Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The emergency (i.e., charitable) food system is comprised of a national network of over 200 food banks, which in turn distribute food and other resources to over 60,000 food pantries, soup kitchens, and other programs. This system is a critical source of food for the over forty-two million Americans living in food insecure households. Over a third (i.e., 17.1 million) of people from food insecure families visit a food pantry each month. In fact, many people rely on the food pantries as a regular source of weekly groceries; a recent USDA report found that among households who visit food pantries, visits occur 1.7 times a week. Additionally, over half (58%) of food pantry clients have a household member with hypertension, and one-third (33%) have a member with diabetes. This presents a tremendous opportunity to promote food justice and health equity in these communities.

The current study sought to identify priority policy options and research questions to advance health equity in the food banking system. Our methodological approach involved two phases. First, we conducted 10 in-depth interviews with key informants (e.g. food bank leaders, hunger advocates, etc.). Drawing from the barriers to advancing health equity though the food bank system and associated policy options identified by key informants, we launched a nationwide online survey of executive food directors (N=137). The primary objectives of the survey were to: 1. Compile a list of health equity-related strategies currently being employed in the food bank system, 2. Identify barriers to advancing health equity though the food bank system, and 3. Gather feedback regarding a variety of policy and research ideas.

Key findings from this project include several structural characteristics (e.g., reliance on donors, variation in access to health-promoting resources) and social characteristics (e.g., language barriers, mistrust and lack of representation among leaders) contributing to inequities among clients. Further, survey results indicate food bank executive directors support policy interventions to improve equity in the system. For example, over 90% of directors believe food banks should play a significant role in improving health equity. However, less than 10% of food banks include ‘equity’ in their organization’s mission statement. Future work in this area should evaluate the impact of top-rated policy options on diet-related health inequities among food bank system clients.