When it comes to providing opportunities for social and economic mobility, Northern Virginia is a region of stark contrasts, with communities of great affluence virtually adjacent to highly disadvantaged neighborhoods where residents struggle to get ahead. A new report by the Center on Society and Health, commissioned by the Northern Virginia Health Foundation (NVHF), found…
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Category: Food security
A report out of Rutgers University details the prevalence of Americans for whom their financial stability has been greatly affected by the 2007 – 2009 Recession. The information available from the Project on Societal Distress further details how the recession has impacted multiple areas of well-being of the American family beyond income.
Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap project provides estimates of food insecurity at the County level combining various data sources to create a better understanding of the amount of food insecurity at the local level by income category and the food budget shortfall of individuals who are food insecure.
The Children’s Defense Fund has released The State of America’s Children 2011, a comprehensive look at child well-being in the United States with a focus on racial and ethnic differences
A new USDA website features census-tract level data on food deserts across the U.S. Food deserts are low-income communities without ready access to affordable and healthy foods.
Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap project provides estimates of food insecurity at the County level combining various data sources to create a better understanding of the amount of food insecurity at the local level by income category and the food budget shortfall of individuals who are food insecure.
USDA’s Your Food Environment Atlas is a web-based mapping tool that allows users to compare U.S. counties in terms of their “food environment” – factors such as proximity to grocery stores and restaurants, food expenditures, food insecurity, food assistance, food prices, health, physical activity, and socio-economic characteristics.
The most recent year for which data are available (2010) shows the highest number of participants in the Food Stamp (now called SNAP) program’s history, at 40.3 million participants on average per month. The average monthly number of SNAP participants has grown by 234% since 2000. http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/SNAPsummary.htm
Data from the Current Population Survey show that more households sought additional food resources from public and private sources during the recession. Since 2001, the number of households that reported obtaining emergency food from a food pantry has risen, with the largest increase occurring between 2007 and 2009.
The National Center for Children in Poverty released a report entitled “Who Are America’s Poor Children: Examining Food Insecurity Among Children in the United States.” The report that looks at how many children face food insecurity, factors associated with food insecurity, consequences of food insecurity for children, and the policies that address food security.