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SourceLineThe Black Civic Data Platform

Our mission is to make sure Black communities are not simply informed about the decisions shaping our future, but equipped to help make those decisions. An informed community is a powerful community.

Stories

Stories

Each story starts with the national record, then breaks it down to your state, county, city and address: how it affects you, who decides and who pays. Newest first.

Food aid, on the record

Who lost SNAP, and what happened next?

SNAP fell by 5.5 million people in a year. What Black families stand to lose, what is no longer counted, and who decides, down to your address.

SNAP has done what it was built to do. When a paycheck runs short, the groceries still come home. In July 2025, 41,603,048 people got SNAP. In July 2026, the latest month the U.S. Department of Agriculture has published, 36,087,667 did.

Inside: What the law changed · What the government says, and what critics say · Where the losses fell · What is measured now, and what is not · Who decides, from your street to Washington · What you can do · Where you live

Read the story › October 29, 2026 · 8 minute read

Housing, on the record

When public housing becomes Section 8, who gets to come home?

Public housing is being rebuilt as Section 8 under a federal program called RAD. What it fixed, what it risks, and who decides where you live.

Start with what is working. In HUD's own evaluation, the repair bill at converted properties fell by about two thirds, from $12,981 a home to $4,608, while it more than doubled at public housing that did not convert.

Inside: What the law is, and what Congress meant it to do · Why this is different from what happened in Atlanta · What the record shows, and where it stops · Pros and cons, side by side · What supporters point to · What critics point to · A view, labelled · Rural America is losing homes too · Who decides, from your street to Washington · What you can do · Where you live

Read the story › October 29, 2026 · 7 minute read

Coming to your state

Decisions reported by Black newspapers and local news in states SourceLine is building next, with each state’s own numbers.

About these figures

Every figure on this page shows the year it describes. Public agencies release their numbers on their own schedules, often a year or more after the work of counting is done. The Census Bureau, for example, publishes its five year community survey each December, and the national reading test is given every two years. That is why some figures are not from this year. SourceLine updates each one as soon as the agency publishes it.

For some counties and small towns, SourceLine has not found meeting records online. Where it has not, we add them as they become available. A page that says SourceLine hasn’t updated a record yet means exactly that.