Human Services News

From washingtonpost.com:

Nearly one in five Hispanics lacks sufficient access to nutritious food and one in 20 regularly goes hungry, posing serious health and economic risks to the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority group, according to a new study.

As with African Americans, poverty appears to be the main factor limiting Latinos' access to nutritious food.

About 22 percent of Latinos and 25 percent of non-Hispanic blacks are poor, compared with 8 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

In 1996, Congress disqualified legal immigrants from nearly all forms of government assistance.

Although a 2002 law restored access to certain programs for many categories of immigrants, including all otherwise eligible immigrant children, many Latinos appear unaware of the change.

For instance, slightly more than half of eligible Latinos participate in the national food stamp program, compared with more than 70 percent of eligible blacks.

"For a lot of our immigrant families, there's either a lack of understanding of the system or fear, due to their immigration status," of approaching authorities, said Beatriz Otero, director of Centro, a nonprofit child-care center in the District that has helped many Latino parents apply for federal assistance.

Only about half of such children participate in the food stamp program, compared with more than 80 percent of eligible children who are U.S. citizens but whose parents are also U.S. citizens.

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