Data from the 2002 round of the National Survey of America's Families show that poverty rates dropped to 23 percent for blacks, 25 percent for Hispanics, and 8 percent for whites between 1996 and 2001. Forty-four percent of Hispanics experienced food hardship in 2002 compared with 38 percent of blacks and 17 percent of whites. In 2002, 24 percent of blacks, 20 percent of Hispanics, and 10 percent of whites experienced housing hardship.