Food Insecurity in Newark, Ohio

There are currently no statistics specifically quantifying the rate of food insecurity in Newark, however, there are several indicators that we can look at to gauge the presence of food insecurity. First and foremost, we can examine the local poverty rate. According to the US Census, Newark has a poverty rate of 20.5% (US Census, 2017). This is 8.7% higher than the national poverty rate of 11.8%. Additionally, 32.2% of children enrolled in grades 1-4 (elementary school) were identified as living in poverty (US Census, 2017). In the 2014 study, Understanding the Link between Poverty and Food Insecurity among Children: Does the Definition of Poverty Matter researchers used both the official poverty measurement (OPM) and the new supplemental poverty measurement (SPM) tools to identify food insecurity among children. It was found that food insecurity increased as the “income-to-needs” ratio decreases (Wight, 2014). The research found, “the risk of experiencing household food insecurity, particularly food insecurity among children, is strongly skewed toward lower-income families,” meaning that families in poverty are more likely to experience food insecurity. Considering these findings, a 20.5% poverty rate suggests a proportionately high food insecurity rate.

Second, Newark currently has a variety of resources for those facing food insecurity including food pantries, Together We Grow and the YMCA Backpack Program. These resources exist because there is a need in the community. The backpack program is a particularly relevant indicator for our project as it provides weekend backpacks full of food to more than 300 elementary school students throughout Newark (YMCA, 2019). Teachers refer students to the program if they show characteristics of hunger, such as rushing food lines, extreme hunger once returning from a weekend without school meals, quickly eating all of the food they are served and asking for more, and regularly asking their teacher for food (YMCA, 2019). Students are then sent home with a note inviting them to participate in the program. While the backpack program is an excellent resource for addressing the immediate impact of food insecurity,  it has serious limitations. Primarily, backpacks can only weigh so much. Children as young as five years old are enrolled in this program and must be able to carry the backpacks home from school. In order for the food to be light, it’s prepackaged, highly processed, dry food with one or two canned goods - and no fresh food. A typical backpack contains one box of cereal, one box of nutrition bars, one box of non-refrigerated milk and two cans of soup, stew or spaghetti. Additionally, once per month students are sent home with one jar of peanut butter. All of this food has little nutritional value, with a much higher proportion of carbohydrates, sodium and low-quality fat than protein and high-quality fats. This program does an adequate job of addressing immediate short term food insecurity, however, it results in long term nutrition inequity (Fernwey, 2019). While the students enrolled in the backpack program may have full bellies from the processed food they are provided, they are not getting the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals necessary to be healthy from fresh fruits and vegetables. In the long run, programs like this may be creating a long-run negative impact on the people it is serving by getting children addicted to low-quality fats and sugars instead of introducing fresh produce to them. While this program provides a necessary service, we want to enhance the resources available to ensure that both short-term and long-term food insecurity needs are being addressed.

Risks of Food Insecurity

Research regarding the impact and risk of current and prior food insecurity experiences is abundant. A study from the Journal of Nutrition titled Food Insecurity Affects School Children's Academic Performance, Weight Gain, and Social Skills showed that children who had faced food insecurity at kindergarten age had, “ impaired academic performance in reading and mathematics for girls and boys, a greater decline in social skills for boys, and greater weight and [body mass index] gains for girls,” (Jyoti, 2005). This is, food insecurity can impair a child's school performance and has detrimental effects on their physical and mental wellbeing. These impacts were seen through third grade, despite data showing nearly 80% of children became food secure after kindergarten and remained food secure through third grade (Jyoti, 2005).This is, the negative impacts of being food insecure in kindergarten persist in children despite the children becoming food secure. In the 2015 study, Physical and mental health outcomes associated with prior food insecurity among young adults, researchers examined physical and mental patterns among nearly 100 college students at Northeastern Ohio University (Darling, 2015). The researchers found that young adults who experienced food insecurity in their childhood are more likely to have a higher body mass index (BMI), weight to height ratio, and to become obese compared to their cohorts. In addition to physical symptoms, the research found that young adults who experienced food insecurity were also at a greater risk of developing mental symptoms, including patterns of disordered eating and depression (Darling, 2015). This information shows that food insecurity is detrimental to both short term and long term health. 

The goal of addressing food insecurity in a holistic, systematic and sustainable way is to mitigate the long term risks associated with food insecurity by helping families who face food insecurity to become food secure by educating them about resources, cooking and making healthy food choices. This information is important in a place like Newark, where children that are currently being exposed to food insecurity will be at a greater risk of health problems and poverty later in life, continuing the cycle of food insecurity and poverty. 

Best Practices of Addressing Food Insecurity

While research regarding best practices for addressing food insecurity exists, few are as extensive as the program we are designing. Best practices are limited to the specific population that is being addressed, there is no one-size-fits-all curriculum. With the individual needs of the Newark community as the focal point, we designed our best practices recommendations to develop a curriculum from what we learn from our community partners and the relevant research below. This list is not exhaustive and it is gathered from a variety of literary sources cited in the text. 

Addressing Food Literacy - A frequent barrier to food security is a lack of knowledge of food literacy. Food literacy is, “personal behaviors for planning, selecting, preparing, and eating healthy foods and are considered a necessary life skill,”(Begley, 2019) A 2019 study from an Australian university, examined the connection between food literacy and food insecurity and found the association to be statistically significant. Thus, they concluded that food literacy programs are an important aspect of ameliorated food insecurity. Simply explicating and providing local resources, in our case SNAP and WIC, and teaching how to make healthy choices, grocery shopping, budgeting, and cooking skills can increase food insecurity (Begley, 2019).

Pre-Screening Participants - In order to provide content at an appropriate level for the participants, it is recommended to pre-screen participants prior to educating them (Begley, 2019). Conducting a brief survey prior to teaching the course allows hosts to gauge the level of understanding that participants have regarding healthful food choices, and the barriers they may have that are preventing them from being food secure. 

Class Size - According to Tori Strickland, the Food Matters Programming Director at Local Matters, a non-profit addressing food insecurity and food deserts in Columbus, Ohio, the optimal class size for teaching both students and their parents is 12-18 in total (Strickland, 2019). Local Matters works with both kids and parents, providing education and guidance for healthy eating. The curriculum is designed to be taught over multiple sessions to each small group. Alternatively, Hannah Price, manager of food education at Bon Appetit Management Company, suggests a class size of 20-25 (Price, 2019). Hannah’s curriculum is designed to work with kids only and is taught once to one group of kids. 

The variation in these numbers is likely due to differences in curriculum. Curriculum that is designed to be taught over multiple classes, with parental involvement, lots of hands on activities, and opportunities for one on one mentoring could be more successful with smaller groups of 12-18. Curriculums meant to work solely with kids and taught once can be successful, and include more participants. Identifying the specific goals, lengths and intended participants of the curriculum can help determine the optimal number of students and allows for the highest level of engagement from participants and the class to be hands-on.

Garden-Based Strategies - In 2012, a social experiment took place in five middle schools in Austin, Texas. The experiment involved exposing the students to various garden-based interventions. This study evaluated the relationship between the students' exposure to these activities and their consumption of fruits and vegetables. The researchers found that students who were exposed to two or more garden-related activities scored significantly higher on their fruit and vegetable intake, (Ruth, Ranjit, Ruthledge, 2012). Our partnership with Together We Grown will allow us to provide garden-based learning. Exposure to gardening and local foods at this crucial developmental age will cause them to want to eat more healthy and local foods. This, in turn, will cause their families to want to cook more with local and fresh foods. Based on our research, the combination of gardening exposure and healthy and hardy cooking classes will best tackle food insecurity and increase nutritional intake among these households.   

Current Organizations Addressing Food Insecurity

There are 32 organizations addressing food insecurity through food donation and education in Newark, Ohio (Food Pantry Network, 2019). These are organizations such as food pantries, churches, and social services. Most of their services provide food pantry hours, where people who experience food insecurity are able to pick up food. Much of the food provided is nonperishable - failing to provide the nutrient density that fresh food provides. In food pantries that provide fresh produce, it is not uncommon for fruits and vegetables to go rancid (Fernwey, 2019). This can occur for multiple reasons including: people dislike these types of foods, they don’t know how to prepare the food, or they don’t have the resources to prepare the food (i.e. a functioning over). Most of these resources available to the community address the immediate need to combat hunger, with very few providing long-term actions to eliminate food insecurity. Other organizations, like Together We Grow, facilitate the development of community and school gardens, and education to public school students of all ages, special needs people in Newark, and ex-convicts (Together We Grow, 2019). In Columbus, about 40 miles from Newark, Local Matters provides holistic and sustainable education, cooking classes, community gardens, gardening classes, and food to food-insecure families - especially focusing on elementary school students (Local Matters, 2019). Local Matters has successful outcomes in reducing the impacts of food desserts and reducing food insecurity. Our recommendation will use a similar approach to the Local Matters curriculum, however, we will incorporate the expertise and knowledge of local Newark partners to create a curriculum specific to the Newark community. 

In order to achieve food security, there are four needs that need to be met. These are called the four pillars of food security. These are (1) availability, (2) access, (3) utilization and (4) stability as defined by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS, 2014). These pillars are used in creating country-wide food security, however, the same requirements are necessary for individuals to become food secure. This is, there must be food available for an individual to get (i.e. no famine), the food must be accessible (i.e. affordable), the ability/knowledge/resources to utilize the food (i.e. prepare it), and stability meaning food must be consistently available. Our recommendations will seek to facilitate these requirements, discussed in the following section.

In the following section we will discuss the methods and conceptual design of developing the cooking class and the succeeding curriculum. This will include a discussion of our partnerships, development of the cooking classes and the development and distribution of our surveys.