When Poverty and Unemployment Are Misdiagnosed

http://takingnote.tcf.org/2011/05/when-poverty-and-unemployment-are-misdiagnosed.html



This is a really good read. My adviser from college is a Medical Anthropologist who does a lot of work in this field (cultural barriers to healthcare and nutrition.) She does it in rural Idaho, and in central and south America. Surprisingly, rural Idaho and Central American poverty have a lot in common.

This article makes me upset. I just got back from the grocery store and I looked through my cart and as I checked out I was thinking "I'm not buying much food" thinking I was getting groceries for 2 weeks. When the bill came up, it was just over $90, which is just over half of the $172 a month I get in food assistance. I only got 4 bags of groceries. I didn't buy any candy, soda, meat, or carbs except one box of pasta. It isn't that I don't have enough food, but living like this creates habits that are undermining of healthy behavior.

Through the "assistance" program we are also unintentionally being taught to live hand-to-mouth. Food assistance is calculated on minimum nutritional standards. The program is set up that way so that a bad few can't abuse it. Even if my great idea comes true of somehow helping people nutritionally plan out the spending of the assistance they get, they will never have an at-home food safety net if they get the minimum nutrition.

Coming from, what I think was pretty middle class, I grew up with parents who were children of farmers. We always had a 2-yr supply of food at the house. My parents were Mormon, so some of it was apocalyptic preparation, but even as a faith tradition it comes from the history of farmers having a food storage as an asset in case agriculture failed. When I was a kid [and even in college when I'd go eat at the Restaurant of Dad], it insulated our family from food insecurity.

Sure, I can buy the 20 pound bag of rice or potatoes, but the percentage of my food assistance money that it cost means I have to trade it for broccoli or apples. This echos my complaint that unit price means nothing to someone living in poverty.

This also makes people receiving assistance most at-risk for food price changes due to the fluctuating price of gasoline. Transportation costs effect the price of the fresh and most nutritional food first and most dramatically. Maybe I deserve to only eat rice and beans [I chose to be poor, right?], but honestly, I take pride that I live in one of the richest countries on the planet. I think I deserve to eat the apple. Removing my choice to pick to eat an apple is an insult to my very cultural identity as an American, and robs me of my dignity.

I've thought about using the food pantries in town to begin building a food asset in my home. The pantries give away the types of supplies that end up in the back of the cabinet anyway. They are a valuable community asset. The liquidity of that asset is still a barrier. They are only open during the middle of the day 3 days a week. Have a job and you lose access quickly.

Geeze, I hope most people don't over-think this stuff like I do, or I'm going to have to start a support group. Oh, wait, that is why we have Getting Ahead - a poverty recovery support group.