What Do the Numbers Tell Us?

Latest Research on Hunger

Local Lens on Hunger: The Hunger Index and Hunger in America 2010 study

March, 2011

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Snapshots of the need for food

• Hunger Index is a measure of the need for food by the most vulnerable members of our community

• It’s an index for comparing how well we are addressing hunger on a year-to-year basis

• Hunger in America 2010, conducted by Feeding America, is designed to:

• Identify trends in emergency and food assistance programs

• Look at the changing compositions of our partner agencies and the clients they serve

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Hunger Index Description

• Developed by researchers from Santa Clara University School of Business and SHFB

•Three main components:

•Total meals required to be healthy

•Total meals purchased by households

•Total food assistance provided

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Assumptions

• 3 meals per day x 365 days

•Households under $50K more likely to need food assistance

•Cost of $2.09/meal/person, based on USDA Low-Cost plan

•Amount of dollars required for food per household slightly lower in SMC

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Meals Needed by Income Range

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Calculating Missing Meals

TMR-MP-FAP=MM

TMR: Total Meals Required (By needy households per year)

MP: Meals Purchased (Meals purchased by needy households with their own funds)

FAP: Food Assistance Provided

(The sum of all meals distributed by food assistance programs)

MM: Missing Meals

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The Hunger Index

The ratio of the unmet need for food assistance to the total need for food

assistance.

HI=MM/(TMR-MP)Unmet need for food assistance

Total need for food assistance

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Santa Mateo County 2009

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Food Assistance Provided In San Mateo County 2009

CACFP2%

Senior Nutrition

1%

School Meals Program

24%

Second Harvest Food

Bank26%

SNAP 30%

WIC17%

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Food Assistance: Closing the Gap

55.4M 29.2 M65%

Missing Meals

Food Assistance Provided

84.6 M

San Mateo County Hunger Index

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63%68%

37%32%

Tota

l Nee

d fo

r Foo

d As

sist

ance

(M

illio

ns o

f Mea

ls)

233.9M

112.5M

238.5M

138.7M

Total Hunger Index: Both Counties combined

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What Would it Take to Reduce the HI by 1%?

•Less than 3 million meals in SC County

•Less than 850 thousand meals in SM County

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The direction is improving; now what?

•Leverage available resources: promote CalFresh to clients; work with SHFB to prescreen; use this information for grant writing

•Educate your clients, supporters, donors about CalFresh

•Expand your capacity to serve more clients

•Advocate for changes in CalFresh enrollment barriers, increased school meals

•Other ideas??????

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Mini Break

Everybody stand up and STRETCH!!

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Hunger in America 2010

•Snapshot of who is hungry and who’s serving them

•Data collected nationally in 2009 by Feeding America

• Client data gathered at local emergency feeding sites.

• In SMC and SCC, clients interviewed in 6 languages

•Agency information gathered through surveys

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Who is coming for food?

• More than 15% of pantry clients own their own home

• More than 50% of pantry households have 1 or more employed adults

• Almost 1/3 of clients have some college education or a degree

• 13% of the clients worked now or before in managerial or professional jobs

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Why are they coming for food?

• Incomes are not keeping pace with the cost of living in the Bay Area

• Self-sufficiency for a family of four is $76,992*

• Average annual income of pantry households is $14,160

• To qualify for CalFresh (food stamps), income for family of 4 can be no higher than $28,665

*CA Budget Project, 2007

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Client Challenges

• Many clients have to choose between paying for food or other needs such as housing, transportation or health care

• Over 40% of pantry households have a member in poor health and almost ¼ of adult clients have no health insurance.

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Children and Seniors are going hungry

• 12% of pantry households have a family member over age 65

• 44% of pantry households have a child under age 18

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What are their other resources?

• Government programs important part of safety net; however, only supplemental

• CalFresh benefits last an average of 2.7 weeks in the Bay Area

• Programs not aligned, i.e. family of child getting free school meals not automatically referred to the CalFresh program

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Agencies and SHFB depend on each other

•SHFB provides 80% of total food for pantries, 46% of food to kitchens, 55% of food to shelters

•Most agencies say they would suffer significant impact without food bank food

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Agencies’ Needs

• There is an increase in clients needing food in both counties

• Some have to be turned away for lack of food resources

•Volunteers other importance resource; 12 volunteers for each paid staff

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Areas of Additional Assistance Desired

•Most programs said they need help in the following areas:

•Nutrition education

•Training in food handling

•Accessing local resources, like food and equipment

•Advocacy training

•Information on Summer Feeding Programs

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How to use this information?

•Refer clients to Food Connection

•Write grants using this information (more details on SHFB website)

•Partner with SHFB to promote CalFresh; prescreen clients

•Use HI piece to share information about missing meals

•Contact SHFB nutrition program for help and training

•Advocate with legislators; listen to the next speaker!!!

Mind the Gap

March 18, 2011Kumar Chandran, MS, MPH

California Food Policy Advocates

Measuring Need & Nutrition Assistance in San Mateo County

California Food Policy Advocates is a statewide public policy and advocacy organization

dedicated to improving the health and well being of low-income Californians by increasing

their access to nutritious, affordable food.

Overview

Data Sources, Analyses, and Impact• Food Insecurity• Obesity and Overweight• CalFresh Utilization• School Meal Programs• Summer Nutrition

CFPA County Profiles• Last released in February 2010• 2011 release expected late spring/early

summer• Contains

– Food insecurity and health indicators– Participation information for federal nutrition

programs– Demographic data

The Data: Food Insecurity• California Health

Interview Survey (CHIS) data

• Adults with incomes less than 200% of federal poverty level

• 2003,-05, -07 CHIS data available

• 2009 data coming soon

A Measure of Need

• Nearly 3 million adults in CA and ~35,000 in San Mateo are food insecure

• Adults in food insecure households may shield children from food insecurity

• But reports of adult food insecurity may also indicate food insecurity among other household members

www.cfpa.net

The Data: Overweight and Obesity• CHIS data• Overweight or obese

adults– Body Mass Index:

includes height & weight

• Overweight children– Measure of weight only

• 2003,-05, -07 available• 2009 coming soon

The Gap: Overweight & Obesity

• Over 52% of adults in San Mateo County are overweight or obese

• Over 10% of young children are overweight for age

• Research links food insecurity with overweight and obesity

Bridging the Gap: Overweight & Obesity

• San Mateo County residents need optimal amounts of food that is optimally nutritious

• Healthy Options, Healthy Meals initiative – MAZON and Kaiser Permanente– Feeding America food banks building capacity to

meet healthy food goals

The Data: CalFresh

• See updates - Program Access Index o February 2011 release based on 2009 data

• See updates - Lost Dollars, Empty Plateso November 2010 release based on 2008 data

www.cfpa.net

The Data: CalFresh

• Program Access Indexo CalFresh utilization among income-eligible

individuals who do not participate in SSI or FDPIRo Does not account for all eligibility criteriao Best estimate of utilization at the county-level

www.cfpa.net

The Data: CalFresh

• Lost Dollars, Empty Plates reporto The economic impact of CalFresh utilizationo $1.79 in economic activity for every $1 in federal

CalFresh expenditures o CalFresh benefits the entire community

www.cfpa.net

The Gap: CalFresh

• Statewide, 50% of eligible individuals participate • In San Mateo, fewer than 1 in 4 income-eligible*

individuals receive benefits (2009 PAI)• San Mateo County residents could receive an

additional $59.3 million in CalFresh benefits• That $59.3 million would generate $106.1 million in

economic activity

* income-eligible individuals not receiving SSI or FDPIR

Bridging the Gap: CalFresh

Statewide considerations• Eliminate finger imaging

(AB 6)• Semi-annual reporting

(AB 6)• Enrolling seniors (AB 69)

County considerations• New brand• Online applications• Phone interviews• No more asset test

The Data: National School Lunch Program

• See updates - district & statewide school meal analysis February 2011 release of 2009-10 data

www.cfpa.net

The Gap: National School Lunch Program

• Income eligibility for free or reduced-price meals Free = at or below 130% FPG Reduced = between 130% and 185% FPG “FRP-eligible” = “low-income”

• Low-income students not served by the school lunch program in 2008-9

www.cfpa.net

San Mateo County California9,451 (33%) 1,051,880 (33%)

FPG= federal poverty guidelines

Bridging the Gap: School Lunch

• Local Considerations– Spread the word about free and reduced-price meals– Encourage families to submit free and reduced-price meal

applications– Work with school districts to help ensure nutritious and appealing

meals and full use of direct certification

www.cfpa.net

The Data: School Breakfast Program

• See updates - district & statewide school meal analysis February 2011 release of 2009-10 data

www.cfpa.net

The Gap: School Breakfast Program

• Low income students who eat school lunch but not school breakfast (2008-9)

www.cfpa.net

San Mateo County California12,505 (64%) 1,234,045 (58%)

The Gap: School Breakfast Program

• If school breakfast participation matched school lunch participation among low-income students, San Mateo County school districts would receive an additional ~$3 million in federal reimbursements

www.cfpa.net

Bridging the Gap: School Breakfast

• Local Considerations– BreakfastFirst Campaign (www.BreakfastFirst.org)– Promote innovative service models that are known to increase participation

• Statewide Consideration– AB 839: school boards focusing on the health, academic, and fiscal benefits

of breakfast

The Data: Summer Nutrition

• Updated - School’s Out…Who Ate?– June 2010 release of 2009 data

www.cfpa.net

The Data: Summer NutritionStatewide (2009)

• 81% of meals served at school sites o National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and

Seamless Summer Option (Seamless)

• 19% of meals served at non-school siteso Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)

www.cfpa.net

The Gap: Summer Nutrition

San Mateo County (2009)• 4,691 average daily participation in summer meals• Increased by 41% from 2008• Serving 20% of low-income children who eat school lunch

during the academic year (Statewide – 25%)

www.cfpa.net

Bridging the Gap: Summer Nutrition

State and Local Considerations• Support summer school funding (NSLP & Seamless)• Encourage schools to better serve all children not just students

(Seamless)• Increase sponsors and sites (SFSP)• Partnerships between school districts and community

organizations Promotion & outreach Districts vend meals to community sites

www.cfpa.net

Thank You

For more information please contact:California Food Policy Advocates

www.cfpa.net

Kumar Chandran, MS, MPH510.433.1122 ext 129

kumar@cfpa.net