An Evaluation of Food Insecurity in the D.C. Community

Abstract

Having proper access to food is crucial to the growth and well-being of all individuals; however, not everyone has access to proper nutrition. Nutritious foods may be hard to come by in D.C., especially when considering factors like affordability, and access to grocery stores. D.C. has a series of food deserts, more prominent in the southeast side of the district. Inaccessibility to food within these deserts could be traced to factors beyond grocery stores proximity, including, but not limited to, household income, education, and race. Combating the complexity of food insecurity for residents of Washington, D.C. in this sense requires addressing topics beyond why food deserts arise in the first place. In this way, assessing the way individuals approach preparing and acquiring food as well as the broader economic and cultural factors surrounding which items they consume is rudimental to remediating systemic food insecurity. Efforts need to be made to address the prevalence of food deserts, namely in identifying the extent of the problem, learning to manage interventions and resources efficiently, and implementing novel community-based interventions such as the proposed mobile food pantry and medical clinic model.