Food Assistance on the Rise

GOOD magazine, in collaboration with Gavin Potenza, takes a look at food assistance over the past several months.

Since November 2008, there’s been an increase in the number of people who receive food assistance every month. Every month there has been more people receiving food assistance than there has ever been in the history of the program.

The graphic reads:

While some economists are declaring the recession over, and although the stock market continues to rise, those on the bottom of the economic ladder are seeing fewer improvements to their day-to-day lives. The number of Americans who receive assistance from the government in the form of food stamps continues to rise—the total number of food stamp recipients is now up to more than 10 percent of the total population. Here is how many people have been using food stamps for the nine months from September, 2008, to last May.

With that in mind, what can we do about it?

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