (custom dashboard). https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/dashboard/RI/IPE120222
13. U.S.D.A.: SNAP Eligibility. https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/recipient/eligibility#HowmuchcouldIreceiveinSNAPbenefits