Challenges Faced by Emergency Food Clients in Meeting Household Needs

Transcription

1 Challenges Faced by Emergency Food Clients in Meeting Household Needs

2 Presentation to IOM Committee on Examination of Adequacy of Food Resources and SNAP Allotments Elaine Waxman, Ph.D. Vice President, Research and Partnerships Feeding America March 28, Feeding America

3 Topics Overview of Feeding America Insights from Map the Meal Gap Characteristics and Challenges of Emergency Food Clients Geographic Variation in Food Costs 2010 Feeding America

4 About Feeding America We are the nation s leading domestic hunger-relief charity. Our network is comprised of national office in Chicago and more than 200 food banks in all 50 states and Puerto Rico Feeding America distributes more than 3 billion pounds of food annually, including more than 500,000 pounds of fresh produce. Each year, we feed more than 37 million people, including 14 million children and 3 million seniors through approximately 61,000 local agencies.

5 What We Do Emergency feeding through traditional channels: pantries, kitchens and shelters Targeted programs to reach vulnerable populations e.g., kids cafes, backpack programs, summer feeding sites, mobile pantries, pilot diabetes projects SNAP outreach (50%+ of network members) Nutrition education (161 food banks) Advocacy Emerging initiatives in food systems and public health

6 Mapping the Meal Gap: Food Insecurity in the United States 49 Million Americans Overall Food Insecurity = 1 in 6 People (in 2010) Child Food Insecurity = nearly 1 in 4 Kids (in 2010) Source: Map the Meal Gap, 2012

7 Estimating County-Level Food Insecurity: Map the Meal Gap

8 Source: Map the Meal Gap, 2011 POVERTY FOOD INSECURITY

9 Hunger in America 2010 Snapshot Data were collected from: Over 180 food banks affiliated with Feeding America (90% participation rate) Approximately 37,000 agencies (74% response rate among eligible respondents) More than 61,000 recipients of emergency food (77% response rate among eligible respondents) Does not include non-emergency food assistance, such as afterschool feeding programs and senior congregate meals Data collection took place in February through June 2009 Client count estimates are weighted to account for nonparticipating Feeding America Food Banks

10 Hunger in America 2010 Snapshot: Growth FA is now feeding 37.0 million unduplicated clients or one in eight individuals in the U.S. This is a 46% increase over HIA Source: Hunger in America, 2010

11 Hunger in America: Age of Clients Feeding America is serving 14 million children under the age of 18 annually That represents a 50% increase since HIA 2006, when the number of children served was 9 million 2010 Feeding America

12 Hunger in America: Racial and Ethnic Background The number of Hispanic adult clients has increased 66% since HIA 2006 (from 1.8 to 3 million adults). The overall number of adult African-American clients increased 25% from HIA 2006 (from 3.9 to 4.9 million adults). We serve almost 1 in 3 Latino children and more than 1 in 3 African American children Source: Hunger in America 2010

13 Resource Trade-offs More than one in three emergency food recipients report choosing between an everyday necessity and sufficient food. Source: Hunger in America, 2010

14 Combining Strategies: Emergency Food and SNAP Subject to underreporting Source: Hunger in America, 2010

15 Frequency of Pantry Visitation Source: Hunger s New Staple, 2012

16 Food Banks: Hunger s New Staple More than 1/3 of clients in Hunger in America 2010 study reported visiting a food bank every month for at least 12 months Clients often combining multiple strategies to meet household needs, including federal programs like SNAP (food stamps) and regular pantry visits Source: Hunger s New Staple, 2012

17 Pantry Visitation Patterns by Age Category Source, Hunger s New Staple, 2012

18 SNAP Duration and Client Visit Patterns Source: Hunger s New Staple, 2012

19 County-Level Analysis of Thrifty Food Plan Market Basket Feeding America partnered with The Nielsen Company to understand geographic variation in food costs faced by clients Feeding America calculated average per meal cost from Consumer Expenditure Survey, 2009 $2.54 The Nielsen Company constructed a county-level food price index, for market basket from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, males Addressed limited data for small counties by developed a price for missing categories based on surrounding counties Added state and county-level grocery taxes Calculated index against weighted average county costs of the market basket Source: Map the Meal Gap, 2011

20 County-Level Food Price Variation, 2009 Ventura, CA $2.79 Fayette, KY $2.38 Cattaraugus, NY $2.22 New York, NY $3.72 Maverick, TX $1.93 Source: Map the Meal Gap, 2011

21 Geographic Food Price Variation Meal costs vary from $1.87 in Zavala, TX to $4.42 in Nantucket, MA (2009 data) Counties in top 10% most expensive food costs have an average meal cost of $ % more expensive than national average Some counties experience dual challenge of high food insecurity and high food costs many of these are rural and in the Southeast 1/3 of these counties are majority African-American (although only 3% of counties in U.S. have a majority of residents who are African-American) 2010 data update will be released in April 2012 Source: Map the Meal Gap, 2011

22 Summary Need is pervasive and unlikely to abate significantly in the near term Many households are looking to food banks for supplemental assistance on regular basis and many households rely on a combination of strategies to put food on their table and juggle household expenses e.g., both SNAP and charitable food assistance Geographic food price variation suggests that standardized approach to benefit levels is insufficient