By Charlotte Young
There are an estimated 8.4 billion meals missing from the tables of the hungry in America, according to a “Map the Meal Gap” study recently released by Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the US.
The study, based on data from the US Department of Agriculture and The Nielsen Company, focuses on food insecurity at the local level. According to
BlackEngineer.com, over a third of the 44 counties in the US that fall into the highest category of food insecurity have majority African American populations. One in 4 African American households are food insecure.
Brian Banks, Director of Public Policy and Community Outreach, Capitol Area Food Bank says that the study, “helps us focus our response to this overwhelming issue.”
“With the first county-by-county data, we can tailor our response to each community,” he said.
The study explains that there is a high number of African Americans dealing with food insecurity partly because they have a lower average median income and higher than average unemployment rates when compared to the general population.
Black Americans are also more likely to participate in federal nutrition programs. Feeding America services five million non-Hispanic African Americans, which make up about 34 percent of their overall adult clients. The US governmental Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, serves about 7.4 million African Americans, about 22.5 percent of its total participants. Ninety percent of African American children will benefit from the SNAP program at some point before they reach age 20.
According to USDA data, people struggling with hunger estimate they would need about $56 more each month on average to address the shortages in their food budget. On a national level, “Map the Meal Gap” shows this shortfall represents an estimated $21.3 billion on an annual basis.
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