Income fluctuations cause low-income families to cycle in and out of eligibility for food assistance. Twenty-eight percent of U.S. households with children experienced at least one monthly income change in the late 1990s that put them above or below the eligibility criteria for many programs....

Concentrated poverty has increased in the U.S. over the last decade, particularly in nonmetropolitan areas and in areas with distinct racial/ethnic minority populations. Historical regional concentrations of high poverty persist in the South, but there is evidence of emergent concentrations in...