In Louisville, more than 120,000 people don't get enough food to eat
In a recent issue of the Community Foundation of Louisville’s For Good magazine, the article “Moving Beyond Poverty” shared the story of Amie and her family and their struggles to put food on the table. Between bills, not having a car and a recent job loss, Amie couldn’t afford enough groceries or even access a nearby grocery store.
Since I started my journey as the 2018 Hunger Innovation Fellow, I’ve heard similar stories across Jefferson County. I met one young family that described buying cheap, fast foods when they needed to pay their electric bills in the winter months. An elderly woman shared her experience of riding the bus across town to get to a grocery store that sells the food she needs. Each story represents just one of the more than 120,000 food insecure people in Louisville.
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Food insecurity is not having enough food to live a healthy, active life. Without food, it is impossible to succeed in school, hold a steady job, or stay healthy enough to live your life. On Nov. 8, WHAS 11 reported on Kentucky’s obesity issues. Their reporting uncovered evidence of how Louisville’s critical food condition is impacting our health through our alarming rate of hypertension (sixth in the nation), Type 2 diabetes (seventh in the nation), and adults not eating at least a daily serving of fruits/vegetables (eighth in the nation).
The good news is that Louisville has an abundance of people and organizations that are passionate about ending food insecurity. The Hunger Innovation Fellowship, supported by the Lift a Life Foundation and the Community Foundation of Louisville, set out to develop a new set of tools that elevate and accelerate the work to improve food access for everyone. The findings of this research is available in our recent report titled, “Ending Food Insecurity: It Will Take Us All” at HungerInnovationFellowship.Org.
The best solutions come from the people they will serve. Throughout the year, we have looked to the community to both inform and lead the development of solutions to end food insecurity. We started by accessing the advice of Louisville’s remarkable food experts and partner organizations. For example, our food bank, Dare to Care, partners with 300 organizations to feed thousands of families every year. New Roots is expanding access to fresh, affordable produce for entire communities without farmers markets. There are also new initiatives to get excited about, like a cooperative grocery store movement. This work resulted in the Louisville Food Ecosystem Map, also found on our website with the report, which provides searchable food pantries, meal kitchens, farmers markets, community gardens, grocery stores and more in just one tool.
We also approached the neighborhoods to learn more about their food experiences. Through site visits, surveys and community forums, we learned that food insecurity is affecting more people than we expected. For example, Louisville has more than 20,000 seniors who live more than a mile from their nearest grocery store. Close to half (47 percent) of Louisville’s food insecure families do not qualify for federal food assistance. Throughout the year, we engaged hundreds of people in our community to discuss their ideas about food access.
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As we gathered and shared this data, we identified key opportunities to make a difference. The Public Policy Brief on Louisville’s Food Access Landscape, found on the Hunger Innovation website, details ways to partner with the government. Did you know that more than $300 million has been granted nationwide to improve community food access since 2011? We also designed a collection of more than 300 promising practices from other cities to support our proposal of bold next steps.
The report provides a collection of innovative next steps to end food insecurity in Louisville. Each are reflective of the ideas, stories and needs we heard throughout the year. Some of them include:
• Establish consistent, streamlined minimum requirements for adequate access to emergency resources and services.
• Expand incentives for small retailers to establish partnerships with farmers to carry fresh food.
• Micro-test mobile and delivery services as an efficient way to better understand the needs of underserved areas.
There are also ways for individuals and families to get involved. Volunteer with our local food bank (daretocare.org/). Consider becoming a produce shareholder (https://newroots.org/). Serve a meal to your neighbors at a local shelter. This community-wide support helps our food ecosystem to have the capacity to innovate.
Every one of us has a role in ending food insecurity in Louisville. Together, we can achieve greater food security for all. Each one of us deserves to have enough food to satisfy our needs. If we all work together, we could see a day where no one in Louisville goes hungry ever again.
Monique Kuykendoll Quarterman is the 2018 Hunger Innovation Fellow with the Community Foundation of Louisville.