Abstract
In the United States, food banks served an estimated 46 million people in 2015. A combination of government policy reforms and political economic trends contributed to the rising numbers of individuals relying on private food assistance in the US, the United Kingdom and other high-income countries. Although researchers frequently map urban food environments, this project is one of the first to map private food assistance and potential need at the census-tract scale. We utilize Geographic Information Systems, demographic data, and food assistance locations to develop a rapid assessment tool that could support food banks, pantries, soup kitchens, and government agencies that seek to answer the question of whether people with the greatest need have food distribution sites in close proximity. We define access based on distance and then calculate potential food insecurity using either poverty rates or a food insecurity index. We apply these methods in a case study analysis of Santa Clara County, California. Our findings suggest that food assistance distribution locations match the areas of potential need in more than 80% of urban census tracts. However, there are several potentially underserved locations and populations that could benefit from new food assistance operations. The poverty and index-based approaches show significant spatial overlap in mapped areas of high food insecurity and low access. The poverty only approach produces a higher estimate of food insecurity rates, is easier to calculate, and draws attention to the need to address poverty as a root cause of hunger.
Highlights
The vast majority of food insecure people live in the developing world, food insecurity remains a vexing problem in the United States (US) and many other industrialized countries, including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom (UK) (McIntyre et al 2016)
We examine both the poverty-based assessment of food insecurity and the more robust assessment that includes unemployment and the incidence of renting and discuss the implications for identifying areas that may be underserved by food assistance distribution sites
There is a large cluster of low-income census tracts in what is known as East San Jose, which is centered near the junction of Highway US 101 and Interstate 680
Summary
The vast majority of food insecure people live in the developing world, food insecurity remains a vexing problem in the United States (US) and many other industrialized countries, including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom (UK) (McIntyre et al 2016). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) classifies a household as food insecure when “access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money and other resources” (Coleman-Jensen et al 2014). Households facing risks to their ability to access sufficient food rely on a wide range of coping strategies, which can include: the use of credit to buy food, eating less, skipping meals and participating in government or private food assistance programs. Government food programs have historically assumed the primary role in attempting to alleviate food insecurity, in the last decade private food assistance led by food banks and/or local food pantries and soup kitchens emerged as a key source of food assistance in the US, Australia, UK, and elsewhere. Research analyzing food banks’ management decisions and strategies used to reach those most in need have not kept up with this rapid expansion (González-Torre and Coque 2016)
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