The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently released figures on food insecurity for 2023, its most up-to-date reporting. Households are deemed "food insecure" if they don't always have enough food due to finances or other limited resources.
What is food insecurity?
Food insecurity comes in two levels:
Low food security: Families have enough food, but it may not always be healthy or balanced. They sometimes rely on cheaper, less nutritious options.
Very low food security: This is more serious. It means people in the household, including adults or children, have had to eat less or skip meals because they can't afford enough food.
A significant portion of U.S. households—13.5% or about 1 in 7, and slightly more than in 2022—were food insecure last year. And households with children were particularly impacted—17.9% of them did not always have the food they needed.
Government assistance helps, but program limitations and structural barriers prevented close to half of food-insecure households from participating last year.
Government assistance programs
SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) provides funds to buy food.
WIC (Women, Infants, and Children Program) helps families with young kids and pregnant women.
National School Lunch Program gives free or reduced-price meals to kids at school.
Here in Connecticut, a family’s household income can not exceed $55,000 dollars to qualify for reduced price school meals. But a report from the United Way of Connecticut calculated that a family needs to make about $126,000 to get by here. That’s a BIG gap.
Filling in the Blanks was designed to help fill these gaps, one student and one meal at a time. Explore how to get involved today and sign up to stay connected!
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