Number 6, February 2009
briefing paper
Setting a Goal to End Poverty
and Hunger in the United States
by Todd Post
www.bread.org
U.S. Poverty Rates, 2007
24.5%
Abstract
21.5%
10.5%
Whites
10.2%
African
Americans
Bread for the World Institute provides
policy analysis on hunger and strategies
to end it. The Institute educates its advocacy network, opinion leaders, policy
makers and the public about hunger in
the United States and abroad.
Hispanics
12.5%
Asian &
All
Pacific Islanders Americans
Source U.S. Census Bureau, 2008
Key Points
• The United States must make a national commitment to ending domestic
poverty, establishing targets for a variety of indicators (e.g. hunger, housing,
education and health) that will clearly measure whether the country is achieving
progress.
• Overcoming poverty requires both more personal responsibility and broader
societal responsibility, both better choices by individuals and better policies and
investments by government.
• The United States has one of the highest poverty rates among industrialized
countries, while U.S. government spending on anti-poverty programming as a
percentage of Gross Domestic Product is one of the lowest among industrialized
countries.
• The United States must develop a strategy that both helps those who are poor
get out of poverty and eliminates conditions that allow poverty to persist in our
communities.
Todd Post is senior editor for Bread for the World Institute.
One in every eight U.S. residents
is living in poverty, according to
the last official count conducted by
the Census Bureau. But these data
reflect conditions through 2007, well
before the current recession.
Poverty and hunger on any scale
is intolerable in a country as wealthy
as the United States. To reduce
poverty and hunger-—and eventually
eliminate them—the United States
must be prepared to act more boldly
than it has for several decades. Step
one should be to set a national goal
to end hunger and poverty, with a
target date, so that progress can be
tracked.
Ending poverty and hunger will
require a comprehensive framework of solutions, that recognizes
the many factors that contribute to
economic hardship, such as lack of
employer-provided health insurance,
poor schools, lack of affordable housing, little access to financial services,
and a host of others. Goal setting is
the critical first step, as it focuses the
nation’s attention on outcomes and
gives the public a way to hold the nation’s leaders accountable.