Viewpoint

Combatting Food Apartheid: Redesigning Funding Systems for Sustainable Solutions

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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that every individual has the right to adequate food. Yet, in 2018, 10% of Massachusetts’ children awoke each morning not knowing where they would receive their next meal. Within a two-year timeframe, this figure would double as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a staggering 20% of kids in Massachusetts struggling to find consistent, nutritious meals.

Food insecurity is defined as limited or inconsistent access to nutrient-rich foods. Most instances stem from poverty and inequity. If not properly addressed, food insecurity can lead to stunted growth and behavioral problems in children, as well as lower earnings and increased healthcare costs as an adult. Upon reaching adulthood, individuals with severe food insecurity are more likely to die prematurely, on average of 9 years earlier than food secure individuals.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issue of food insecurity in Massachusetts. Since the start of the pandemic, the statewide rate of food insecurity increased from around 9% to 17.5%. From 2018 to 2020, Feeding America estimates the food insecurity rate in Massachusetts grew by 59% as a result of the pandemic, the highest percent increase in the nation. What’s more, the rate is projected to increase in Eastern Massachusetts by 66% for the same timeframe.  As the state shut down in March 2020, thousands of individuals lost jobs. As a result, many were faced with the impossible decision of putting food on the table, or paying rent, childcare, or medical costs. In this benefit-cost analysis, nutritious food often comes out on the bottom.

In Allston-Brighton, a neighborhood containing 10% of Boston’s residents, food insecurity is higher than the state average, according to the Allston-Brighton Health Collaborative (ABHC), a community-based public health organization (CBO) serving the neighborhood. During the pandemic, SNAP applications for Allston-Brighton residents increased 62%, signaling a marked need in the community.

Allston-Brighton isn’t the only community experiencing food insecurity. Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan, home to many of Boston’s immigrants and BIPOC communities, are seeing the same drastic increases in food insecurity and hunger as a result of the pandemic. This comes as no surprise to CBOs that have been serving these regions for years.

Immigrants, BIPOC individuals, and low-income communities in Massachusetts have up to 44% higher risk of becoming food insecure versus white individuals. As ABHC’s Executive Director, Anna Leslie, explains, “This is not an accident…Neighborhoods were not zoned for or planned for healthy affordable food access. It’s not a food desert, it’s food apartheid.”

This is not simply an acute problem; food insecurity is a chronic issue of inequality that has only deepened with the pandemic and will last far beyond the bounds of the pandemic. Underserved and BIPOC communities are continually left out of meaningful conversations to substantially address the root causes of food insecurity. The COVID-19 pandemic has simply laid bare the systemic inequities that have for so long contributed to the cycle of chronic food insecurity.

Representative Jim McGovern noted in an interview with NPR that the pandemic “is forcing us to reckon with the fact that we have a hunger crisis”. In an acknowledgement of the pandemic’s impact, the city of Boston and the state have directed more attention to the long-ignored issues of food injustice, implementing temporary measures in an attempt to fill the gaps that have been widened by COVID-19. The city of Boston created the “Boston Resiliency Fund” (BRF), a temporary fund to support the city’s food and housing crises. Other short-term state and federal funding opportunities and programs began during COVID-19: the USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (or Farmer to Families Program), Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency food boxes, and the CARES Act.

But these are temporary funding sources that present several barriers to applicants.The USDA requires grantees reapply every six weeks. The CARES Act Community Service Block Grants require organizations to collect photo ID, proof of income, and proof of residency from each client. BRF grants were short-lived and inequitably distributed. The steady stream of BRF grants has already dried up, ending officially in January 2021.

Anna Leslie, whose organization did not receive any BRF funding, explains that ABHC’s small staff cannot keep up with larger organizations with teams of grant writers. “The same people writing [our] reports are packing up bags of food, testifying at council meetings, the list goes on.” When staff are serving their community on-the-ground every day, the stringent reporting requirements and restrictions funders demand become obstacles to accessing critical funds.

The pandemic emphasizes that Massachusetts needs what CBOs have long been advocating for: permanent multiyear upstream funding solutions to support their existing operations. Organizations following the backbone model of collective impact, like ABHC, the Mattapan Food & Fitness, CHNA17, and Massachusetts Public Health Organization, are necessary to the future of public health advancement. “We have community trust, relationships, and capacity. We just need support to do it and acknowledgement that we’re doing it,” says Leslie.

These organizations prioritize the social determinants of health, and intimately understand their community member’s needs. This more sustainable upstream funding model asks the funder to recognize CBOs and entrust them to decide on metrics and fund distribution that best supports their long-term efforts to tackle food insecurity and systems of food apartheid. Their work is not done when the fiscal year ends or when the pandemic is over.

As one of the wealthiest places in the world, Massachusetts cannot be complacent with the current, skyrocketing food insecurity rates. Supporting the work of food justice and public health-related CBOs must be a priority in order to truly end food apartheid. Instead of temporary, crisis-reactive programs, the state should develop sustainable funding sources for CBOs and equitable systems that not only mitigate this crisis but prevent food insecurity beyond the pandemic. Expansion of SNAP and Healthy Incentives programs’ budgets at the state level can help relieve need in the time of crisis, and help CBOs better impact all Massachusetts residents in their complementary programming.  But, it is critically important that CBOs and local residents have a seat at the table during these conversations. This includes appointing CBOs, like ABHC, to identify their community’s needs and equitably distribute funding.

Food apartheid is etched into our society and will remain far after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic if not addressed with permanent solutions. The time is now for state lawmakers to prioritize the health of our families and children and reduce the disparities that have left so many vulnerable for too long.

References

Allston Brighton Health Collaborative | Improving Health & Wellbeing. (n.d.). ABHC. Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://abhealthcollaborative.org/

Boston Resiliency Fund grantees | Boston.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://www.boston.gov/news/boston-resiliency-fund-grantees

EBFE_City_Recommendations_Report_v.2020__1_.pdf. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://media2-production.mightynetworks.com/asset/18561304/EBFE_City_Recommendations_Report_v.2020__1_.pdf

Greater Boston Food Bank. Food Insecurity Across Eastern Massachusetts at an All-Time High. The Greater Boston Food Bank. Published January 19, 2021. https://www.gbfb.org/2021/01/19/food-insecurity-across-eastern-massachusetts-at-an-all-time-high/

Feeding America. The Impact of the Coronavirus on Food Insecurity in 2020.; 2020. https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/Brief_Local%20Impact_10.2020_0.pdf

Hunger by the Numbers. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://projectbread.org/hunger-by-the-numbers

Mayors_food_acees_agenda_external_final_9_11_19_.pdf. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://www.boston.gov/sites/default/files/imce-uploads/2019-09/mayors_food_acees_agenda_external_final_9_11_19_.pdf

Men F, Gundersen C, Urquia ML, Tarasuk V. Association between household food insecurity and mortality in Canada: a population-based retrospective cohort study. CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal. Published online January 20, 2020:E53-E53. doi:10.1503/cmaj.190385

Mitchell Z, Dearing T. 1 Million People In Mass. Are Food Insecure. Published November 14, 2020. https://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2020/11/11/food-insecurity-one-million

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2014). Social Determinants of Health: Healthy People 2020. https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic

Perrone, A., & Leslie, A. (2020). “Understanding Food Access in Allston Brighton”: Allston Brighton Health Collaborative Food Access Assessment 2020.

USDA Farmers to Families Food Box | Agricultural Marketing Service. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food-to-usda/farmers-to-families-food-box