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Improve health for Vermont's older adults

School-age children are healthy

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Vermonters are healthy

All Vermonters have fair and just opportunities to be healthy

All Vermonters have access to affordable, healthy, local food

Communities support healthy living and healthy aging

Children achieve their optimal development

Vermont creates the social conditions that promote health

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VERMONT'S FAMILIES ARE SAFE, NURTURING, STABLE, AND SUPPORTED

% of households with food insecurity

Current Value

8%

2022

Definition

Line Bar

Story Behind the Curve

Updated: August 2024

Author: Physical Activity and Nutrition Program, Vermont Department of Health

Food insecurity is defined as the lack of access to enough food to fully meet basic needs at all times due to lack of financial resources. Households that are classified as food insecure with hunger are those in which adults have decreased the quality and quantity of food they consume because of lack of money. The adults are quite likely to be hungry on a frequent basis or are at a point where their children's intake has been reduced due to lack of family financial resources. These children are likely to be hungry on a regular basis and the adults' food intake is also likely to be severely reduced.

Using the Current Population Survey, Food Security Supplement, Vermont’s rate of food insecure households is 7.9% compared to the national rate of 10.2%. Based on 3-year aggregates from 2019-2021, Vermont is 6th in the nation for having a low percentage of households with food insecurity. New Hampshire is leading the nation at 5% of households being food insecure.

Our Vermont target of 5% is based on desired improvement over our baseline and aligns with the current benchmark of the lowest rate of food insecurity in the U.S. (5%).

According to a review by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food insecurity in states varies by, and depends on, household factors, such as income, employment and household structure (i.e. single parents), as well as state-level characteristics, such as average wages, cost of housing, levels of participation in food assistance programs (including summer meal programs for children) and tax policies.

Why Is This Important?

According to the Food Research and Action Center, the effects of hunger on children can be detrimental to their health, well-being, and lifelong success. Children living in food insecure homes are at greater risk for poor health, nutritional deficiencies and obesity/overweight, as well as developmental delays, poor academic achievement, depression, and increased aggressive or hyperactive behavior.

This indicator is part of our Healthy Vermonters 2030 data set which documents the health status of Vermonters at the start of the decade and the population health indicators and goals that will guide the work of public health through the next decade. For more information, see our Healthy Vermonters 2030 page.

Reducing household food insecurity and hunger is a Healthy People 2030 Leading Health Indicator. It is a high priority objective to drive action toward improving overall health and well-being.

Partners

Office of Local Health District Offices, Vermont Department of Health: works with communities to increase access to healthy foods, and runs the Women Infants Children (WIC) program, which provides food and nutrition education to families in need.
3SquaresVT & Farm to Family (Vermont Department for Children & Families, Division of Economic Services): Administers and promotes 3SquaresVT and Farm to Family coupons.
Agency of Education Child Nutrition Programs: Administers and promotes nutrition programs for children in childcare programs and schools, such as the School Lunch and Breakfast program.
Vermont Nutrition Education Committee (VNEC): brings state and non-profit food access organization leaders together to coordinate on food access services and issues.
Vermont Food Bank: Provides healthy food to Vermonters in need, as well as cooking classes, taste tests and other services to help people have better access to food.
Hunger Free Vermont: Promotes nutrition programs for children and adults in Vermont and coordinates Hunger Councils throughout the state.
Agency of Agriculture: Promotes local food through farmer's markets, community supported agriculture, and farm to school programs.
Vermont Farm to Plate: Promotes use of local food in institutions, retail establishments, restaurants and other establishments in Vermont.

What Works

In order to impact food insecurity and improve health, we need to increase access to affordable, high quality food, especially for low income populations and assure people are taking advantage of federal food benefit programs, as appropriate. These programs include 3SquaresVT (formerly Food Stamps), WIC, in school and out-of-school time meals, and child care meal programs.

The United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Recommended Community Strategies and Measurements to Prevent Obesity in the United States note that farmers markets, community-supported agriculture programs, farm-to-school initiatives, and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) outreach programs are all effective ways to increase access to nutritional food. Focusing on availability and affordability, as well as sustainability and economic viability, is crucial to the success of any initiative aiming to reduce food insecurity.

Strategy

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides nutrition benefits to eligible low-income households so they can purchase food from authorized food retailers. The goal of SNAP-Ed, a program under SNAP, is to improve the likelihood that people eligible for SNAP will make healthy food choices within a limited budget and choose physically active lifestyles consistent with the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the USDA food guidance, MyPlate. The Vermont Department of Health manages SNAP-Ed funding through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department for Children and Families. With this funding, a multilevel food access project is being implemented that includes grants to community-based organizations to provide education and help food shelves, childcare centers, and schools make policy and environmental changes to increase access to, and consumption of, healthy food, and increase physical activity among SNAP eligible Vermonters.

Since 2008, the Vermont Department of Health has provided grants and training to community coalitions who were required to build partnerships with local health advocates, residents, and town leaders to work toward improving access to healthy food within municipalities, focused on low income communities. This has resulted in established or expanding community gardens, farmers markets, and local food hubs in order to aggregate and distribute healthy food to food pantries, schools and other local institutions serving high need populations, see page 10 of the Vermont Healthy Community Design Resources, Examples for Creating Healthy Communities: Physical Activity, Healthy Eating, Tobacco, Alcohol & Drug Abuse Prevention. Offices of Local Health staff participated in the trainings and participate as partners in this work. Beginning in state FY2016, funding for all of the community coalitions ended. Many of the Office of Local Health staff continue this work, as appropriate.

Finally, the Vermont Department of Health staff lead the Vermont Nutrition Education Committee (VNEC), a group of professionals who meet regularly to discuss, plan, and improve coordination of food access efforts across the state, and are active participants on the Farm to Plate Food Access Cross Cutting Team and Farm to School Network, groups that are working to improve state policy and programs to increase access to local and healthy food among those Vermonters most in need.

Notes on Methodology

The data for this measure are from the Current Population Survey (CPS), Food Security Supplement (FSS). This survey is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics among the civilian non-institutionalized U.S. population 16 and older. The CPS is a labor force survey that contacts about 50,000 U.S. households a month. Then once each year, respondents from the CPS are asked a series of questions about food security, food expenditures, and use of food and nutrition assistance programs, the FSS. Over the course of the FSS survey period, about 1 in every 250 Vermont households are surveyed. To provide individual state measurements, the CPS FSS combines 3-years of data to ensure statistically meaningful results.

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