Food Insecurity
Food insecurity more than doubled during the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, household food insecurity in Massachusetts was at 8.2%. The COVID-19 pandemic fueled the hunger crisis, with it's peak rendering 19.6% of households food insecure.
In Massachusetts, the rate of food insecurity remains higher than it was pre-pandemic. Recent data is showing that food insecurity has been hovering around 15%-16% in recent months. Although lower than the peak during COVID-19, it is still almost double the pre-pandemic rate.
Food insecurity among households with children has been slowly rising from a low in April. In May 2020, a staggering 23.6% of households with children in Massachusetts were food insecure. This decreased by April 2021 to 12.5% when families were receiving a whole host of federal and state level benefits, but as of June 2022, this number again rose to an estimated 19.8%.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Did you know that SNAP provides 9 meals for every 1 meal a food bank provides? SNAP is the country's most effective and efficient response to hunger because of its ability to scale up and down based on need.
In Massachusetts, SNAP is administered by the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) and benefits include:
- Monthly funds on an EBT card to by food
- $40, $60, or $80 a month put back on your EBT card when you use SNAP to buy local produce via the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP)
- SNAP Path to Work free education and training opportunities
- Free nutrition education classes and resources
- Connections to other kids of help, like utility discounts, free school meals and discounted admissions to many Commonwealth museums and cultural institutions via EBT Card to Culture
To see if you are eligible for SNAP or to apply, please click here.
For information about SNAP Nutrition Education, please visit mahealthyfoodsinasnap.org.
FREE COMMUNITY MEALS & FOOD PANTRY INFORMATION
Here are a few more organizations in the area working to combat food insecurity: