The Brookings Institution authored this report on new statistics that show suburban areas have the fastest growing poor population in the country. Specifically, between 2000 and 2008, suburbs’ poor populations grew by 25 percent, which equates to five times faster than primary urban areas. In 2008, suburbs were home to 1.5 million more poor than their primary cities and housed almost one-third of the nation’s poor overall.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities authored this report on the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for individual families. State-level data show that the Recovery Act has protected many families from poverty by raising incomes through its focus on tax credits, access to food stamps, and other measures. Researchers estimate that 6 million families were kept out of poverty by the Act in 2009.

In 2007, around one-third of the homeless population in the United States were members of families with children. This Fragile Families Research Brief highlights research on homelessness and at-risk families. Authors offer predictors of homelessness and protective factors, which include a strong support network of family and friends, access to public assistance programs, and having a resident father in the home.

From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, this issue brief provides an overview of the food stamp program. In 2014, the program helped more than 46 million low-income Americans to afford a nutrionally adequate diet in a typical month. This piece provides an overview of eligibility requirements, the available benefits, the application procedures, and current food stamp caseload information. The program not only encourages work, but helps low-wage workers move above the poverty line, while also encouraging nutritional dietary intake for children.

From the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this report provides information on food insecurity among children in the United States. Researchers found that around 85 percent of households with food-insecure children had a working adult, including 70 percent with a full-time worker. Around 16 percent of households with children were food insecure sometime during the year, including 8.3 percent in which children were food insecure and 0.8 percent in which one or more children experienced very low food security. Federal food and nutrition assistance programs provided benefits to four out of five low-income, food-insecure households with children.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness authored this report, which is first in a series of briefs that examine the geographic distribution of homelessness in the United States. While homelessness is perceived to be an issue for urban areas only, rural areas also face homelessness, and it is often caused by the same barriers that persist in urban areas. In this report, authors provide an overview of homelessness for urban and rural areas, and offer State by State information on homelessness.

From the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this study looks at low-income families in Detroit in relation to economic coping strategies. Conducting three rounds of interviews with 35 women, researchers found that a majority of the sample were employed at least some of the time and most had children living with them. Additionally, just under half reported running out of food at some point during the year, and many reported utilizing Food Stamp (SNAP) benefits, but did not receive TANF or unemployment benefits.

From the U.S. Census Bureau, this report offers the latest statistics on income, poverty, and health insurance in the United States. The real median household income in the United States fell 3.6 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $52,163 to $50,303. Additionally, the nation’s official poverty rate in 2008 was 13.2 percent, which is up from 12.5 percent in 2007. The number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008.

This issue brief from Feeding America offers an estimate on the prevalence of food insecurity among children in the country. The estimates were calculated from the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS FSS) for 2005-2007. Researchers estimate that 12.5 million children in the United States from 2005 to 2007 were food insecure, which equates to about 17 percent of children under the age of 18.

Much of the success of the Federal child support program is contingent upon the ability or willingness of noncustodial parents (NCPs) to provide financial support for their children. As a result, the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) has an established track record of supporting demonstration and research projects focused on testing innovative program practices that enable NCPs to assume personal responsibility (financial and emotional) for their children. The purpose of this report is three-fold: 1) to disseminate information to the child support program and research community-at-large regarding State or local experiences in working with NCPs, 2) to share information on successes or lessons learned resulting from implementing these program interventions, and 3) to provide potential or future OCSE grantees with a baseline of information regarding projects that have been funded to date.