United Way for Southeastern Michigan

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BASIC NEEDS: Closing the hunger gap

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Closing the hunger gap

Why it Matters

In Michigan, hunger increased sharply in 2007, and it has continued to rise since then. 1 in 5 Michigan residents have trouble affording enough food.

More than 700,000 residents of Southeastern Michigan depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for food each month. Over 300,000 of these are children.

Since 2004, the number of Michiganders counting on food stamps to feed their families increased by 66 percent — from just over 1 million to almost 1.7 million people.

Why it matters

The most basic need for all people is food and nutrition. As more families are faced with dwindling resources, they often do not have enough money to purchase the food they need. In many cases, these families also need job training, education and other support.

We also know that hungry children suffer developmentally and educationally. By first helping ensure that families are not hungry, we can then focus on providing support and resources that lead to long-term financial independence.

What we've done

We are beginning to measure our impact based upon number of individuals that benefit from our strategies, which will provide a more accurate reflection of our effectiveness. Our previous method was based on "meals served," which will be reflected in the following information.

There were an additional 19 million meals served in our region that were influenced by our efforts in 2010-2011. The highlights include:

Utilization

  • Improved access to the Summer Food Service Program by adding more than 80 sites over the last three summers.
  • Deployed a team Food Navigators to increase breakfast utilization in 35 target school districts, launched a charter school pilot and increased the after school snack programs.
  • Launched the regional pilot of the Michigan Benefits Access Initiative (MBAI) at fourteen sites increasing capacity for agencies to assist their clients access benefits through the MiBridges online portal.

Distribution

  • Investment in Gleaners Food Bank's Client Choice Pantries resulted in an additional 5,961 clients receiving 178,726 meals.
  • Partnered with Ford Motor Company on the implementation of "Transit Mobile Pantries" — 10 vehicles that have move more than 2 million meals.
  • Brought an additional 50,820 healthy meals to 5,609 households through support for "Double Up Food Bucks" a program designed to help individuals access fresh produce by providing matching resources for SNAP benefits used at farmers markets.

Expansion

  • Advocacy efforts more than doubled the impact of the Emergency Food and Shelter Program; serving 2.3 million meals, by securing an additional $1.8 million in ARRA dollars.
  • Advocated for the expansion of the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 and the passage of the Child Nutrition Act resulting in increased access to healthier school meals.
  • Successfully advocated for Michigan's selection as a pilot state for the USDA's "community eligibility" program, designed to remove school's barriers to offering universal lunch and breakfast.

Our goals for this year and the future

2011-12

  • Expand the Food Access Navigator Program to assist communities in developing more Summer and After School Food Sites and Universal Breakfast Programs.
  • Increase the number of schools that participate in the Weekend and Holiday Food Backpack Program, insuring more children have access to meals when school is not in session.
  • Work with community partners to plant and maintain more school gardens to expand educational and nutritional opportunities for children, while increasing community engagement with schools.
  • Launch "The Face of Hunger" marketing campaign to create stronger awareness of the effects hunger has on our region's economy and health, and to increase utilization of existing food programs.
  • Increase distribution of nutritious food through foster community collaborations using proven methods such as the Double Up Food Bucks program, the Ford Mobile Food Pantries and the establishment of a  Client Choice Pantry resource sharing network.
  • Advocating for the expansion of Child and Adult Care Food Program benefits to include seniors, maintaining funding levels for SNAP in the 2012 Farm Bill.

2018

  • Reducing hunger by 50% in our target communities by connecting our region's organizations, individuals and families with the information and resources needed to increase access to quality nutritional food.
  • Helping 80,000 children access three meals per day through systematically increasing utilization of child-based food programs.