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As Holidays Approach, Data Show High Rates of Hardship for African Americans and Latinos |
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Center on Budget and Policy Priorities A new Center analysis of data on hardships faced by American families --- based on an annual survey the Administration plans to eliminate this fiscal year --- shows that between one-fourth and one-third of all African American and Latino citizen families experience difficulty affording food, lack needed medical care, and/or live in overcrowded conditions. This disparity largely reflects the fact that poverty rates are several times higher for African American and Latino families than for white families. "When families lack adequate access to food, medical care, or housing, it not only causes them immediate problems but can lessen the chances that parents and children will be able to improve their lives, such as by advancing in their job or education," said Arloc Sherman, a senior researcher at the Center and author of the Center's report. The Census Bureau survey --- called the Survey of Income and Program Participation, or SIPP --- reflects conditions as of 2003. SIPP provides the most wide-ranging government data on family hardships, income and resources, and living conditions, showing how different types of hardship can overlap. Congress can preserve SIPP by providing additional funding in the fiscal year 2007 appropriations bill that funds the Census Bureau. "If this survey is eliminated, we will lose one of our best means of understanding what it's like to be poor in this country," Sherman said. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization and policy institute that conducts research and analysis on a range of government policies and programs.
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