By Leah Shepard / Broadcast version by Nadia Ramlagan reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.

At Heart Reach Neighborhood Ministries in Youngstown, chief program officer April Alexander has seen countless people struggle to feed their families. According to Feeding America, Mahoning County, where Youngstown is located, had a food insecurity rate of 13.4% in 2021, meaning 30,670 people were without "access, at times, to enough food for a healthy, active life." And Alexander said the problem seems to be getting worse.

"Families can call and schedule and come to get a food box any time," she said. "And so with the decrease in SNAP benefits, coupled with the increase in food costs, we have seen a significant increase in the number of families who are seeking food assistance from us. And I'm hearing that from some of our partner agencies as well."

SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is a federal program that provides monthly financial assistance to low-income families to buy food. In March, pandemic-era funding to SNAP was cut in 35 states, including Ohio. This effectively lowered the amount of food families on SNAP could afford by an average of about $90 per person per month.

According to the most recent study conducted by the USDA in 2020, 10.5% of the U.S. population live with food insecurity. More than one million people live with food insecurity in Ohio. Experts say food insecurity is growing because of cuts in funding to SNAP benefits and rising food prices.

In April, the Ohio Association of Food Banks surveyed 2,000 individuals who use local food banks to determine the reasons for their food insecurity. Three out of four households receiving SNAP benefits ran out within the first two weeks of the month since the cutbacks, said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, who has served as director of the Ohio Association of Food Banks since 2001.

"It's disproportionately hit seniors and households with children the hardest," she said.

Food prices were also a factor.

"Eight in 10 of the respondents said they were seeking emergency food because of higher overall food costs," she said.

Hamler-Fugitt said the recent surge in food prices combined with the reduction in SNAP benefits are also affecting food banks all over the state.

"We have been struggling for quite some time," she said. "We've been dealing with the same thing that the consumers that we serve are dealing with, which is just higher food costs, inflation. Donations are down significantly while we're spending more to purchase food to try to help our customers have food. We're lightening the bags, providing fewer meals than we've done in the past because there's not enough food."

Pat Bebo, registered dietician and assistant director of an extension of Ohio State University's College of Family and Consumer Sciences, said food deserts can be in the city or in rural areas.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), food deserts are places with both low incomes and low access to healthy, affordable food.

"You might have food in a food desert, but it might not be the food that will sustain life and prevent chronic disease," Bebo said. "It might be higher fat, higher sugar. Food of low nutritional quality that may also cost a lot more. And the healthier foods, let's say just milk, a gallon of milk or eggs, might cost more in these food deserts might cost more because there is such a limited availability."

Bebo said the study of food deserts is relatively new, with the USDA only beginning research in the 1980s. It's not that food deserts didn't exist in the past, she said, but they may have become more obvious in recent years. She expects the ending of pandemic-era changes for those receiving food benefits to have a negative effect on their lives.

"Think of any one of us that lost $400 a month out of our food budget," she said "That's going to have a huge impact. There's lots of things that the pandemic did, and we did good things during the pandemic, but now they're being rolled back."

Bebo cited the pandemic policy that no longer required students to fill out an application for free and reduced school meals. Now, she said, that went away.

"People got out of the habit of submitting the application," she said. "And so there was a hard time getting up to that habit of submitting that application so that their kids could access free and reduced priced meals."

Bebo said those on SNAP benefits or those not on benefits at all "just don't have the money" to buy food. Bebo also cited the lack of public transportation as a reason many people face food insecurity.

"Whether you're talking mid-sized communities, inner cities. Look at Columbus," Bebo, a resident of Westerville, Ohio, said. "If I didn't have a car, I couldn't get to a grocery store because there's no buses."

Treva Williams, an extension educator with Family and Consumer Sciences at Ohio State University, works in food safety and preservation in Southern Ohio. Williams, who has worked in Scioto County for 27 years, said there is little access to chain grocery stores outside of Portsmouth, Scioto County's largest city. Many people must go to discount stores for food, and those stores sell mostly canned and packaged food.

"The problem there isn't so much that the food doesn't exist," Williams said. "There is no public transportation system. So, while the food may be there, getting to the food can sometimes be the bigger issue. Particularly when you don't have a vehicle."

In Youngstown, Alexander said transportation also poses a barrier to access for many people her organization serves.

"While we have public transportation, families are still limited with how much they can then bring home," she said. "So, if mom is trying to care for a few children and then maybe she catches the bus to Walmart or even to Save-A-Lot, whatever is closest to her, there is still that challenge of only carrying enough that she can manage."

Alexander said that while stores like Dollar General have increased access to frozen and processed food, this still leaves families without access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

"A lot of times, in trying to manage a budget, they are choosing foods that are lower in cost but higher in sodium and some of the other, less desirable nutrients, if I can even call them that," Alexander said. "So that's a challenge."

Alexander said people affected by food insecurity face many hidden obstacles.

"I wish people really understood what it is to live in poverty, and the barriers that people face," she said. "That this is not a matter of people being lazy, that this is not a matter of people not caring enough for their families. It is a matter of severe barriers. Things like I mentioned: transportation, lack of transportation, generational poverty."

Alexander said that what she believes is the key to change is connection between the people living in poverty and people making policy.

"There needs to be some kind of bridge," she said. "Between those who are struggling with making ends meet, meeting poverty guidelines, yet working. Some bridge between hearing their stories and getting their actual stories out to those who are making decisions."

This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


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Supported by federal funding, a nonprofit network is working to ensure Mississippi families have access to the food they will need this winter.

Nearly one in six Mississippians faces food insecurity, according to Feeding America.

Adam Runion, communications coordinator for theMississippi Food Network, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture has a program which allows them to distribute locally grown, fresh produce to more than 400 partner agencies statewide. He said they started with 21 agencies in underserved northwestern delta counties. The funding has helped nearly 5,000 families so far.

"It's able to serve about 200 people at each agency when we started per month, but we've been able to take on more agencies as the program has developed," Runion explained. "That comes out to 4,200 households per month are receiving assistance through this program."

Runion pointed out they offer a variety of programs, including distributing food boxes to qualifying seniors and a backpack program for schools. Students can take the healthy snacks home on weekends, helping to improve their overall health and grades.

Runion added the Mississippi Food Network also offers a monthly mobile pantry, directly serving clients in areas of high need. Funding for the program comes from local organizations.

"In that mobile pantry, we distribute an emergency food box," Runion outlined. "Alongside that, we typically do a protein, which could be anywhere from a chicken to some type of fish, any type of meat. And then, we also try to do fresh vegetables as they're available."

Runion added the network is teaming up with a local television station for a "Turkey Drive" on Thursday. Volunteers will collect donated turkeys and other grocery items outside Kroger stores. Last year, they collected more than 1,100 turkeys and $12,000. This year's goal is to exceed 1,100 turkeys and raise $15,000.


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The nonprofit Feeding Texas Network has announced its priorities for the upcoming legislative session. The food insecurity rate continues to rise in Texas and the organization is encouraging lawmakers to support bills that address the root cause of hunger.

Celia Cole, Feeding Texas Network CEO, said they support bills that will eliminate the backlog of SNAP applications, implement the Summer EBT program and streamline Medicaid reimbursements.

"We are seeing some of the highest rates of hunger in Texas that we've seen in years. We have the second highest rate of food insecurity in the country. People are really struggling to put food on the table and pay for everything else like rent and utilities," Cole explained.

She added their legislative goals are supported by the 20 food banks across the state that serve all 254 counties in Texas.

Lawmakers have already started filing bills for the 89th legislative session. Cole said the network has received support from many members of the legislature in the past, and added their priorities also include addressing other areas of financial strife.

"They include health, housing security, financial security and then also just our local food system - you know - what can we do to strengthen the local food system so that people will have access to fresh, nutritious, affordable foods in their own communities?" she continued.

Cole said hunger is a nonpartisan issue that impacts every county in our state. The legislative session starts January 14th.


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Colorado's leading advocate for people experiencing hunger turns 15 this year and a new report outlined key advances and persistent challenges facing residents across the state.

Elissa Hardy, director of client services for Hunger Free Colorado, cited its work on the Healthy School Meals for All program as a major win. Students in schools opting into the program can now get the nutrition they need to learn, regardless of their parents' ability to pay. She pointed out it is also putting an end to practices such as lunch line shaming.

"This really allowed for reduction in stigma, in discrimination, for those kids on low-cost food programs," Hardy observed. "Because (with the new program) everyone was getting the meals."

Colorado became the third state in the nation to provide free, nutritious breakfast and lunch for all public-school students when voters approved Proposition FF in 2022. Hunger Free Colorado has also helped secure more than $30 million in state funding to fill food banks and pantries with culturally relevant foods communities want, produced by local farmers and ranchers.

When the group started doing outreach for SNAP enrollment in 2009, just four in 10 Coloradans eligible for the program formerly known as food stamps were getting help. Hardy reported today, nearly eight in 10 eligible families are getting food assistance.

"Colorado was one of the lower ranking states, for the number of people who are eligible but not enrolled, and now we are much higher up in that rating," Hardy emphasized. "We now have a team of 20 who are going into the community to do outreach."

Hardy acknowledged there is still work to be done. More than one in 10 Coloradans do not know where their next meal will come from and 17% of Colorado families with children do not earn enough to ensure their kids get the nutrition they need.

"I think it's really easy to think that people have what they need, and they don't," Hardy added. "There is food insecurity in our own neighborhoods, our own neighbors might be struggling. We work with many colleges across the state, and many of the students are struggling."