Written by Rachelle Sartori, Community Engagement Coordinator, Montana No Kid Hungry
Transformational systemic change requires an opportune moment to catalyze action and inspire every-day people to change the path of society for the better.
Prior to the COVID-19 emergency, we were already experiencing a national crisis of poverty. According to U.S. Census data, there were 38.1 million poor people in the United States in 2018. Census data also reported that 20% of Montanans lived within 200% of poverty – an income of around $50,000 per year for a family of four or about $24,000 a year for a single individual. However, these numbers come from calculations based on the Official Poverty Measure, which is infamously outdated due to being designed in 1964. The measurement assumes families spend 1/3 of their total income on food – which given the modern day expenses of housing, childcare, transportation, healthcare, medical copays, and more – the assumption of 1/3 is far too high and does not incorporate the nuances of the cost of living in present day America. More recently, a study was done measuring poverty by utilizing the Supplemental Poverty Measure, which is considered much more accurate because it accounts for these nuances and the financial burden of modern expenses like out-of-pocket medical bills. According to this study done by the Institute for Policy Studies, there are now 140 million people who are poor, low wealth, have limited assets, or are at risk of not being able to meet their basic needs.
Today we face a deadly pandemic that is illuminating the flaws in our fragile and fragmented system, while causing millions of more people to lose their jobs and suffer the personal and economic consequences of COVID-19. Enormous numbers of American citizens are at risk of financial ruin, wondering when their next paycheck will be, where their next meal will come from, and where they will lay down to sleep at night. This is why we are in the midst of our opportune moment – because more people than ever before are having their lives and stability rattled by poverty in the United States.
The place we call home is not exempt from this crisis, as many Montanans face living conditions each day that are unstable and meager at best. Montana No Kid Hungry is taking action to be a leader in the fight against poverty in our state, to restore equity and ensure that the basic needs of each Montanan are met, because we recognize this is the only route to a healthy, resilient, and thriving home for us all.
In April of 2018, Montana No Kid Hungry launched our Amplify Montana initiative, which is a community-driven leadership development effort designed to build the influence and advocacy skills of people who have first-hand lived experience with poverty in our local communities. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to speak on their own behalf about the issues that impact them, and Amplify Montana is grounded in the principle that those most impacted by the inequities in our system must be frontrunners in spearheading change and creating solutions.
If you are interested in learning more about Amplify Montana, you can check out the webpage or contact Rachelle Sartori at rachelle.sartori@mt.gov.