Hunger Policies Should Target Neighborhoods, Not Families

According to new research from sociologists at Rice University, policies that address childhood hunger should target neighborhoods, not families. Researchers found that children living in neighborhoods with higher poverty rates and those in high foreign-born populations and non-English speakers are more likely to experience hunger. Currently, public aid programs are offered to individual families, but the researchers argue that policymakers need to instead target whole communities. The study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study and will be published in the Journal of Applied Research on Children.