Resources to Understand Hunger in America
We have the means to end hunger in America as the first step to ending global hunger. In fact, God has provided so abundantly that there is enough food produced to feed everyone.
The resources below may help you understand hunger issues in America. The resources in the top table are PDFs you can download. The resources in the lower table are websites — visit them by clicking the “Website” links.
Downloads and Website Links
| Document | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| A Tipping Point | Full title: A Tipping Point: Leveraging Opportunities to Improve the Nutritional Quality of Food Bank Inventory -- The charitable food system in the United States provides more than 4 billion meals to over 46 million people each year. Many of these people are also struggling with chronic diet-related health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and obesity. In response, food banks nationwide have taken great strides to meet the nutritional needs of the people they serve. The aim of the National Food Bank Survey was to scan the landscape and assess how and to what extent nutrition is being addressed by food banks, and the proportion of healthy versus unhealthy foods being distributed in the charitable food system. A total of 196 food banks completed the survey. 22 pages. | |
| Estimating & Addressing America's Food Losses | The landmark 1997 report estimating food loss in America's food system | |
| Good Laws, Good Food | Putting Local Food Policy to Work for Our Communities (Harvard Law Food and Policy Clinic and John Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, September 2017) 174 pages | |
| Poverty / Hunger Mapping Tool | An Interactive Map from The Urban Institute: An estimated 40 million Americans - including 12.5 million children - struggle with food insecurity, meaning they can't afford an adequate diet. -- This dashboard equips counties with data about their food insecurity levels and related risk factors, identifies cross-cutting opportunities for intervention, and groups counties by shared challenges. Dive into your county's data and explore strategies tailored to your county. | Website |
| Rural Food Access Toolkit | From the Rural Health Initiative: This toolkit compiles evidence-based and promising models and resources to support organizations implementing food access programs in rural communities across the United States. The modules in the toolkit contain resources and information focused on developing, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining rural food access and food security programs. | Website |
| Saving Water: From Field to Fork | (Stockholm International Water Institute) | |
| Sodexo Foundation Report | Finds hunger costs far more than it would take to ensure that no citizen is at risk of hunger | Website |
| The Food Assistance Landscape: FY 2017 Annual Report | This report uses preliminary data from USDA's Food and Nutrition Service to examine trends in U.S. food and nutrition assistance programs through fiscal 2017. It also summarizes two recent ERS reports: one on trends in the prevalence and severity of U.S. household food insecurity through 2016 and another on the contribution of SNAP benefits to household food spending. 23 pages | |
| United States Hunger and Poverty Facts | (World Hunger Education Service) - compilation of many different studies | Website |
| Up to 40% of Our Food is Wasted | (National Resources Defense Council, 2012) | |
| USDA U.S. Household Food (In)Security Data for 2016 | (September 2017) An estimated 87.7 percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2016, meaning they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (12.3 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 4.9 percent with very low food security, meaning that at times the food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted because the household lacked money and other resources for obtaining food. | |
| What is Gleaning? Past, Present & Future | From FoodForward.org: Gleaning is an ancient form of food recovery & support that's making an amazing modern comeback! Here's a definition of the word "glean", a history of the movement, and a discussion of gleaning today. | Website |