(April 28) – Counties in Mississippi and in Arizona have the direst problem of counties nationwide with food insecurity and hunger, according to a study to be released Thursday by a nonprofit based in Chicago.

(April 26) – Trash bags and boxes fill Joe’s mobile home in a Philadelphia suburb. This isn’t spring cleaning. Joe is about to become homeless. Unless “a miracle happens,” Joe will likely live in his 2001 Chevrolet Venture minivan by the summer. He removed the seats in the back to make space for a sleeping bag, his laptop and some clothes. Soon to turn 61, Joe never imagined he would be in this position.

(April 26) – As Americans endlessly discuss the perils and pitfalls of gentrification, the national conversation about poverty and affordability can overlook a more pernicious problem: the country’s poorest neighborhoods are getting even poorer. Analysis from City Observatory tracked rates of displacement and poverty for the nation’s 50 largest metro areas from 1970 to 2010. The findings? Neighborhoods with a poverty rate double the national average in 1970 stayed poor 75 percent of the time. They also lost roughly 40 percent of their population.

(April 21) – A child nutrition reauthorization bill that Rep. Todd Rokita, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, introduced yesterday would severely restrict schools’ eligibility for community eligibility — an option within the national school lunch and breakfast programs allowing high-poverty schools to provide meals at no charge to all students.

(April 21) – One in seven households was food insecure in 2014 – meaning that at some time during the year the household had difficulty providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources. To explore the persistent and troubling problem of hunger in America, The Hamilton Project offers the following twelve facts on food insecurity, SNAP, and other nutrition support programs.

(April 20) – Poverty’s harsh effects on health start before babies are born and pile up throughout their adult lives. With stressed-filled homes, shaky nutrition, toxic environments and health-care gaps of every kind, kids in very low-income families may never catch up when it comes to their health. Below, experts spell out the strong link between poverty and illness and discuss efforts to lift people to better health.

(April 20) – Zach Weber is a single dad with four kids who are part of a growing phenomenon in Washington. Weber, 29, and his children live in what’s called service-supported homeless housing. Weber’s daughters, enrolled at Odyssey Elementary in the Mukilteo School District, are among the students in Washington public schools counted as homeless. Last year they totaled 35,511.

(April 19) – As Congress begins work this week on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2017 budget, it should place a high priority on meeting the president’s request for $88 million to fund 10,000 new housing vouchers for homeless families. A strong body of evidence shows that vouchers reduce homelessness and can help children in poor families grow up in better neighborhoods that boost their chances of long-term success.

(April 17) – The level of human need in the United States increased 15 percent on a year-over-year basis in 2015, a report from the Salvation Army and Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University finds. Based on aggregate data tracking seven services commonly delivered by nonprofits — meals provided, groceries, clothing, housing, furniture, medical assistance, and help with energy bills — the Human Needs Index found that the level of need nationwide fell from 3.00 in 2012 to 2.57 in 2013 and 1.97 in 2014, but rose to 2.28 in 2015 — with increases in all categories except groceries provided.

(April 16) – It’s true that poverty affects people of all races, genders, and nationalities, but it’s also true that poverty—especially deep, persistent, intergenerational poverty—plagues some groups more than others. That’s because poverty isn’t just a matter of making too little money to pay the bills or living in a bad neighborhood—it’s about a series of circumstances and challenges that build upon each other, making it difficult to create stability and build wealth.