Hunger is on the March in Chicago’s Wealthy Collar Counties
Northern Illinois Food Bank Is Expanding to Meet the Need, Provide Leadership 

DuPage, Lake, Kane, McHenry and Will counties are among the top 50 for Median Household Income in the United States, yet poverty and hunger are on the rise in these affluent counties.  Hunger is no longer a Chicago-only issue.  In fact, in wealthy suburban counties higher average income creates a standard of living that makes it an even greater challenge for poverty level income families to survive.  Consider how far the buying power of a poverty level family of four living on $20,650 will go in an area dominated by families with much larger incomes.   Rents are typically higher, services are more expensive, and those people who are in need are often faced with greater challenges to survive than if they were living in less expensive areas.   It takes a minimum of $36,408 for a family of four to meet its most basic living expenses in rural Illinois and $47,008 in Chicago.

While the percentage of people in poverty in the collar counties is 8% -- well below the national average of 12.4% -- there are still over a quarter million folks who are at risk and qualify for food assistance.

In DuPage County to the west, there are more than 55,000 people living in poverty, and in Lake County to the north there are over 49,000.  In Will and Kane counties there are, respectively, over 42,000 and nearly 38,000 people living in poverty.  And in the 13 counties served by the Northern Illinois Food Bank, more than 97,000 of those living in suburban and rural poverty are children younger than 18.  These are huge numbers.  How can this be in some of the richest places in America?

The Illinois Poverty Summit 2006 report stated that “The pathway out of poverty includes six elements: education, employment, health, housing, nutrition, and basic necessities.  The elements of poverty are interconnected.  For example:

• A worker has a low educational level that has them pigeonholed in a low wage job with little hope for advancement, and/or

• Has a chronic health condition, aggravated by years without medical care due to lack of insurance that causes them to miss a substantial amount of work thereby further decreasing their income, and/or

• The rising cost of housing forces the family to spend 50% of their income on rent leaving little money for other expenses like clothing, school supplies for the children, rising heating costs, transportation, savings, and quality food, and/or

• Decreased nutritional intake contributes to their health condition leading to more missed work, decreased monthly income, and the inability to save."

NIFB is expanding its reach and expertise to attack this problem.  Led by Executive Director H. Dennis Smith, the food bank is positioned to provide understanding and programs to ameliorate this dire and unacceptable circumstance.

How Many Clients Receive Emergency Food From Northern Illinois Food Bank?

• NIFB provides food for an estimated 187,500 different people annually.

• Approximately 37,400 different people receive assistance in any given week.

Key Characteristics of people receiving food assistance from Northern Illinois Food Bank.

• 38% of households include at least one employed adult.

• 33% of the members of households are children under 18 years of age.

• 7% of the members of households are children age 0 to 5 years.

• 6% of the members of households are elderly.

• About 57% are non-Hispanic White, 27% are non-Hispanic black, 13% are Hispanic, and the rest are from other racial or ethnic groups.

• 60% have incomes below the official federal poverty level during the previous month.

Making Choices between Food and other Necessities

• 35% of clients report choosing between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel.

• 30% had to choose between paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage.

• 30% had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care.

For more information on the complete Hunger In America 2006 study, click here.

Click here for the complete report and to learn more about Hunger In America 2006 in Northern Illinois Food Bank's 13 county service area.
This 230-page document details LOCAL demographics, statistics, and more. Putting a true "face" on hunger in northern Illinois.

Click here for more resources to get informed on the issue of hunger.