A report released Monday by the UW-Madison Institute for Research on Poverty showed a growing trend of need for food assistance since the start of the recession and determined poverty in Wisconsin has increased since 2007.
The report estimates Wisconsin's poverty rate has risen 1.8 percentage points overall since 2007 but has increased much more for children.
According to the report, one in seven Wisconsin children and 11 percent of the state's population lived in poverty in 2007, the most recent date for which poverty information is available. Wisconsin had the 37th highest level of child poverty.
""We see the Wisconsin Poverty Report as a key starting point for Wisconsin's anti-poverty plan,"" institute director Timothy Smeeding said in a statement. ""The report can be used to target areas of greatest need within our state.""
In 2007, some of the highest poverty rates were concentrated in the middle and northern counties of the state, but Milwaukee County had the highest rate with 17.3 percent.
Because the most recent poverty data could only be collected from 2007, the report looked at Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program monthly data to track changes in the need for food, which is often linked to poverty, between 2007 and 2009. The report found that between these dates, SNAP participation in the state grew 37 percent.
Milwaukee County, however, saw the smallest increase in need for food assistance, suggesting this need is growing faster in the rest of the state.
The report attributed the majority of this increase to the current recession.
""The acceleration of the SNAP growth trends since 2006 suggests that the impact of the recession is broadening and deepening poverty within our state,"" the report reads.
