I am studying the concept of “gardening for good”, with a focus on hunger, produce donation, and what one working mom like me can accomplish to help. Before I start developing actionable ideas, I need to understand the problem. What does hunger in America look like? In my community?
Unfortunately, the start of this course was quite timely. Over the past month, we have all heard how the partial government shutdown resulted in increased demands on food assistance organizations. At the same time, paired with this increased demand, many food assistance providers were faced with concerns regarding receipt of their own funding. Yesterday, President Trump signed a three-week deal to reopen the government. However, I expect the effects of the longest government shutdown in United States’ history will likely drive food assistance organizations and food security advocates to increase pressure for legislative action to address hunger. Hopefully the government shutdown is over, but hunger will remain an important challenge to the nation.
Feeding America has an interactive map tool that depicts hunger. See how your state and county compare here. It shows that Massachusetts has a 9.6% rate of food insecurity. Mississippi is the highest, with over 20% of the population facing food insecurity, and Issaquena county is challenged with 40% food insecurity among children. This is shocking to me.
In Issaquena county, Mississippi, two out of every five children are food insecure.
See the Key Findings section of the Feeding America report that supports their interactive map, “Map the Meal Gap 2018”.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) measures hunger as food insecurity. The USDA publishes statistics and information about food security, including their report: “Household Food Security in the United States in 2017”. I reviewed this report, which is the most recent data available. You can read the report here. Some of the main take-aways from the report (see USDA ERR-256, page 13) are:
- In 2017, 11.8% of Americans were food insecure at some point, but the number of Americans experiencing food insecurity fell slightly from 12.3% in 2016.
- Of households with children under the age of 18, however, 15.7% were food insecure at some point during 2017.
- Groups facing higher than average rates of food insecurity include households with children, households with single mother or father, adults who live alone, households headed by Black or Hispanic adults, and households under 185% of the poverty level.
The organization No Kid Hungry has a page that breaks down research and statistics specific to child hunger. It highlights that, once the statistics are dissected, hunger effects about 1 in 6 children.
So, statistically speaking, in an American classroom of 24 children, four of them have hunger in their lives.
I highly recommend watching the film, “A Place at the Table”. Watch the trailer and look it up for your next movie night. It makes the issue of hunger more personal, more tangible. It shows that hunger hurts all different kinds of people, all across the country.
Earlier in this post, I mentioned the Farm Bill. Before I took the course “Food, Justice and Policy” with Catherine Sands over the summer, I had no idea that SNAP comes from the Farm Bill. In fact, the overwhelming majority of appropriations that come from the Farm Bill go toward the programs in the nutrition title of the bill.
There are some great resources that can help you learn more about the Farm Bill and how it relates to hunger issues, but one I particularly like is the Farm Bill Law Enterprise. This week I read through their report “Food Access, Nutrition, and Public Health”. Although the new Farm Bill did pass and was signed on December 20, 2018, it has not yet taken effect. For this reason, I found this report a good analysis of current challenges and opportunities related to the problem of hunger in America.
One of the most interesting things I learned this week is that there are Senate and House Hunger Caucuses. I am surprised I had not read about this group before while researching hunger. It applies the legislative lens to hunger and emphasizes the connections between hunger and health, as well as the cost savings that result from using nutrition as a preventative medicine. The reason I have not heard about them before may very well be that they don’t actually do much. If you search the web for them, there are few results...
I don’t believe that addressing hunger is a priority for Congress right now. This makes local and individual efforts even more important. We can continue to fill the gap as best we can. It is with this thought that I will move into Week 2. I will go from the general, more national scale to the local and do the following:
- Research Massachusetts-specific hunger legislation, action, and advocacy topics
- Identify local food security advocates and food/nutrition assistance resources
- Reach out to a local food pantry listed with Ample Harvest and discuss produce donation
- Continue to improve the website and add to the blog!
