Questions to Consider
- Futch explores the widespread issue of food insecurity in the context of her local community in Charlotte, North Carolina. How does Futch balance information about the wider issue of food insecurity with facts and ideas related specifically to her local community?
- In her reflection, Futch notes that the issue of food insecurity is so large that there was not enough space to fully discuss the issue in this paper. What areas of the issue did Futch deem most important to include in this essay, and how might you make similar determinations for your topic?
- Futch uses a wealth of research and statistics to support her claim that food insecurity is a major issue in Charlotte, North Carolina. What source best supports the author’s claims? What type of information does the author rely on most in this essay?
A Note From the Instructor—Oksana Tsukanova
As a nutrition major, Ella chose to focus her research on the issue of food insecurity in her local community of Mecklenburg county in Charlotte, N.C. She skillfully narrowed her research topic to low-income households with children and explored the impact of food insecurity on children’s health in great detail. While teaching Ella and her classmates, I enjoyed Ella’s enthusiasm for improving her rhetorical skills. By using her personal volunteering experience in her local community food bank, as well as integrating her research of scholarly and popular sources, Ella was able to craft strong ethos appeals and thus reach her diverse audience of stakeholders.
Food Insecurity in Charlotte, NC
Imagine strolling through the aisles of your local grocery store, knowing your financial situation allows you to buy a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables you love, loaves of freshly baked bread, lean beef for your Tuesday taco night, and maybe even a seven dollar jar of fancy, natural peanut butter. At the same time, just down the street a neighbor or peer of yours enters the local food pantry hoping to find just enough food, whether nutritious or not, to feed their family for the next week or so. This problem is known as food insecurity, defined by the nationwide, reputable, non-profit organization Feeding America as “a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life” (“What Is Food Insecurity?”). With over thirty-four million people nationwide suffering from this lack of necessary fuel and nutrition, it is imperative that we take steps forward in our local communities to understand how food insecurity is affecting our neighbors and how we can be a part of the change (“What Is Food Insecurity?”)
My community in the city of Charlotte, N.C. and its surrounding area, Mecklenburg County, is one near to my heart. Unfortunately, over 126,000 residents, including many children, suffer from food insecurity, according to Feeding America (“Overall (All Ages)”). By raising awareness for the health effects food insecurity has on children and gaining knowledge on the initiatives in Charlotte that have failed, are working, and could work, it is possible the prevalence of food insecurity in my city could be diminished.
While an unfortunate portion of the nation and my city of Charlotte specifically struggle with food insecurity daily, it is necessary for us to look at who is being hit the hardest and the impact on the children of our community. According to food insecurity statistics of Mecklenburg County from Feeding America’s 2018 report, 15.2% of children, or 38,000, live in homes that struggle with food insecurity, compared to the 12% of the total population of the county that are food insecure. To emphasize how severe these numbers are, it is important to note that the population of Mecklenburg County in 2018 was over one million (“Mecklenburg County”). This is a frightening number of children experiencing food insecurity to some degree. To figure out the specific health consequences these children of my community are at risk for, I did some research and found a scientific article,“Food Insecurity and Health Outcomes: Health Affairs Journal,” published in Health Affairs by Craig Gundersen, Snee Endowed Chair at the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, and James P. Ziliak, University of Kentucky’s Director of the Center for Poverty Research. In this article, they consolidated and summarized findings from numerous published studies that show the correlations between food insecurity and many different health concerns. They present in their findings the physical health outcomes that have increased likelihoods of being detected in children who experience food insecurity. These outcomes include anemia, asthma, low nutrient intake, tooth decay and overall poor health (Gunderson and Ziliak). The statistics of the children in my community living with food insecurity and the results of this study summarizing the health outcomes emphasize the gravity of the situation and the need for community members, schooling systems, and policymakers to collaborate and find a solution to this problem.
Furthermore, while food insecurity triggers many physical health complications in children, another area of concern is the harm it can do to their development and non-cognitive capabilities as they grow up. In a study published in the scientific journal Pediatrics, a research team from the Children’s Sentinel Nutritional Assessment Program, led by Ruth Rose-Jacobs, associate professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine, looked for a relationship between food insecurity and developmental problems in children under the age of thirty six months. The results, while still controlling for confounding variables, validated that there is a positive correlation between the two, even if the household is experiencing the lowest level of food insecurity. In the study, it was concluded that “in a time of limited resources, providing nutritional and developmental interventions to young children and their families is a proactive step that might decrease the need for later, more-extensive interventions for developmentally or behaviorally impaired children of school age” (Rose-Jacobs, Ruth et al.).
This finding supports my argument that in order to solve the growing problem of food insecurity in Charlotte, lawmakers, community members, and organizations must first prioritize initiatives that aid families with young children. When these developmental setbacks are not detected early enough or at all, children may experience non-cognitive complications, such as reduced ability to interact with others, undesirable attitudes, lack of empathy, inability to communicate well, and much more. Not only do children face the risk of these in school and everyday life, but according to Larry Howard, Associate Professor at California State University, evidence also shows if children transition from a food insecure to food secure status early in their childhood, they can still experience those complications in the long-term. In essence, Howard is warning of the long-term effects of food insecurity on children, which supports my argument that we must intercede and provide proper resources to food insecure households to avoid witnessing the children of our community suffer the consequences now and in fifteen years.
In addition to households with children suffering the most from the effects of food insecurity, which must be the focus of resolutions, it is necessary to acknowledge the disproportionate effects minority households with children have experienced. The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute brought this to the light in a recent report titled “The Racial Wealth Gap in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.” Jeremiah Prince, Policy Analyst from Opportunity Insights, in collaboration with a multitude of researchers, discussed the racial wealth gap, methods to acquire wealth, and ways to reduce the wealth gap in Charlotte. According to Prince et al., “In Charlotte, households of color are more than twice as likely to lack sufficient savings or assets that can be used to pay for basic needs for three months without income when compared to White households.” When it comes to the topic of food insecurity, most individuals educated on the situation will agree there are numerous studies published discussing food insecurity’s various risk factors. However, very few studies choose to touch on the fact that economic disparities experienced by Black and Hispanic households are risk factors that could be acknowledged and subsequently prompt discussions on new ways to prevent and reduce food insecurity.
In Feeding America’s 2022 “Map the Meal Gap” report, Monica Hake, Director of Research Translation & Dissemination, and others collected data and research exemplifying the prevalence of food insecurity amongst minority communities to spread awareness to lawmakers and community members that change is needed on the federal and local level to reduce the economic disparities that cause food insecurity (“Overall (All Ages)”). To emphasize their point, they included a plot graph of the percent of food insecure households from 2005 to 2020, with five plotted lines showing data for Black non-Hispanics, Hispanics, all individuals, other identities not Hispanic, and White non-Hispanics. The category of other identities included Native American, Asian, Pacific Islander, and other races.
This plot graph showed a prominent gap between the prevalence of food insecurity for Black and Hispanic individuals and the percent among all individuals. While the percent for all individuals has remained pretty stagnant over the past ten years, Black and Hispanic individuals have experienced higher percentages, and specifically from 2019 to 2020, there was a steep increase for these groups compared to the others. This data shines light on the fact that households with children, and especially Black and Latino households with children, are experiencing food insecurity at disproportionate rates. According to Hake and her colleagues, this data paired “with research examining and highlighting how community assets have mediated the impact of these systems will provide much needed insights to inform solutions.” In making this comment, Hake urges that as a community, we have the ability to spread awareness to policy makers and others to implement changes that increase equality and reduce economic disparities that result in the continuous cycle of food insecurity for these families.
While numerous initiatives and changes have been implemented to resolve this matter nationwide, looking at resolutions for the Charlotte community specifically is the best way to start change at the local level. One way to begin reducing the impact of food insecurity on the children of my community is by organizing groups of community members and faculty who can support change within schools. For example, an essay written by Ohio University graduate student Kristen E. Okamoto discusses her experience witnessing a community in the Appalachian Ohio area responding to the crisis of food insecurity. Community members formed a grassroots organization, Appalachian Nutrition Advisory Council, that intercedes in the schooling system to improve childhood nutrition and reduce the prevalence of hunger. Okamoto writes that their actions have included “creating a salad bar in local elementary schools, forming healthy celebration campaigns that shift the focus away from traditional food items such as cake and candy, in favor of fruits and vegetables, and forming a food pantry for school district families.” With the number of hours children are spending in schools and the number of meals being consumed there during the ten months of the year, these are all great ideas that can not only feed children necessary nutrients they are not receiving at home, but also provide them with proper nutrition education so they can make knowledgeable decisions when choosing their food later on. Ultimately, Okamoto supports grassroots organizations and their ability to reduce food insecurity in children through schools and eventually the community as a whole as their initiatives and suggested policies reach the federal level.
While schools have the ability to make a large impact on our children, a non-profit organization outside of the educational system is leading the way for how the rest of the Charlotte community can get involved and make a difference. This non-profit is The Uptown Farmers Market, and I had the privilege of volunteering alongside their generous and passionate team this summer. In early 2020, they recognized the growing presence of food insecurity, the need for access to nutritious food in the heart of Charlotte, and the need for a way to improve our city’s overall health. To address the concern of food insecurity specifically, their market has numerous special aspects. As seen on their website, some features that may stand out to a customer are their SNAP and WIC acceptance and “Double Bucks matching program […] administered by the Charlotte—Mecklenburg Food Policy Council [that] provides up to a $50 match (2022) in Double Bucks per week” (“About the Market”). When individuals who utilize food assistance programs come to the market, they get more food for their money because they are able to buy twice as much nutritious food at the market as they could at their local grocery store. The implementation of more SNAP-approved farmers’ markets around the greater Charlotte area has the potential to increase food security and ultimately provide proper nourishment at a reduced cost for the children of this city.
To expand on my previous argument, it is important to look more closely at SNAP and WIC, federal nutrition assistance programs, to understand their benefits and how they support food insecure households, especially those with children. SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and WIC is a form of SNAP that specifically supports women, infants, and children. In a research article titled “SNAP and WIC Participation During Childhood and Food Security in Adulthood” by Noura Insolera, PhD, Alicia Cohen, MD, MSc, and Julia A. Wolfson, PhD, MPP, these researchers explain and report their study that examined whether or not children’s participation in SNAP and WIC programs decreased their likelihood of experiencing food insecurity in adulthood. After following data from roughly 1,000 participants from birth to their twenties and thirties, Insolera, Cohen, and Wolfson’s findings concluded that “among individuals who resided in low-income households during childhood, receipt of SNAP alone and receipt of both SNAP and WIC were associated with significantly higher odds of improved FSS (Food Security Status) in adulthood.” Therefore, it is crucial that residents of the city of Charlotte, policymakers, schooling systems, family healthcare providers, and others understand the importance of food safety net programs such as SNAP and WIC so food insecure households are given proper resources. This understanding will ensure children of our city are properly fed adequate and nutritious food to support optimal growth and avoid long-term food insecurity.
With all the current efforts to reduce food insecurity, there is still room for Charlotte to improve methods that some say have shortcomings. Specifically, food banks and food pantries are a major resource in Charlotte and around the country for food insecure families to find emergency food aid. In a systematic review titled “The Role of Food Banks in Addressing Food Insecurity” from the Journal of Community Health, Deakin University researchers Chantelle Bazerghi, Fiona H. McKay & Matthew Dunn analyze whether these food banks and pantries are supplying enough food, in addition to nutritionally adequate food, so that recipients benefit in the long term from support that aids them in shifting to a food secure status. While many people, including these food banks and pantries, would argue that since this is their goal they would consider themselves successful, this review reveals a different perspective. According to the review, “food banks are facing difficulties in resolving these client needs: (1) The number of food bank clients is increasing; (2) donations are not increasing with demand, or donations received are not appropriate; (3) food bank staffs are not highly enough trained around nutrition to provide advice and education to clients.” While it is undeniable that food banks and pantries do provide support to hungry families in Charlotte, this perspective introduces the idea that more people are visiting them more often without seeing relief from their situation. All things considered, it is necessary for the city of Charlotte and these charitable organizations to analyze these barriers in their own spaces so their food bank and pantry systems can be strengthened to provide long-lasting, effective support to hungry families and children.
In conclusion, food insecurity is a frightening reality for too many individuals, especially children, in my city of Charlotte. However, the issue can be alleviated if policymakers, residents, charities, school systems, and more do their part in serving these struggling children and families. As discussed in my essay, this solution may look like initiating grassroots organizations in schools, limiting racial biases in lawmaking, organizing more local farmers’ markets that accept payments in the form of SNAP and WIC, and lastly revamping food bank and food pantry systems. In addition, as previously mentioned, it is important that these initiatives are first and foremost concentrated on families with young children and Black and Latino families with children because of the disproportionate rates that they are experiencing food insecurity and the health effects that may result if not addressed. While food insecurity is a very complex nationwide crisis that may take years to resolve, it is urgent that as a community of Charlotte we recognize the needs of our neighbors and take action. Children have the right to grow up free of health complications and poor learning experiences caused by food insecurity, and their parents deserve to raise these children free of worries about how they will feed them. So, next time we are at the grocery store overwhelmed by all our different peanut butter options, we should think about how fortunate we are and consider how we can take action to support the children and families struggling with food insecurity.
Works Cited
“About the Market.” Uptown Farmers Market, https://www.uptown
farmersmarket.com/about-the-market. Accessed 1 Nov. 2022.
Bazerghi, Chantelle, et al. “The Role of Food Banks in Addressing Food Insecurity: A Systematic Review—Journal of Community Health.” SpringerLink, Springer US, 4 Jan. 2016, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10900-015-0147-5#Sec3. Accessed 2 Nov 2022.
Berner, Maureen. “Food Insecurity Statistics in NC.” Food Insecurity Statistics in NC | Hunger Research, https://hunger-research.sog.unc.edu/content/2015-mecklenburg-county-nc. Accessed 24 Oct. 2022
Gundersen, Craig, and James P. Ziliak. “Food Insecurity and Health Outcomes: Health Affairs Journal.” Health Affairs, 1 Nov. 2015, https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0645. Accessed 24 Oct. 2022
Howard, Larry. “Does Food Insecurity at Home Affect Non-Cognitive Performance at School? A Longitudinal Analysis of Elementary Student Classroom Behavior.” Education of Economics Review, Volume 30, Issue 1. February 2011, pp. 157–176, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.Econedurev.2010.08.003. Accessed 15 Oct. 2022.
Insolera, Noura, et al. “SNAP and WIC Participation During Childhood and Food Security in Adulthood, 1984–2019.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 112, no. 10, Oct. 2022, pp. 1498–506. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2022.306967. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
“Mecklenburg County.” Mecklenburg County—Place Explorer—Data Commons, https://datacommons.org/place/geoId/37119?utm_medium=explore&mprop=count&popt=Person&hl=en. Accessed 25 Oct. 2022.
Okamoto, Kristen E. “‘It’s Like Moving the Titanic:’ Community Organizing to Address Food (in)Security.” Health Communication, vol. 32, no. 8, Aug. 2017, pp. 1047–50. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2016.1196517. Accessed 24 Oct. 2022.
“Overall (All Ages) Hunger & Poverty in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina: Map The Meal Gap.” Overall (All Ages) Hunger & Poverty in the United States, https://map.feedingamerica.org/county/2018/overall/north-carolina/county/mecklenburg. Accessed 25 Oct. 2022.
Prince, Jeremiah, et al. “The Racial Wealth Gap Charlotte-Mecklenburg,” UNC Charlotte: Urban Institute Report. November 2019. https://ui.charlotte.edu/sites/ui.charlotte.edu/files/media/articles/RWTry2.pdf. Accessed 10 Nov. 2022.
Rose-Jacobs, Ruth et al. “Household Food Insecurity: Associations with At-Risk Infant and Toddler Development.” Pediatrics vol. 121,1 (2008): 65–72. doi:10.1542/peds.2006-3717. Accessed 16 Oct. 2022.
“What Is Food Insecurity?” Feeding America, https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/food-insecurity. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022
Writer’s Reflection
Dear Reader,
This paper was an intimidating one at first, with a requirement of 2,000 words and the use of academic sources, which I did not have much experience with. However, it turned out to be quite interesting to put together. I am very passionate about food insecurity and nutrition, so spending extra time learning about these things and getting to write about them felt pretty natural. In the past when I would write longer papers, I would jot my ideas down on a piece of paper sporadically, kind of using a rough bubble map. For this essay, I had many more ideas, information, and sources that I needed to organize properly so my writing would flow well. So, I made a detailed outline, and that truly helped the writing process go much smoother. I felt like my ideas were not all jumbled in my brain while writing. The first step in the process for me was formulating my outline by organizing my ideas into body paragraphs and then adding in the necessary sources from my annotated bibliography for support. Once I had this completed, I began writing.
During the writing process, I had to make a few changes with the sources I was using because they weren’t strong enough to support my argument, and I found new ones that served a better purpose. I ended up with a few more sources that provided statistics and information on food insecurity in the city of Charlotte, whereas before I began writing, I only had information on food insecurity in the country as a whole. I had another research article I planned on using that discussed pediatric clinics and their role in detecting food insecurity, but the results from that study were vague and ambiguous, so I made the decision to not utilize it since it would not support a strong argument. In addition, I thought receiving feedback from my peers and instructor was beneficial, because they provided advice for how I could strengthen my arguments and summarize my sources and author credibility better in certain areas.
For me, the most challenging part of this assignment was figuring out how to narrow down all the information I had on food insecurity into a few body paragraphs that supported my specific argument. The topic of food insecurity encompasses so much more; there are numerous factors that play a role in it, and in Charlotte alone there are so many people and organizations playing a role in solving the problem. There is just not enough space in this paper to truly discuss it all in depth. I think if I returned to this project at a later date, I could improve and expand upon my argument for the ways WIC and SNAP are aiding those that struggle with food insecurity.
My understanding of “informational literacy” has certainly developed as I have learned how to search for credible sources, determine the author’s credibility, and analyze the source for whether or not it will support my argument. I went from trying to find articles through Google and reading through them right away to using Miami’s resources and first checking key parts of the paper, like the abstract and results/discussion, to decide if they would be of use. I feel much more knowledgeable now on how to formulate writing that uses rhetoric and argumentation. I realize that they must be used simultaneously to be the most successful, because they support one another in a good piece of writing. As a nutrition major who is passionate about certain social issues regarding health, I know in the future I will be doing research and writing papers to educate and inform a community on certain issues and topics. Learning how to utilize credible research articles and put them into a strong rhetorical piece of writing will certainly be of use in my future academic endeavors and career.
Sincerely,
Ella Futch