UNITED STATES
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Marcia Champion, left, and Olivia Durden, who are homeless, wait with their chidren just after 6 a.m. for the No. 55 bus that will take them to downtown Atlanta. They had just left the Calvary Refuge Center, where the checkout time is 6 a.m. Photo: © Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post
A lonely road: For the poor in the Deep South’s cities, simply applying for a job exposes the barriers of a particularly pervasive and isolating form of poverty Chico Harlan Washington Post December 28, 2015

Hope House in Jennings, Mo., on Dec. 11. The house was a school building that was converted to a shelter for homeless students. Photo: © Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post
This superintendent has figured out how to make school work for poor kids. Jennings, Mo. schools leader added more mental health care, a food pantry and shelter for homeless kids. Emma Brown Washington Post December 20, 2015

Hundreds of miles, but only 11 grocery stores. Source: Diné Policy Institute. Map by Alex Newman/Al Jazeera America.
Navaho Nation's nutrition crisis Tristan Ahtone and Jolene Yazzie Al Jazeera December 14, 2015

Pat Kutzner in “retirement.” (Photo circa 1999.) She worked with the Torreon/Starlake Chaper of the Navajo Nation helping them in various projects such as a community thrift store and land reclamation. Pat shown horsing around with the then Torreon/Starlake chapter president Dave Rico (right) and Marshall Castillo.
In Memoriam: Pat Kutzner, World Hunger Education Service Founder Lane Vanderslice World Hunger Education Service December 10, 2015
Income inequality has squeezed the middle class out of the majority Michael A. Fletcher Washington Post December 9, 2015
Albuquerque, revising approach toward the homeless, offers them jobs Fernanda Santos New York Times December 7, 2015
A grim bargain: Once a weakness, low-skilled workers who get paid little have become the Deep South’s strength Chico Harlan Washington Post December 1, 2015
Senate confirms Gayle E. Smith as head of USAID Ron Nixon New York Times November 30, 2015
Bread for the World puts price tag on hunger in the United States: $160 billion in health care Adelle M. Banks Religious News Service November 23, 2015
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) work requirements don’t bring stable jobs, higher earnings LaDonna Pavetti Center on Budget and Policy Priorities November 18, 2015

A farm in Mato Grosso State in the cerrado, the vast savanna on the edge of the Amazon rain forest that is being razed for agricultural expansion. Photo: Marizilda Cruppe for The New York Times
TIAA-CREF, U.S. investment giant, accused of land grabs in Brazil Simon Romero New York Times November 16, 2015 See HN special repport: Trade and Hunger
A group of middle-aged whites in the U.S. is dying at a startling rate. Drugs, alcohol and suicide appear to be taking a toll on men and women ages 45-54 with no college education. Lenny Bernstein and Joel Achenbach Washington Post November 2, 2015 Prestigious medical journals rejected stunning study on deaths among middle-aged whites Lenny Bernstein and Joel Achenbach Washington Post November 2, 2015
Carson’s positions on poverty create tension with rags-to-riches life story. On his way up the ladder, Carson benefitted from several government assistance programs for the poor. Jim Tankersley Washington Post October 31, 2015

Stephen Jones, director of the Bread Lab, at the Washington State University campus in Mount Vernon, Wash. Photo: Ian C. Bates/The New York Times
Bread is broken. Industrial production destroyed both the taste and the nutritional value of wheat. One scientist believes he can undo the damage. Ferris Jabr New York Times October 29, 2015

Commemorating 20 years of U.S. food security measurement Hunger Notes October 28, 2015
Pediatricians urged to ask all kids if they have enough food Deborah Netburn Los Angeles Times October 22, 2015

John Charles, 23, in his storage unit at Capital Self Storage while Michael Evans organizes his unit below. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post
For D.C.’s desperate, a refuge from homelessness is about to disappear Petula Dvorak Washington Post October 23, 2015 Also see Stories and images of hunger and poverty in the United States

James Bannister, 38, said that Arnold Harvey saved his life by giving him this tent. Photo: Petula Dvorak/The Washington Post
He made a promise to help others. Now he’s giving tents to the homeless . Arnold Harvey began bringing food and clothes to the homeless on his trash route about a decade ago.. Petula Dvorak Washington Post October 19, 2015 Also see Stories and images of hunger and poverty in the United States
A look at what's driving lower purchases of school lunches Katherine Ralston and Constance Newman Anber Waves October 8, 2015
Princeton economist wins Nobel prize for research into how rich and poor people make decisions about how much to buy and how much to save Jeff Guo Washington Post October 12, 2015
Bread for the World releases hunger and poverty fact sheets for each state Bread for the World October 11, 2014
Why world leaders dined on trash at the U.N. Peter Holley Washington Post September 28, 2015
The
long, strange tale of a California farm's
attempt to break its workers union David
Bacon In These Times September 24,
2015
The radical roots of the great grape strike
David Bacon The Reality Check
September 20, 2015
U.S. Global Development Policy and Agenda 2030 Fact Sheet The White House September 27, 2015
In Pope Francis’s outreach to the poor, his deeds speak louder than his words
Terrence McCoy Washington Post September 24, 2015
Pope Francis, in Washington, addresses poverty and climate Peter Baker and Michael D. Shear
New York Times September 23, 2015
Lower wages for whites, higher wages for immigrants, and inequality for all
Jeff Guo Washington Post September 16, 2015
America's poverty problem hasn't changed
Gillian B. White Atlantic
September 16, 2015 Access Census Bureau
Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage
report.
Also see Hunger Notes 2015 fact sheet
Hunger
in America
14 percent of U.S.families food insecure in 2014; 5.6 percent very food insecure, USDA report says U.S. Department of Agriculture September 8, 2015 Also see Hunger Notes 2015 fact sheet Hunger in America.
The surging ranks of America's ultrapoor Aimee Picchi CBS MoneyWatch September 2, 2015

Jasmin Almodovar, right, a home health aide in Cleveland, has received no increase in her hourly pay of $9.50 since 2007, even as costs for necessities have risen. Photo: Michael F. McElroy/The New York Times
Low income workers see biggest drop in income
Nelson D. Schwartz New York Times September 2, 2015
Occupational wage declines since the Great Recession: Low-wage occupations see largest real wage declines
Claire McKenna and Irene Tung National Employment Law Project September 2, 2015
Understanding the historic divergence between
productivity and workers pay Josh Bivins
and Lawrence Mishel Economic Policy
Institute September 2, 2015
A year after Ferguson, housing segregation defies tools to erase it John Eligon New York Times August 8, 2015

Farm workers and their supporters march to the office of Sakuma Farms, Burlington, Washington. Photo: David Bacon
The Pacific Coast Farm-Worker Rebellion: From Baja California to Washington state, indigenous farm workers are standing up for their rights David Bacon The Nation August 28, 2015
Amelia Boynton Robinson, activist beaten on Selma bridge, dies at 104
Matt Schudel Washington Post August 26, 2015
Frank E. Petersen, first
black general in the Marines, dies at 83 Sam Roberts
New York Times August 26 2015
George M. Houser, organizer of an early Freedom Ride, dies at 99 Emily Langer Washington Post August 22, 2015
Julian Bond, charismatic civil rights leader, dies at 75 Roy Reed
New York Times August 17, 2015
Louis Stokes, Congressman from Ohio and champion of the poor, dies at 90
Dennis Hevesi New York Times August 19, 2015
It’s unconstitutional to ban the homeless from sleeping outside, the federal government says Emily Badger Washington Post August 13, 2015
Black poverty differs from white poverty Emily Badger Washington Post August 13, 2015
Coke funds scientists who shift blame for obesity away from bad diets Anahad Carter New York Times August 9, 2015
U.S. food aid: Charity begins at home. More than 60 years after the U.S. Food for Peace program was launched, vested interests continue to hinder reforms to allow for more local sourcing of food aid. IRIN News July 30, 2015 See Hunger Notes special report on humanitarian assistance
How Americans can lose a lot of weight without giving up a single calorie Lenny Bernstein Washington Post July 27, 2015
Presidential candidates answer: How will you help the hungry and poor? Vinnie Rotondaro National Catholic Reporter July 22, 2015 See the videos submitted by candidates

Fast-food workers and supporters gathered in Manhattan to watch a live video of the wage board’s decision. The governor hailed it as an example of New York’s progressiveness. Photo: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
New York plans $15-an-hour minimum wage for fast
food Patrick McGeehan New
York Times July 22, 2015
National push for $15 minimum wage hits home for U.S. Senate workers
Mike DeBonis Washington Post July 21, 2015
The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance calls churches and individuals to join in a world-wide “zero hunger” challenge Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church July 10, 2015 See the videos submitted by candidates
How Americans compare with the global population: 56 percent of Americans were in the high income class, compared with 7 percent of the world's population. Rakesh Kochhar Pew Research Center July 9, 2015
Farm labor groups make some progress on wages and working conditions Steven Greenhouse New York Times July 3, 2015

The home of the family of Alberto Martinez and Rufina Perez, Triqui migrant farm workers, in a plywood shack in the fields outside Hollister. Photo: David Bacon
Thousands of farmworkers in California can't make a
living David Bacon New American
Media June 2, 2015
Triqui farmworkers struggle to survive and organize in California
David Bacon New American
Media June 3, 2015
Picking peas should bring a better life
Rosa Martinez as told to David Bacon New American
Media June 3, 2015

Malala speaks to staff members of the U.S. House and Senate in Washington. She is in the United States to advocate for girls' education with the Malala Fund, the non-profit organization she co-founded. Photo: Joshua Roberts/Malala Fund
Joining voices with Malala on Capitol Hill Allison Grossman Results June 25, 2015
Why are bees hurting? A lineup of suspects Nathanael Johnson Grist June 25, 2015 A plea for bees (video) Dennis vanEnglesdorp TED June 2008

A portion of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta from the air. Over the past 150 years, human engineering has vastly changed the delta. Photo: KQED
Troubled delta system is California's water battleground Erica Goode New York Times June 24, 2015
The technology that could revolutionize the war on hunger Terrence McCoy Washington Post June 17, 2015
Why does almost half of America's food go to waste? Allison Aubrey PBS Newshour June 16, 2015
Dante Washington is shown in shadow of his old, semi-blighted neighborhood in East Baltimore, during July 2014. He defied the statistics of a 25-year-long research project that was turned into a book "The Long Shadow," which centers on children growing up in poverty -stricken areas of the city. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)
Researchers: Five ignored factors affect outcomes for poor children. Paper argues that child-rearing style, single parenthood, shift work, lack of health care and lead pull down scores. Lyndsey Layton Washington Post June 10, 2015

Noemi Sosa shops at Daily Table, a nonprofit supermarket in Dorchester, Mass. Jesse Costa/WBUR
Trader Joe's ex-president opens store with aging food and cheap meals Curt Nickish The Salt June 1, 2015
Why entrepreneurs ae suddenly finding the beauty in ugly produce Whitney Pipkin Washington Post May 26, 2015
Replanting America: 90 percent of what we eat could come from local farms. Changing what’s grown where could provide Americans with vegetables from close to home. Dan Nosowitz TakePart June 1, 2015
WIC experienced largest decrease in participation in program’s history in 2014 Victor Oliviera Amber Waves June 1, 2015
What it really means to rely on food stamps and welfare Emily Badger Washington Post May 29, 2015

Paul and his daughter head home after attending a fatherhood development class at Next Door Foundation. Lately Paul had had been purchasing his Pampers one at a time, repeating the same transaction so often at a corner store that a clerk had dubbed it the Daddy Paul Special, 75 cents for a single cigarette and a size-3 diaper. Photo: Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post
A father's initiative: Paul Gayle had no job, no money, a new baby and 16 lessons from the Obama administration to teach him what to do next Eli Saslow Washington Post May 16, 2015
Senators: Global hunger a national security problem Jordain Carney The Hill May 11, 2015 Food aid showdown in U.S. Congress Claire Luke Devex May 7, 2015
Could drought slow America’s most vibrant economy? Jim Tankersley Washington Post May 8, 2015
Giving the poor easy access to healthy food doesn't mean they'll buy it Margot Sanger-Katz New York Times May 8, 2015

Xue Sun, a manicurist who uses the name Michelle, in the Flushing, Queens, apartment she shared with her cousin, Jing Ren, and four other people. Curtains separate the beds. Photo: Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
The Price of Nice Nails: Manicurists are routinely underpaid and exploited, and endure ethnic bias and other abuse, The New York Times has found Sarah Maslin Nirmahy New York Times May 7, 2015
Safety net does more to ease poverty than previously thought, new study finds Greg Sargent Washington Post May 6, 2015
Inside the hidden world of homeless teen mothers. Precarious housing is one turn in a downward spiral of instability that can suffuse all facets of a young life Terrence McCoy Washington Post May 2, 2015
Conquering world hunger: Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman and the food crisis after World War II Herbert Hoover Presidential Library May 2015 On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, May 8, 1945.

Strikers put up a barrier on the road into the labor camp ot Sakuma Brothers Farms in Burlington, Wash..
These things can change: wages and working conditions in agriculture David Bacon Dollars and Sense April 2015
The state of obesity in the United States J. Levi, L. Segal, R. St. Laurent, and J. Rayburn Robert Wood Johnson Foundation September, 2014 Adult obesity rates remain high in the USA, according to the State of Obesity. The pace of the increase in obesity is beginning to slow, however adult obesity rates increased in six US states last year.
1.5 million missing black men Justin Wolfers, David Leonhardt and Kevin Quealy New York Times April 20, 2015
New Kansas rules would limit spending of welfare benefits John Hanna AP/Washington Post April 16, 2015

Adriana Alvarez, earns $10.50 an hour as a cashier at a Chicago-area McDonald’s. She depends on Medicaid, a child-care subsidy and food stamps to help care for her 3-year-old son Manny. Photo: David Kasnic/The New York Times
Working, but needing public assistance anyway Patricia Cohen New York Times April 12, 2015
States tighten conditions for improving food stamps as economy improves Jess Bidgood New York Times April 11, 2015
Firms move to gut California's farm labor law David Bacon Capital and Main April 7, 2015

A well-drilling rig at an almond orchard in Hanford, Calif. Land devoted to water-thirsty almonds has doubled in the state in 20 years. Photo: Max Whittaker/The New York Times
Beneath California crops, groundwater crisis grows Justin Gillis and Matt Richtel New York Times April 5, 2015
Maximum wage! How much CEOs earn per hour Matt Krantz USA Today April 6, 2015
World Health Day 2015: From farm to plate, make food safe Hunger Notes April 7, 2015
World Health Day 2015: Five food safety tips
Judy Stone Forbes April 7, 2015
Food safety law's funding is far below estimated requirement
Ron Nixon New York Times April 7, 2015
House legislation supporting USAID Feed the Future program introduced by Rep. Chris Smith Hunger Notes March 30, 2015 Also see Global Food Security Act a critical step forward in ending hunger Daniel Speckhard Roll Call April 7, 2015
Weed killer, long cleared, is doubted Andrew
Pollack New York Times March 27, 2015
W.H.O report links ingredient in Roundup, the world's most
popular weedkiller, to cancer Reuters
New York Times March 20, 2015
Environmental group sues E.P.A. over Monarch butterfly
demise Reuters New York Times
March 27, 2015
The U.S. has caused more global warming than any other country. Here’s how the Earth will get its revenge. Chris Mooney Washington Post January 22, 2014 See HN special report Environment and hunger

Pesticide risk for green beans hasn't fallen for 20 years even though progress has been made for other produce, Consumer Reports says. Photo: Flickr user Mohammed Mahdi
Five organic fruits and vegetables that are worth the higher cost, due to high levels of pesticide in non-organic choices Peter Whoriskey Washington Post March 20, 2015 Pesticides in Produce Consumer Reports March 19, 2015

The 25-cent raise: What life is like after a minimum wage increase Chico Harlan Washington Post February 17, 2015 After the story is published, a minimum wage worker loses her job for talking to the Washington Post Chico Harlan Washington Post March 30, 2015
Walmart raising wages to at least $9 Hiroko Tabuchi New York Times February 19, 2015 As Walmart gives raises, other employers may have to go above minimum wage Neil Irwin New York Times February 20, 2015 Also see Stories and images of hunger and poverty in the United States

Melvin Scadden and Nadine Scadden walk into a Hardee’s restaurant in Creston, Iowa. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) mentioned her former employment at Hardee’s during her response to President Obama’s State of the Union address. Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post
For Hardee’s workers, it’s not a parable, it’s a job Anne Hull Washington Post March 14, 2015

The terrible loneliness of growing up poor in Robert Putnam’s America. “Life is not something you do, it’s something you endure.”
Emily Badger Washington Post
March 6, 2015 Also see
Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis
Robert D. Putnam
Reviewed by Alan Wolfe Washington Post March 6, 2015
Food industry waging a bitter battle over proposal on
added-sugar labels Evan Halper
Los Angeles Times March 17, 2015
UN: World eating too much sugar; cut to 5-10 percent of diet
Maria Cheng Associated Press/Myway March 4, 2015
The untold story of how the sugar industry shaped key government research about your teeth
Roberto A. Ferdman Washington Post March 11, 2015
Mandating food insecurity: The global impacts of rising biofuel mandates and targets Timothy A. Wise and Emily Cole Global Development and Environmental Institute at Tufts University March 4, 2015
A ‘megadrought’ will grip U.S. in the coming decades, NASA researchers say Darryl Fears Washington Post February 12, 2015
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) costs declining, expected to fall much further. trend reflects recent benefit reduction and lower caseloads Dottie Rosenbaum and Brynne Keith-Jennings Center on Budget and Policy Priorities February 9, 2015 See full report (10 page PDF file)

This is a May 28, 1963, file photograph of a sit-in demonstration at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Jackson, Miss., where whites poured sugar, ketchup and mustard over heads of the demonstrators. Seated at the counter, from left, are John Salter, Joan Trumpauer and Anne Moody. Moody, whose memoir “Coming of Age in Mississippi” gave a wrenching account of growing up poor in the segregated South and facing violence as a civil rights activist, died Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015, at her home in the small town Gloster, Mississippi. She was 74. (Jackson Daily News, Fred Blackwell, File/Associated Press)
Anne Moody, Mississippi civil rights activist, dies at 74 Associated Press Washington Post February 7, 2015

Neeraj Jagga bought this apartment in a 4,000-unit complex near New Delhi but said construction had barely progressed in three years. The developer, Kabul Chawla, has been the subject of numerous consumer complaints. Photo: Graham Crouch/ New York Times
Amid complaints in India, a real estate deal in Manhattan Stephanie Stall and Louise Story New York Times February 9, 2015 See more in this series Towers of secrecy: Streams of wealth flow to elite New York real estate See HN special report Harmful economic systems: Obtaining income
New report urges Western governments to reconsider reliance on biofuels Justin Gillis New York Times January 28, 2015 Access World Resources Institute report See HN special report Environment and hunger

Adhanet Kidane, 30, a single mother in Tampa, Fla., earns minimum wage at two fast-food restaurants. Photo: Edward Linsmier/New York Times
Middle class shrinks further as more fall out instead of climbing up Dionnne Searcey and Robert Gebeloff New York Times January 25, 2015
This powerful Reddit thread reveals how the poor get by in America Max Ehrenfreund Washington Post January 15, 2015 See the Reddit thread What do insanely poor people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about? See more at US hunger images and stories
In memory of Martin Luther King
Heaven will wecome you, Dr. King
Big Maybelle
Why (The King of Love is Dead)
Nina Simone
(song in tribute, written immediately after
MLK's assassination on April 4, 1968)

Three-year-old Saria Amaya waits with her mother after receiving shoes and school supplies during a charity event in October to help more than 4,000 underprivileged children at the Fred Jordan Mission in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles. Children from low-income families now make up a majority of public school students in the nation, according to a new report. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)
Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty Lyndsey Layton Washington Post January 16, 2015

Lamar Smith, a case worker with the city-contracted nonprofit Community of Hope, does a walk-through in mid-December with Timika Holiday, 29, a formerly homeless mother of two, at her home in the District. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/Washington Post
Prevent homelessness? Break the cycle of poverty? It’s not just his dream but his job. Robert Samuels Washington Post January 17, 2015
Grapes of wrath: California farmworkers fight to unionize David Bacon Al Jazeera America January 16, 2015
Most of America’s rich think the poor have it easy Roberto A. Ferdman Washington Post January 8, 2015

A provision in the federal spending bill prohibits lowering salt limits for school lunches. Photo: Nabil K. Mark/Centre Daily Times, via Associated Press
2015: The year Republicans strike back at Obama food policies Jenny Hopkinson, Helena Bottemiller Evich, Bill Tomson and Chase Purdy Politico January 1, 2015 In final spending bill, salty food and belching cows are the winners Robert Pear New York Times December 14, 2014 Congress to nutritionists: Don't talk about the environment Dan Charles National Public Radio December 15, 2014

(MERCED, CA) Vidal Cota is an immigrant farm worker from Los Mochis, Sinaloa. He cleans the plastic tubes used for drip irrigation from a watermelon field, after the melons have been harvested. Photo: David Bacon
Hard winter for California farmworkers David Bacon New American Media December 22, 2014