Report Measures Food, Housing Insecurity on UNM Campus

During the 2020 session of the New Mexico State Legislature, three legislators introduced an initiative proposing an appropriation to the State Education Department to create a pilot program to address college hunger.  

House Bill 69, co-sponsored by Reps. Joanne Ferrary, Christine Trujillo and Melanie Stansbury, was approved on a "Do Pass" basis in committee, but then the measure was postponed indefinitely. Still, the bill was a recognition that hunger among students is a sometimes hidden problem at colleges and universities in New Mexico. 

The issue of hunger among college students is not as highly publicized as hunger in the general population, particularly among children, seniors and working families. But the concern is very real.

A team of UNM researchers--led by two Honors Program faculty members, Assistant Professor Sarita Cargas and Marygold Walsh-Dilley--began discussions last year on a plan to measure food insecurity at the University of New Mexico. Cargas and Walsh-Dilley have been an active participant in the Food, Hunger, Water, Agriculture Policy Action Team, a broad coalition seeking to find ways to reduce hunger in New Mexico. 

In September 2020, the researchers released the first findings in a report entitled Basic Needs Insecurity at UNM: 2020 Research Report. The report was funded primarily by the Office of the Provost and Office of the Chancellor at UNM, but the UNM Honors College, Student Services, and the Office of Student Affairs also contributed financially to the project. In addition to the two lead researchers, Heather Mechler, Kathryn Coakley, Shoshana, Adler Jaffe and Ann Murphy were also part of the team. See full report

"Food insecurity on college campuses has become an area of intense study over the past decade, and research on housing insecurity is on the rise,  said the executive summary.  "This report presents findings from the first representative study of basic needs security in college students in the state of New Mexico. 

First Survey Conducted in April 

The inaugural survey was conducted in April 2020, amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic. According to the study, students were selected using a stratified random sampling method of all degree-seeking students at the Albuquerque UNM campus. 

 

Factors in the sampling included low-income status (an expected family contribution of $5,576 as determined on a student’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid), level of study, gender, area of study, and ethnicity. The entire sample consisted of 12,000 students. Selected participants received an email two days before the survey launch informing them that they had been selected to participate in a survey about food and housing security among UNM students. 

 

The survey invitation noted that the first 2,500 participants would receive a $10 Amazon gift card as a token of appreciation for their time. The survey remained open for two weeks, with two reminders sent to students who had not yet responded. 

 

One in three students food insecure

"The report found that roughly one-third of students surveyed were food insecure in April and four in 10 were housing insecure at one time or another during the previous year.

"Our findings indicate that one in three UNM students were food insecure in April 2020 and over 40% were housing insecure sometime in the previous year," added the executive summary. "Both food and housing insecurity prevalence are higher at UNM than in the broader population of New Mexico. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that 16.8% of New Mexico Households are food insecure. It is harder to compare ousing insecurity because of a lack of consistent measurement strategies." 

"Basic needs insecurity varies across demographic groups. At UNM, the demographic groups most affected by food insecurity include African Americans and American Indians; transgender and gender fluid students; and gay, lesbian, and bisexual students," the executive summary noted.

The need to address hunger among college students extends beyond UNM. The study at New Mexico's flagship university is just the beginning. There are other universities and colleges in the state where food insecurity is likely present among students, including New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico Tech in Socorro, Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, Western New Mexico University in Silver City, Santa Fe Community College, Central New Mexico Community College in Albuquerque and Northern New Mexico College in Española, among others. These are the largest institutions. There are a couple other dozen small colleges and branch campuses for the major institutions.

Housing Insecurity

According to the  UNM study, the students most affected by housing insecurity are: Hispanic, American Indian, and international students, and students who are two or more races; female, transgender, and gender fluid students; gay, lesbian and bisexual students and students who report that they are not sure of their sexuality; and students with dependents.

"Over one-fifth, or 20.5% of UNM students, experience a double burden of both food and housing insecurity," noted the study.

"Preliminary analysis suggests that basic needs insecurity contributes to poorer academic outcomes," the researchers concluded. "Students reporting food insecurity were more likely to withdraw from or fail a course, and also reported lower grade point averages. Thus, this report suggests that food and housing insecurity contributes to disparities in academic success across demographic groups."

Next Steps

The study offers only a snapshot of the problem at UNM, confirming a situation that researchers suspected already existed. The study recommends a broad approach to address the problem. "Food insecurity and housing insecurity are substantial problems for UNM students and require a comprehensive, systemic, and sustainable response," the study said. "Efforts to address basic needs on campus must be attentive to the stigma that may surround these issues. Additionally, many campus offices, resource centers, and departments must work together to address the problems of food and housing insecurity in the campus community. The needs are too great to be the purview of one office especially if that office has numerous other mandates."

Comparative Overall Hunger Data: Feeding America Report

Source: The Impact of Coronavirus on Food Insecurity  National Reports  Maps

Comparative Child Hunger Data (Feeding America Report)

Source: The Impact of Coronavirus on Food Insecurity  National Reports  Maps

Study Shows Pandemic Could Greatly Increase New Mexico Hunger

Pre-pandemic, here in New Mexico – 315,990 people, including 114,180 children, did not have adequate access to nutritious food to live a healthy life. However, this new study demonstrates that this number is likely to grow 118,580, including 48,780 children. That means approximately 434,570 or 21 percent of New Mexican people (1 in 5) may experience food insecurity in 2020, including 162,960 children (1 in 3).

Roadrunner Food Bank (RRFB) last week issued a dire forecast of the magnitude of  hunger and food insecurity in New Mexico this year because of the COVID-19 health emergency and related economic downturn. The RRFB projection is based on the Feeding America report, The Impact of the Coronavirus on Local Food Insecurity, which projected rates for every state.

According to RRFB, one in five adults and one in five chidren could face hunger in 2020 because of COVID-19.

Here is a RRFB news release on July 16.

"The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will have had a devastating impact on people facing hunger across the country and in New Mexico according to a new study by Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization. This study is the first of its kind to explore how food insecurity rates at the local level may increase in 2020 due to COVID-19.

The Impact of the Coronavirus on Local Food Insecurity analyzes food insecurity rates for the overall population and children by state, county and congressional district. Pre-pandemic, here in New Mexico – 315,990 people, including 114,180 children, did not have adequate access to nutritious food to live a healthy life. However, this new study demonstrates that this number is likely to grow 118,580, including 48,780 children. That means approximately 434,570 or 21 percent of New Mexican people (1 in 5) may experience food insecurity in 2020, including 162,960 children (1 in 3).

“Families continue to reel from the impact this pandemic created — devastating their income and finances. New Mexico families are struggling to afford all their family needs including food,” said Mag Strittmatter, president and CEO of Roadrunner Food Bank. “As unemployment remains high, we will continue to work and provide food to communities across our state so that none of our neighbors who are hungry are left out. So many of our friends and neighbors are living a life-changing event that brought them face-to-face with hunger for the first time in their lives.”

This new analysis was conducted by building upon the approach Feeding America used in two earlier briefs to predict changes to national food insecurity rates for the overall population and children in response to changes to poverty and unemployment. The annual projected unemployment rate (11.5%) is within close range of expert estimates when annualized, including those from a monthly Wall Street Journal survey of more than 60 economists as of May (11.6%), the Congressional Budget Office (11.4%), and Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research (10.3%), and represents an increase of 7.6 percentage points.

To account for local unemployment variation, this new analysis adjusts the projected national unemployment increase for likely job loss due to COVID-19 based on an analysis of projected changes in the unemployment rate by industry and occupation by Goldman Sachs Investment Research. The projected local unemployment change for New Mexico is 8.4 percent points. Current local data from New Mexico Workforce Solutions shows unemployment in April at 11.4 percent and May at 8.8 percent in the state.

The underlying analysis for the food insecurity projections was conducted by Dr. Craig Gundersen using the model developed for Map the Meal Gap, Feeding America’s annual study of local food insecurity and food cost in the United States."

Key findings for New Mexico from the report 

• Luna and McKinley counties have the highest expected rates of hunger during the pandemic with nearly 28 percent of the population at risk of experiencing hunger. 
• Catron, Luna and McKinley counties have the highest expected childhood hunger rate during the pandemic with more than 44 percent of children in those three counties at risk of hunger.  
• County by County Data    Overall Hunger    Child Hunger

Community Assistance Needed
With resources stretched to the limit, Roadrunner Food Bank continues to ask the community to help meet the ongoing need expected to impact our state throughout this year and potentially next. Families will struggle to recover lost income over many months of no or very little work, as they attempt to balance the needs of their family’s needs with the continuation of this ongoing pandemic.

Ways to Help

• Give Funds – Financial contributions go much further in moments like these, and support will help to provide funding to obtain what is needed most. 
•  Give Time – Register for a volunteer shift through the food bank website at rrfb.org, or call 505.349.8841 or 505.349.8837 during business hours Monday – Friday from 8 am to 4 pm, and Saturday’s from 8 am to 2 pm. 
• Give Food – Non-perishable food donations will be accepted at the food bank during business hours. Community members who are ill or experiencing any symptoms of an illness should arrange for another person to deliver food donations to the food bank. As the food bank fleet must remain focused on delivering food, food pick-ups will not be available.

Study Tracks Food Insecurity in New Mexico, U.S. During Health Crisis

The COVID-19 emergency has resulted in a dramatic increase in food insecurity in every one of our 50 states, although the extent of the increase varies by state.

According to a study put together by the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) at Northwestern University in Illinois, using data from, the Census  Household Pulse Survey (CHHPS), food insecurity during COVID-19 is almost 2.15 times what it was prior to the onset of the national health emergency.

"More than 1 in 10 households reported receiving free food in Hawaii and New Mexico," said the IPR study, which contains data for each of the 50 states.

"Mississippi and Louisiana recorded the highest estimates of food insecurity during COVID-19, at 31.6% and 30.1%, respectively. Vermont, with 14.1% food insecure, is the only state with a food insecurity rate below 15%," said the study.

Below are a few numbers from a table contained in the report. The middle column illustrates the dramatic increase in need in New Mexico. According to the study, the projected rate of food insecurity in our state was just below 15% in February of this year. The rate for the April-May period was recordeded at 27.6%.

	Food Insecurity: Dec. 2018 Predicted Food Insecurity: Feb. 2020 Food Insecurity: April–May 2020 Ratio: Feb. vs. April-May Received Free Food, Prior 7 Days

New Mexico

15.7%    14.9%      27.6% 1.86 11.6% U.S. Total 11.1%  10.8%    23.0% 2.12 7.3%

Loss of Jobs
A parallel IPR report linked the increased food insecurity in large measure to the loss of jobs during the pandemic. "The COVID-19 health emergency has led to a sharp economic slowdown, with soaring unemployment and spikes in need as illustrated by news reports of miles-long lines at food pantries," said the report.

"We find that food insecurity has doubled overall, and tripled among households with children. Food insecurity is elevated across all states, with some states experiencing extremely high rates and/or increases in food insecurity. Across the nation, 7% of households reported receiving free food during the prior week," added the IPR.

"During the COVID-19 health emergency, the rate of food insecurity for households with children more than tripled to 29.5%," said the report. "Approximately half of this increase can be explained by the increase in the unemployment rate.”

See the report for a more complete discussion of the IPR methodology.

Interfaith Hunger Coalition's February Meeting

See You on Tuesday!

We look forward to seeing you at our bimonthly meeting this Tuesday, February 25, at 12:00 Noon, First Presbyterian Church, I-25 and Martin Luther King Blvd.  We are fortunate to have two great guest presenters:

Patty Keane Hunger Initiatives Coordinator, Office of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. She will offer an update on the governor's initiatives on child hunger and on overall food insecurity.  Here is a short bio.



Mercy Alarid  Senior Partnership Specialist, NM & UT, U.S. Census Bureau-Denver Region. She will speak on the importance of having an accurate census count for New Mexico. An accurate count ensures that our state receives its rightful share of funding for social and infrastructure programs that are underwritten by the federal government, including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. More in this article from the Albuquerque Jounal

March Meeting
Tuesday, March 24  Kurt Rager just completed his first legislative session in his capacity as director of the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-New Mexico. He will tell us which of LAM-NM's legislative priorities succeeded. The meeting will be held at our First Presbyterian Church. Please Note: The starting time of the meeting has been moved back to 12:30 p.m. instead of our usual time at Noon. It will be held in the Fellowship Hall.

Hunger 101
We are planning a Hunger 101 Workshop in partnership with Chavurat Hamidbar-Fellowship in the Desert More details later.

Partner Events
March 13-14: What needed gifts do faith communities bring to climate action? A retreat with Dr. Larry Rasmussen hosted by New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light, First Congregational Church. Friday: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Saturday: 9:00-12 Noon. Sliding scale donation according to means $10-$50 (no one turned away). Register Here

March 14: Bread for the World Offering of Letters, Saturday, March 14, All Saints Lutheran Church, 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 Noon. Here is more information.

March 28: Circo for Community and Justice. Support the New Mexico Conference of Churches, enjoy music by the Peace Pipes and celebrate the awarding of the annual Turquoise Award to an outstanding community leader. At St. John's United Methodist Church. Get Tickets: $35 for individuals, $300 for table of 10.

Report Shows High SNAP Enrollment in Rural, Small-Town New Mexico

Map via Food Research and Action Center

A new study released by the Food Research and Action Center on August 2 shows rural and small town households across the country are more likely to participate in SNAP than their metro-area counterparts. The rate is slightly higher in New Mexico than the national average, the same study indicates.

FRAC’s study features a SNAP Map, an interactive data tool that provides county-by-county and state-by-state participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by type of area--rural, small town, and metro. Each county is grouped into one of three census categories: Metro, Small Town (micropolitan), and Rural. And most counties had elements of each of the three categories. Read the meta-analysis.

Illustration via FRAC

New Mexico
In New Mexico, SNAP reaches 200,000 households with 443,000 individuals in an average month (FY 2015), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). SNAP helps more than 1 in 6 rural and small town households, and 1 in 7 households in metro areas in our state afford healthy, nutritious meals.

SNAP participation was 15% in metro areas and 18% each in rural communities and small towns. This compares with nationwide rates of 13% for metro areas, 16% for rural communities and 15% for small towns.  See  fact sheet for the state. Here is the national county-by-county map. The map allows users to zero-in on specific states and counties.

Most counties in our state are classified in the "small town" category, with a handful falling in the rural category and a few clusters of counties grouped around the Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces and Farmington-Bloomington metropolitan areas. The rate of SNAP enrollment in rural and small-town New Mexico appears higher in the western and southern areas of the state than in the east, particularly the southeast.

Truchas, New Mexico (Mary Singleton)

Rural: Nationwide, nearly one-quarter (298, or 23 percent) of rural counties had at least 20 percent of households participating in SNAP. Of these, 53 counties (four percent) had at least 30 percent participating in SNAP. Catron County (Reserve, Quemado) had a whopping 71 percent of households participating in SNAP. Others included Hidalgo Country (Lordsburg) at 23.9 pecent, Socorro County (Socorro) at 23 percent, Mora County (Mora) at 21 percent, Guadalupe County (Santa Rosa) at 20.2 percent, Sierra County (Truth or Consequences) at 20.1 percent. Quay County (Tucumcari) recorded a 17.5 percent rate of participation, while the rate was 7.9 percent in Harding County (Roy, Mosquero) and 15.1 percent in Union County (Clayton).

Gallup (Richie Diesterheft, Wikimedia Commons)

Small Towns: One county in the "small town" category, Luna County (Deming), came closest to the 30-percent threshold at 29.4 percent. Other small towns with high participation include McKinley County (Gallup) at 25.4 percent, Cibola County (Grants) at 24 percent and San Miguel County (Las Vegas) at 23.9 percent. Grant County (Silver City) reported a rate of 20%. Taos County (Taos) recorded a rate of 18.6 percent. In contrast,participation was lower in Lea County (Hobbs) at 12.7% and Eddy County (Carlsbad) at 12.6 percent. Another eastern "small town," Roosevelt County (Portales), had  a rate of 17.6 percent participation.

Santa Fe Farmers Market

Metropolitan Areas: Nationwide, 11 percent of all metro counties had a participation level of 20 percent or higher. In New Mexico, Torrance County (Albuquerque), at 21%, Valencia County (Albuquerque) at 20.1% and Doña Ana County (Las Cruces), at 20.5%, fell in that category. Bernalillo County (Albuquerque) recorded a 15.2 percent participation in SNAP, while the rate was 10.1 percent in Santa Fe County (Santa Fe).

Note: SNAP Maps is based on American Community Survey (ACS) five-year data (2011–2015) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Characteristics of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Households: Fiscal Year 2015.

Feeding America Releases 2017 Map the Meal Gap Report

Despite their current reach, federal nutrition programs could do more to address food insecurity by improving the number of eligible individuals who participate. For example, compared to nearly 22 million children who receive free or reduced-price lunches each school day in 2015, only 12 million received breakfast during the school year and even fewer children (less than 4 million) received food assistance during the summer (USDA, 2016). 

The national anti-hunger organization Feeding America recently released its 2017 Map the Meal Gap report, which contains data for the year 2015. The Map the Meal Gap studies are intended to shed light on the issue of food insecurity as a problem that exists in all communities across the US. "As evidenced throughout the report, the dimensions of food insecurity vary based on income, poverty, unemployment and homeownership across different regions, population densities and local economies," said Feeding America. "We encourage others to examine how local-level food-insecurity data relates to other indicators, such as health data, housing cost pressures and other measures of economic status. It is our hope that food banks, partner agencies, policymakers, business leaders, community activists and concerned citizens will use this data in their efforts towards ending hunger in America."

New Mexico: A Silver Lining
If you're looking for a silver lining for New Mexico, the latest data showed the percentage of hungry children in New Mexico had declined to 25% in 2015 from 27.2% in 2014. In terms of percentages, however, New Mexico remained at near the top in the rate of child hunger, tied for second with Arkansas at 25%. Only Mississippi had a higher rate of child hunger at 26.3%.  Regardless of what improvements occurred between 2014 and 2015, the reality is that one in four children in New Mexico live in food-insecure households.

The reports, which were first published in 2011, indicate that New Mexico has consistently ranked near the top in terms of child hunger.  Here are the links to the  Child Food Insecurity Reports for 2011 (2009 data) and 2012 (2010) data. Starting with 2013 (2011 data), the report measured food insecurity both among children and the entire population of a state. Here are the links to 2014 (for 2012) and 2015 (for 2013). The 2013 report, which measured the rate of child hunger in New Mexico at 30% (first in the nation) is what prompted a group of representatives of faith communities to create the Interfaith Hunger Coalition.

The 2017 report also showed a decline in the overall rate of food insecurity in New Mexico.  Overall, the report indicated that 16% of New Mexicans were food insecure in 2015, compared with 17.2% in 2014. The percentages are highly variable by county, ranging from 8.4% in Guadalupe County to 27.2% in McKinley County.

Some Important Points in the Report

• Percentages Tell Only a Part of the Story: As helpful as food-insecurity rates are when measuring the prevalence of need, the absolute number of individuals in need is just as important. In fact, populous counties with low rates of food insecurity are home to some of the largest numbers of food- insecure people. For example, Los Angeles County, California has a relatively low rate of food insecurity of 12%, but is home to an estimated 1.2 million food- insecure individuals, including more than 480,000 food-insecure children.
• Lower Numbers, Greater Need: Although the total number of people living in food- insecure households has decreased, individual need among people who are food insecure has increased. Despite the economic recovery and reductions in unemployment and poverty, millions of people still struggle to get by because of persistent economic challenges, such as underemployment and stagnant wages. In addition, rising costs for essentials, especially rent and housing expenses, continue to put real cost pressure on low-income families, many of whom already report having to make regular spending tradeoffs to help ensure they have sufficient food
• The Importance of Federal Programs: While charitable assistance plays a critical role in helping families meet their food needs, federal nutrition programs are the first line of defense against hunger. WIC supports pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum women and their infants and children up to age 5. In federal fiscal year 2016, more than 7 million women, infants and children participated in WIC (USDA, FNS, 2017). The NSLP, SBP and Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) provide meals to low-income children in school and during school breaks. Over 100,000 schools operate NSLP and during federal fiscal year 2016, 22 million children received free or reduced-price lunch through NSLP (USDA FNS, 2017). SNAP provides electronic benefit cards to households to purchase groceries, and although it is not limited to children, 44% of all SNAP participants in federal fiscal year 2015 were children (approximately 20 million children) (Gray et al., 2016).

Food Prescription Program Comes to Albuquerque

 “I would rather see health care in the grocery store than in the pharmacy.”  -David Perry, program director, Zenger Farms, Portland, Oregon

 “Food should be considered a treatment option for our patients,” -Lee Hammerling, MD, chief medical officer and chief physician executive,  ProMedica, Toledo, Ohio


Food Prescription programs make it easier for low-income patients and their families to access the fresh fruits and vegetables they need in order to ensure that they are eating balanced, healthy diets. The programs generally begin with a partnership between a hospital and a local farmer’s market or CSA (community supported agriculture) to increase access for people who need access to nutritious food to improve their health.

"Although Food Prescription programs are relatively new, pilot programs have shown promising results in improving health outcomes in communities where they have been implemented," wrote Molly Miller in an article published by Stakeholder Health in 2014.

According to Miller, there is already some evidence that the food prescription programs are working.  She notes that the The Fresh Prescription Program, which seeks to build partnerships between the local food system, the healthcare system, and low-income patients in the Detroit area, has shown some signs of promise.  See above video about the Community Health and Social Services (CHASS) Center.  

Roadrunner Food Bank Opens Healthy Foods Center

Produce at Railyard Market

In Albuquerque, Roadrunner Food Bank has launched a food prescription pilot program in partnership with five local clinics. The program has been in place for several months but was only announced to the general public on Feb. 11 at the grand opening of the Healthy Food Center, located at the food bank, 5840 Office NE.   Read more in Albuquerque Journal.

The health partners participating in the program are three Community Dental Services clinics and two University of New Mexico Hospital clinics. Here is how it works: the five clinics do a sort of triage among their patients.  "Patients are asked about their food situation. If they answer in a way that indicates they aren’t getting enough to eat or are skipping meals, the health care partner issues a ‘prescription’ to come here,” said Alissa Barnes,  Roadrunner Food Bank’s director of community initiatives.

The prescription provides for one weekly trip to the Healthy Foods Center for a year, where the clients can “choose the products that are right for their home,” Barnes said. The caveat: only clients with these referrals can get food from the on-site pantry.

As the name of the program implies, the focus of the program is entirely on health. “We have a lot of patients with Type II Diabetes, so we don’t offer them anything with added sugar. For those with hypertension, we offer them the low-sodium vegetables. For those with vitamin D deficiencies, we offer more whole grains, tuna fish, and milk so they can get that extra Vitamin D," said Angela Smith, a diet technician with Promedica, a health care provider in Toledo, Ohio.  Read more about Promedica's Food Pharmacy.

Working Together
Promedica has partnered with the Alliance to End Hunger and several local health care providers around the country to examine the connections between health and hunger.  The two organizations held a conference on this topic in partnership with Presbyterian Community Health in June, 2015.  One of the keynote speakers was Ambassador Tony Hall, director emeritus of the Alliance to End Hunger. Other cities have hosted similar conferences, including Columbus, Ohio last fall. 

The partnerships between health care providers and CSA's has worked well in other parts of the country. In Portland, Zenger Farm partnered with Multnomah County Health Department and the National College of Natural Medicine in a program that was started in 2014.

According to Barnes, Roadrunner Food Bank's pilot program in Albuquerque will continue to the end of the year, and then “other health care clinics will be slowly rolled in.” The Healthy Foods Center will eventually incorporate other services, including immunizations, tax preparation, nutrition education and health screenings, she said.

Presbyterian Community Health, which recently recently launched a program offering a free healthy meal to children and youth seven days a week, is likely to join the food prescription effort in a more direct way soon. The program has already created a strong partnership with La Cosecha CSA. (See more in this video).

More than 100 Cities Sign Urban Food Policy Pact, Pledge to Fight Hunger

Mayors gathered in Milan to sign pact

Cities will be vital in accomplishing the goal of feeding the world; around 15 percent of the world’s food is now grown in urban areas, and the global proportion of people living in cities will likely reach 65 percent by 2025. The Urban Food Policy Pact (UFPP) will unite city leaders worldwide for the creation of more just and sustainable urban food systems. The pact will address the potential of cities to contribute to food security through urban agriculture.  -Text of UFPP

On  World Food Day 2015, representatives from more than 100 cities signed the Urban Food Policy Pact, pledging to work together on efforts to develop sustainable food policies. The document was presented to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at a ceremony in Milan, Italy. The project, led by the city of Milan, is modeled after an initiative that the Italian city created in 2014 with the assistance of Fundazione Caprilo. The objective is very simple: coordinate all policies dealing with food policy from a host of different perspectives: community, welfare, education, environment, well-being and international relations.

Milan Mayor Giuliano Pisapa proposed the pact at the Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) Summit in 2014, and the agreement was launched during the Milan Expo 2015, whose theme was “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.”

“Today, at  the presence of metropolises from all over the world that are home  to 400 million people, we have achieved an ambitious goal: a commitment for the implementation of smart food policies in our cities," said Pisapia. "This strong commitment entails concrete actions at the local level, aimed at facing global emergencies such as hunger, malnutrition and 1,3 million tons of food wasted every year."

Five cities in the United States and two in Canada are party to this agreement:  Chicago, New York, Miami, Baltimore, San Francisco, Vancouver and Toronto. Our neighbors in Latin America include  Mexico City, Guatemala City (Guatemala), Tegucigalpa (Honduras), Bogota and Medellin (Colombia), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Belo Horizonte, Sao Paulo, and Porto Alegre (Brazil). New York City announced its support for the pact on Twitter.

#NYC signed the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact ! Follow the ceremony live: http://t.co/KMRTIO2iap #UrbanFoodPact @ComuneMi

— NYC Intl Affairs (@globalnyc) October 15, 2015

The pact includes five core actions:

1. engage with relevant stakeholders to ensure an enabling environment; 
2. promote sustainable diets and nutrition; 
3. ensure equitable access to food; 
4. promote rural-urban food production and supply; and 
5. reduce food waste.

José Graziano da Silva, director of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), praised the agreement, pointing out that  urban communities would play a significant role in achieving the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, especially the eradication of hunger by 2030. Read more from Inter Press Service and Xinhua. Here is how the FAO tweeted its support for the pact.

#UNFAO hails pledge by more than 100 cities 2fight hunger & improve nutrition http://t.co/fCM4KnNVU7 #UrbanFoodPact pic.twitter.com/yiUgpVc9Wv

— FAO Newsroom (@FAOnews) October 15, 2015

While Urban Food Policy Pact currently has a little more than 100 signators, the model is applicable to cities of all sizes. According to StatisticBrain, using datafrom World Atlas, there were 4,416 cities in the world with a population of over 150,000, including Albuquerque. Imagine if every single one of these cities decided to adopt the UFPP principles.

Comedian John Oliver Takes Issue with Food Waste in America

A recent report from The Natural Resources Defense Council found that 40 percent of the food produced in our country is never consumed. According to that report, we throw away about $165 billion of food each year. "Reducing food losses by just 15 percent would be enough food to feed more than 25 million Americans every year at a time when one in six Americans lack a secure supply of food to their tables," said the NRDC report. "Increasing the efficiency of our food system is a triple- bottom-line solution that requires collaborative efforts by businesses, governments and consumers."

The report prompted comedian John Oliver to dedicate a 17-minute segment to the topic in his show "Last Week Tonight," on HBO. "This is not a story about the food we eat, it's about the food we don't eat, because there is a surprising amount of it," Oliver said after playing snippets from several gluttonous commercials. Read article in Los Angeles Times. 

 

Child Poverty in New Mexico Rose to 31 Percent in 2014

 "New Mexico’s child poverty rate was 31 percent, an increase from 29 percent in last year’s Data Book, and the percentage of children living in high-poverty areas increased to 24 percent, up from 22 percent."  -from the 2015 Kids Count Report

“It’s disheartening to see New Mexico still ranked so low in child well-being...We’ve made progress in some areas and we’ve gotten worse in others but, when you look at the long-term trends, we’re simply not seeing enough change...,When our children aren’t doing well, it’s an indication that our whole state isn’t doing well. Our future workforce is being shaped now. Poverty really holds children back. We can help kids in poverty reach their full potential, but only if we take intentional action and we take it early...” Veronica García, New Mexico Voices For Children

I'm not a big fan of measuring our demographics and statistics against those of other states. While the comparisons are useful to provide some perspective, the more important measure is comparing our current situation against our past performance. 

If you look at the 2015 Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, you might notice that New Mexico experienced a slight improvement in the overall well-being for children. Our ranking improved to 49th in 2014 from 50th in 2013. And yet, our rate of child poverty increased to 31 percent from 29 percent the previous year.  However, our ranking improved only because conditions got much worse in Mississippi, the state that has the dubious distinction of ranking 50th in the 2015 Kids Count report.  

“Over the last several years we’ve seen 38,000 children fall into poverty in New Mexico. That is simply not acceptable. Poverty has very detrimental effects on children. If we want them to succeed in life—to be the next generation of doctors, entrepreneurs, teachers and leaders—we need to ensure that they have the opportunities that will put them on the right path early in life,” said Veronica C. García, executive director of New Mexico Voices For Children.  See full statement from organization.

Rather than repeat other findings in the report, I'll pass on the following links

• New Mexico Indicators in the Kids Count Data Center 
• "Creating Opportunity for Families: A Two-Generation Approach" (Report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation)
• Article in Albuquerque Journal

Suburban Poverty (Part 2): Urban Institute Mapping Tool

Because of a series of economic downturns over the past decade, many folks lost their jobs and have been unable to find new employment or have had to settle for minimum-wage work. People who were once considered middle class (and many live in the suburbs), have fallen below or close to the poverty line.

Today, one out of four jobs in the country doesn’t pay enough to lift a family of four above the poverty line. When jobs don’t pay enough to lift families above the poverty line, we end up with lots of people known as “the working poor.” After the shocks in the 2000s, starting with the bursting of the stock bubble early in the decade and continuing with the housing bubble and the 2008 financial crisis, we need to ask ourselves whether the course we’re on is sustainable. Read more from the Bread for the World Institute.

But the recent economic downturns only worsened a trend that had already been occurring over the past three decades. The changing demographic of poverty is occurring across the nation. Chicago magazine discusses the growth of suburban poverty in America's third largest metropolitan area, And The Atlantic magazine recently reported on the overall trend, using maps provided by The Urban Institute.

Poverty in the United States doesn't look like it did just a few decades ago. In many metro areas, it touches more people today than in 1980. The demographics have changed too, with new and expanding communities of the Hispanic poor in cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas. And the geography has shifted – as we've previously written...poverty now stretches well into the suburbs.

To get a better picture of what all these changes look like over time, the Urban Institute recently created a helpful new mapping tool that tracks fine-grained Census data on poverty for every metropolitan area of the country, spanning the years from 1980-2010. The patterns vary by city Just about everywhere, however, poverty appears to be spreading.

The Urban Institute's maps represent an important tool for policymakers to examine and respond to the changing demographics of poverty in metropolitan areas across the United States.  "For metro regions to systematically reduce poverty and expand opportunity, local civic and political leaders, advocates, and practitioners should start by sitting down together to understand the evolving realities of poverty, race, and place in their communities. We hope our maps help catalyze these conversations," said the Urban Institutue

Below are demographic maps from the Urban Institute comparing poverty in Houston in 1980 and 2010. See the mapping tool created by The Urban Institute.

Poverty in Houston 1980

Poverty in Houston 2010

Part 1: Book Documents Suburban Poverty Since 1980
Next: Poverty in Albuquerque's Suburbs?

Suburban Poverty (Part 1): Book Documents Trend Since 1980

The documentary A Place at the Table  follows the impact of hunger on families in the inner city of Philadelphia, rural Colorado and small-town Mississippi.  These are areas were selected because they reflected the impact of hunger, poverty and malnutrition on children in certain types of communities.  If the producers were to add a fourth location to the documentary, chances are they would select  the suburbs.

Elizabeth Kneebone and Alan Berube of the Brookings Institution, document the rise of poverty in the suburbs in their recently published book entitled Confronting Suburban Poverty in America

"..over the last decade, suburbs have increasingly become home to America's poor. Between 2000 and 2011, the population living in American cities below the poverty line increased by 29 percent. During that same time, across the country in the suburbs of metropolitan areas as diverse as Atlanta and Detroit and Salt Lake City, the ranks of the poor grew by 64 percent. Today, more poor people live in the suburbs (16.4 million of them) than in U.S. cities (13.4 million), despite the perception that poverty remains a uniquely urban problem," The Atlantic magazine said in an article about the book.

 "By the mid-2000s, more Americans were living below the poverty line in suburbs than in cities. In the Boston metropolitan area, census data from 2010 showed that more than two-thirds of the region’s poor population was settled in the suburbs," said a recent article in the The Boston Globe

The trend is illustrated further in this video promoting the book. 



Next: Mapping Poverty in Metropolitan Areas

How Much Bad News Can We Take Regarding the Well-Being of Kids in New Mexico?

The question is: How much bad news can we take regarding the plight of children in New Mexico? Last week, I posted about our state's ranking as the worst for children in Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap report.  Then there was a little bit of good news showing that we made progress in 2012 in expanding summer feeding programs for school children.

And now comes the Annie E. Casey Foundations' 2013 National Kids Count Data Book. This report, which measures various categories related to the general welfare of children, put New Mexico dead last (50th out of 50 states!)for the first time since the survey began in 1990. An article in the Albuquerque Journal on Monday  morning described the situation well in its opening paragraph:""After circling the drain for more than two decades, New Mexico finally got sucked in, coming in last in a national survey ranking childhood well-being."

The report provided a rating on four areas that affect children in our stats in the long term: economics, education, health, and family.  And to be fair, New Mexico didn't rank last in any of these categories. It was in the penultimate place.  Mississippi was the worst in both economic well-being and community; Montana was at the bottom in health, and Nevada had the worst situation in terms of education.  But what is the difference between 49th place (where are state ranked in all of these categories) and 50th?

And when it all the scores are added and averaged, someone has to be last.  “(We give) a standard score for each of the indicators, then everything gets added together,” said Annie F. Kasey demographer Laura Speer, who produced the report over three months with data from the Centers for Disease Control, the  U.S.Census, the National Center for Health Statistics and other federal agencies.

Read full article in Albuquerque Journal (If you don't have an online or delivery subscription, you can still view the full piece by answering a few questions from advertisers)

Or you can see the full report in the Kids Count Data Center

Report Gives New Mexico Good Marks on Summer Feeding Programs in 2012

In the midst of all the bad news about child hunger in our state, (especially Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap report), I want to highlight  a report that actually had good news about hunger and school children in New Mexico.  If you look at the illustration above, about a dozen states are colored in green in this map released by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) via its report entitled Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation.  Even though the report was released in the summer of 2013, it deals with data for 2010 through 2012.  New Mexico is one of those green states!

The map shows the states that made progress  in 2012 in providing federally subsidized meals to children in low-income areas. The two federal Summer Nutrition Programs—the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) SeamlessSummer Option and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)—provide funding to serve meals and snacks to children: at sites where at least 50 percent of the children in the geographic area are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals; at sites in which at least 50 percent of the children participating in the program are individually determined eligible for free or reduced-price school meals; and at sites that serve primarily migrant children.

Once a site is determined eligible, all of the children can eat for free. Summer camps also can participate, but they are only reimbursed for the meals served to children who are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals. The NSLP also reimburses schools for feeding children that attend summer school.

"Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation provides national and state-level analysis of summer meals programs in 2012, updates on the program and overview of state-level legislation related to summer meals. The report shows a slight national increase in participation, though it still only reaches one in seven kids that eat a free or reduced-price lunch during the school year, said Kim Caldwell, program manager at NoKid Hungry (a project of Share Our Strength).

Here is what the report says about New Mexico, which reported 49,411 children participating in the program in July 2012.

Four top performing states managed to reach at least one in four of their low-income children in July 2012, when comparing Summer Nutrition to regular school year lunch: District of Columbia (59.8:100), New Mexico (30.2:100), New York (27.6:100) and Vermont (26.0:100). The three top performing states maintained their rankings from 2011 despite decreases in participation: District of Columbia (-16.5 percent), New Mexico (-1.5 percent), and New York (-2.1 percent). Vermont increased participation by 23.7 percent in order to rank 4th nationally.

See the full report for much more information, tables and other data 

(By the way, my thanks to Sarah Newman, former program manager at the New Mexico Collaboration to End Hunger, for pointing me to the FRAC report. The Collaboration was a major partner with NoKid Hungry New Mexico, which played a major role in promoting summer feeding programs for children in our state. Because of lack of funding and other reasons, the Collaboration and NoKid Hungry New Mexico ceased to exist in 2012).

A Turn for the Worse: New Mexico Now the Most Food Insecure State for Kids

I guess we could call it a case of good timing  Feeding America released its Map the Meal Gap report on the day that we were scheduled to visit our congressional representatives on Capitol Hill.  The study estimates the rate of food insecurity by state and county for the general population and also children. It also estimates the number of meals missing from each state and county as well as the dollar shortfall.

But the report's statistics for New Mexico were hardly the type of news we wanted to share our fellow Bread for the World advocates. The report showed that New Mexico now ranked first in the number of hungry children nationwide.  But the ranking was not is important as the fact that nearly 10,000 more children were hungry than in 2012.  And the report showed that the number of New Mexico residents facing food insecurity had increased by more than 36,000 from 2012. 

The findings of "Map the Meal Gap" are based on statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and food price data and analysis provided by The Nielsen Company (NYSE: NLSN), a global information and measurement company providing insights into what consumers watch and buy. The study was supported by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and Nielsen.

“The results from this study are appalling. It’s shocking to learn that a third of our children aren’t able to access enough food to eat on a regular basis," said Melody Wattenbarger, president and CEO of Roadrunner Food Bank in Albuquerque.  "Hunger continues to be a silent issue in our community and more people need to get involved and take action. We want our children to do better in school, yet they don’t have the meals necessary to fuel their bodies and perform well.”

The information, however, did give us additional ammunition for our arguments to congressional aides that funding for safety-net nutrition programs should be protected.  See our our New Mexico Lobby Day report and the list of congressional offices that were visited.

Hunger is at an all-time high right here in our own state. All of us should be completely horrified at these latest figures. As a community, more support is clearly essential.  -Melody Wattenbarger, President and CEO, Roadrunner Food Bank

The Map the Meal Gap report also tracks hunger statistics by county. Bernalillo County (primarily Albuquerque) has the largest number of hungry people with 112,090 or 17.1% followed by Doña Ana County (primarily Las Cruces) at 18.1% or 37,280 people.  These are in terms of total numbers and not percentage of the population that suffers from food insecurity.  (Those figures are in a table below).

“Hunger is at an all-time high right here in our own state. All of us should be completely horrified at these latest figures. As a community, more support is clearly essential," said Wattenbarger. "Not only do we need to ensure charitable hunger programs have the tools needed to respond, but we also need to appropriately fund and protect federal hunger programs such as SNAP, WIC and others. We can no longer ignore that so many people suffer from hunger. This shouldn’t be a silent issue any more.”

Here are a couple of tables with statistics from the report for the three years in which the study has been conducted.

Childhood Hunger
Year     Number of Hungry Children     Percentage     Rank     Nationwide%
2013    156,930                                         30.6%               1st              22.4%%
2012    146,940                                          28.7%               4th             21.6%%
2011    137,720                                          27.3%           tied 11th         23.2%

Hungry People in New Mexico
Year   Number of Hungry People     Percentage        Nationwide%
2013     417,780                                      20.1%                  16.4%%
2012    381,690                                       18.5%                  16.1%%
2011    336,430                                       17.1%                  16.6%%

Counties with the Highest Percentage of Food Insecurity
Overall Population                            Children
Luna - 25.4%                                  Luna – 43.2%
McKinley – 21.2%                          Guadalupe – 36.8%
Guadalupe and Mora – 19.4%       McKinley – 30.5%
Torrance – 18.7%                          Cibola – 30.1%
Cibola – 18.2%                              Hidalgo – 28.9%

Statistics provided by Roadrunner Food Bank