COVID-19: Food Insecurity ‘There is Always A Need for Food Assistance’: 10 Ways You Can Help People This Thanksgiving, MarketWatch, November 20, 2020 About one in five Black and Latinx adults, and one in 14 white and Asian adults, say they don’t have enough to eat, according to a separate September report by the Food Research & Action Center. “What is more surprising is the extent of hunger,” said the report authors. “It’s not just the poorest families who are facing this struggle; among those who don’t have enough to eat, 1 in 4 have usual incomes above $50,000 per year.” Military families in Texas struggle the most with food insecurity, according to report, Stars and Stripes, November 20, 2020 A study from the Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN) found that one in six military and veteran respondents in Texas were experiencing low food security or were hungry, even before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Shelley Kimball, senior director of research and program evaluation at MFAN, said that she’s nervous about how the pandemic is worsening the areas of concern they have been studying related to food insecurity, such as unemployment and loneliness. COVID-19: College Hunger Tackling Hunger And Homelessness on Campus, Forbes, November 17, 2020 Many months into the pandemic, we have witnessed extraordinary economic disruption and devastation. The effects have been far-reaching and prolonged, including across higher education. On four-year college campuses, recent survey data suggests that 15 percent of students are facing homelessness due to the pandemic and 38 percent of students are experiencing food insecurity. Policymakers can help address the need. While an estimated 18 percent of college students are eligible for federal nutrition assistance to meet their food needs through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), only 3 percent of students access these benefits. Public universities are working to help students take advantage of desperately needed resources. COVID-19: School Meals More Afterschool Suppers Are Key Support for Food-insecure Households, Report Says, Youth Today, November 18, 2020 “A meals program goes hand in hand with afterschool programs,” said Crystal FitzSimons, director of school and out-of-school time programs for FRAC. Food helps draw children to programs that provide them the supplementary education and enrichment they need, she said. And when children are in an after-school program from 3 p.m. until the evening, “they’re going to be hungry,” she said. As pandemic stretches on, school officials focus on hungry kids, WNEP, November 20, 2020 School officials around northeastern and central Pennsylvania have handed out hundreds of thousands of free meals during this health crisis. They say they are grateful for an extension from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that will allow those free meals to continue through June 30. “We are 100 percent free breakfast and free lunch, and right now, because of the extension and the waivers that we’ve been provided, that all districts has been provided really, that extends to anyone under the age of 18," said Hazleton Area Superintendent Brian Uplinger. CCPS Earns A- on Maryland School Breakfast Report Card, The Bay Net, November 16, 2020 Charles County Public Schools in Maryland are getting high marks on the Maryland School Breakfast Report Card. Maryland Hunger Solutions, a nonprofit that promotes nutrition outreach, recently released its annual breakfast report. Portage mobile meals program expands to seven days of breakfast, lunches for students, Chicago Tribune, November 20, 2020 The Portage schools in Chicago served 10,840 meals Monday, the most they’ve served in one distribution, Teresa Anderson, the school corporation’s food services director, said in an email. “I’ve heard mobile meal distribution programs described as ‘hyper local’ and I think that this accurately explains the intent,” she said. “We’ve found it to be a great way to reach children where they are.” The meals are distributed to the families throughout the district in a condensed version of its bus routes. FRAC Chat Food insecurity and gender disparities during COVID-19, November 20, 2020 Women have been disproportionately affected by unemployment, poverty and hunger during the COVID-19 pandemic. They have lost jobs at higher rates than men. Child care burdens are falling disproportionately to women. In addition, women have faced higher rates of poverty and food insecurity during the crisis. Some have even called this recession a “she-cession.” |