Every child needs nutritious food for a healthy start to life. Common sense and a mountain of evidence tell us that childhood hunger and food insecurity have damaging effects on a child’s health, sometimes long-lasting. Studies have linked food insecurity in children with a host of poor health outcomes – anemia, mental and behavioral issues such as aggression, depression, and anxiety, and worse oral health – to name just a few. Hunger inhibits a child’s ability to learn, making it hard for them to pay attention in class and perform well on tests. Left unaddressed, chronic hunger and food insecurity can reduce a child’s life chances, affecting their prospects of graduating from high school and even their earnings in adulthood.
In New York State alone, an estimated 750,000 children – that’s about one in five children (19%) – are affected by food insecurity. While food insecurity afflicts children across the state, rates vary across counties reaching as high as one in three children (33%) in the Bronx and one in four children in Brooklyn (26%). Rural counties face particular challenges such as limited access to grocery stores, lack of transportation, and less availability of emergency food resources. Families headed by single mothers and Black and Hispanic families are disproportionately affected by food insecurity.
Food insecurity is an economic problem.
Low-income families struggle to meet basic needs. Their limited resources make it harder for them to recover from financial shocks such as a job loss, a health emergency, or other unplanned expenses.
Limited assets in the form of financial savings and home ownership make it hard for families to cope. Community factors also play a role. Some places are considered food deserts because there’s a limited supply of affordable, healthy food options coupled with a plethora of unhealthy food options, making it hard for families to make healthy choices.
To combat child food insecurity, we need a multi-pronged approach to ensure children have access to healthy food where they live, learn, and play. Families need support along the spectrum of need. Emergency food distribution through food pantries are a vital support for families facing financial shocks or day-to-day difficulties in meeting their basic needs. It’s also important to connect families that qualify to public food assistance such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) as these programs provide sustained support.
Fruit and vegetable incentive programs increase the affordability, access, and consumption of fruits and vegetables. School lunch and breakfast programs aligned with leading standards in child nutrition are critical to ensuring children are healthy and ready to learn. The problem of food deserts can be tackled through strategies such as investing in grocery stores in underserved areas, mobile produce markets that travel to neighborhoods to sell fresh fruits and vegetables, and farmers markets where farmers can sell directly to consumers. Ultimately, child food insecurity needs to be addressed through broader anti-poverty programs that enable families to achieve economic security.
As you will see from the highlighted projects in this report, the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation supports organizations implementing a variety of strategies to ensure that all children in New York State have access to the nutritious food they need to thrive.