The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has written up an analysis of the Census Bureau's survey of material hardship from 2003. Among the more startling findings: * Between one-fourth and one-third of black African American families with children (28 percent) experienced at least one of three hardships — overcrowded housing, hunger or the risk of hunger (termed “food insecurity” by the government), or lack of needed medical care — in the 12 months before the survey was conducted in summer 2003. [2] This was double the comparable rate for non-Latino white families with children (14 percent). * Nearly one in three families with children headed by a Latino citizen (31 percent) experienced at least one of these three hardships, not significantly different from the rate for black families. That's pretty shocking. And all that disproportionately-borne hardship exists, to my knowledge, despite the assistance that government programs and charities provide. There's clearly a lot of unmet needs out there. What's more, this might be the last time researchers and advocates are able to gauge the unmet need. The survey used by CBPP (and countless other analysts) - called the Survey of Income and Program Participation - will be terminated unless Congress appropriates more funding for the Census Bureau (we commented on this development back in June). That'd be a shame if Congress didn't restore sufficient funding. How else will we know how effectively federal programs are dealing with material hardship?