Many of us have either needed government aid or will before we die. Excluding programs such as Medicare, Social Security, unemployment and disability and restricting analysis only to means tested programs like TANF, food stamps, Medicaid and public housing, 64% of Americans will rely on government aid at some point in their lifetimes. The idea that public assistance is for some “other” group of people unlike anyone we know is simply not true except for the most privileged. That said, public assistance is needed by some groups more than others.1

The face of welfare has changed over the years. One constant has been the focus on helping children. This fact remains true today: most aid overall is for children, with food stamps as the one exception. Even so, a full 99% of TANF, food stamps, and SSI benefits together go to families with children.

Until recently, the most numerous adult recipients were white women, heading households with two children.2 Today, women remain the primary recipients of aid—mostly because they are the primary caregivers for children. However, ethnically, this profile is changing. In sheer numbers, public assistance is almost evenly distributed among White, Black and Hispanic families.3 These numbers are somewhat misleading, however, because of the different percentages of each ethnic group in the United States. 9.5% of all Whites in the U.S. receive assistance, 34% of Blacks and 28% of Hispanics. In other words, ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented on the welfare rolls. As one would expect, they are also disproportionately poor. The question is, why?

Research makes it abundantly clear that no ethnic group is more or less capable or intelligent than any other. In other words, individuals no matter their ethnicity are equally capable of success if structural barriers are removed. That is a mighty big “if” however, and can only be understood when we address how the major causes of poverty impact ethnic minorities more severely due to historical and systemic inequalities.