One perennial issue for reporters covering the social determinants of health is the fact that millions of people in the United States – from pregnant women and children to at-risk adults and seniors – go hungry, not just for an afternoon but for entire days or more.
In 2015, almost 11 million adults and more than 500,000 children and adolescents experienced “very low food security,” according to the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). That means one or more members of a household had reduced their food intake.
The USDA breaks food insecurity into four levels: high food security, marginal food security, low food security, and very low security. In terms of USDA programs and evaluation, these terms covering the range of food intake are used rather than the more general “food insecurity.”
The Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan educational and policy organization in Washington, D.C., recently held a day-long program on poverty and opportunity that included a focus on hunger. Here are some ideas for your coverage of the issue, drawn from the March 2017 event:
OVERVIEW
In its decades’ long effort to end hunger in America, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has developed and administers several food distribution and service programs. Among the largest is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other programs that help feed school children during the academic year as well as summer.
FNS programs cost $101.9 billion dollars in fiscal 2016, according to the USDA’s FY16 annual report. In fiscal 2016, an average 44.2 million people per month received SNAP benefits, and an average 7.7 million people per month received benefits through the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. The National School Lunch Program (NLSP) served an average 30.3 million students each school day, and also provided an average 14.5 million school breakfasts.
Others who may need assistance but do not qualify for government aid may be relying on community-based organizations, such as food banks. Feeding America, a non-profit organization that runs about 200 food banks nationwide, estimates that it serves 46 million people annually. The group provides this interactive map detailing food insecurity by county and congressional district.
FEDERAL DATA SOURCES
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The USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) has several interactive charts about food security:
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What Is Very Low Food Security, And Who Experiences It (2015) summarizes data about the 14.6 million people who comprise the estimated 6.3 million households experiencing very low food security. This number represents 5 percent of the total U.S. population. Within this group, slightly more than 30 percent had incomes at or very near the poverty level. Almost 20 percent were single-parent households, and 14.3 percent were black, non-Hispanic or Hispanic. They were closely split among types communities (i.e., major metropolitan, suburban, nonmetropolitan).
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Also, FNS has an interactive map that highlights SNAP households data by congressional district.
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The National Academy of Science and Medicine has posted a pre-publication copy of its report, Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity, which discusses hunger in the context of economic inequality and offers case studies of several communities.
RETHINKING FOOD
In the private sector, chefs and others are rethinking food, cooking and nutrition in ways that take poverty into account.
In the nation’s capital, the D.C. Central Kitchen (DCCK) aims not only to feed people but also address career training and job creation. The goal, according to its website, is to “strengthen local food systems and reduce disparities in health and economic opportunity.”
Founded in 1989, DCCK’s then-revolutionary plan was to retrieve food thrown out by restaurants and grocery stores to feed homeless people in Washington. Once considered unrealistic, the approach has since spread to many communities, and become so popular that even upscale groceries stores such as Whole Foods have started to sell so-called “ugly foods.” In many regions of California, Imperfect Foods makes home deliveries of “ugly produce.”
“Food is what we use to talk about poverty and inequality,” Tony Vinson, DCCK’s recruitment and intake coordinator, said at the Aspen event.
Vinson, himself a graduate of the group’s training program, recruits people recently released from jails and rehabilitation centers, and also others who are homeless or have endured trauma, to participate in tuition-free programs that teach skills needed to become cooks. Approximately 100 students graduate each year, according to the group, and 89 percent find jobs in the Washington metropolitan area.
Chef Jose Andres, celebrity chef, philanthropist and restaurant owner, described his experiences as an immigrant and his path to American citizenship. At the Aspen event, Andres noted that food alone would not end hunger, but America must do what it has always done: “feed people and ensure that they can stay in the community.”
Other programs addressing hunger include:
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Campus Kitchens Project is active at almost 55 colleges and universities. Students reclaim unused or wasted food from campus kitchens and area restaurants and grocery stores, then prepare and distribute it to those in need. CKP reports that during the 2015-16 academic year, nearly 30,000 students volunteers on 53 campuses reclaimed 1.2 million pounds of wasted food, which students cooked to provide almost 350,000 meals.
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Healthy Choices (Save the Children) works in 14 states to reach vulnerable children with afterschool and summer programs that provide nutritious meals and at least 30-minutes of activity (something many students no get during the school day).
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National Foundation to End Senior Hunger has launched “What a Waste” in four senior nutrition programs to help them to assess food waste and how to decrease it.
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National WIC Association, representing nonprofit WIC education and advocacy programs, gives voice to the needs of the more than 8 million mothers and young children served by WIC, and the 12,000 service agencies that deliver food vouchers to at-risk women and children. The agencies also provide nutrition education to encourage healthy eating habits.
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No Kid Hungry/Share Our Strength, a national program that “connects kids in need with nutritious food and teaches their families how to cook nutritious, affordable food.”
STORY IDEAS
In addition to tracking what the Trump administration says its proposed budget will do, there are many stories to be told about hunger and its effects on individuals and communities around the country. Ask these questions:
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How many people in your community go hungry, and what is the community doing to help?
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Are other community programs attempting to end hunger by providing job training and employment opportunities? For example, the Lighthouse Shelter in Annapolis, Md. recently opened a bistro near Main Street, a tourist hub.
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How does hunger affect infant development and childhood growth and ability to learn?
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What is a day like for schoolchildren who come to school hungry? What about those who receive free school lunches and breakfasts? How does hunger affect their ability to learn? Moreover, the critical period of brain development?
- What are the consequences of malnutrition in older adults?
