Giving Compass' Take:

• Pramod Acharya summarizes COVID-19's growing impact on food security's equity gaps in communities of color.

• What can food security's equity gaps during the pandemic teach us about the continuous, pressing need to address racial justice? What are you doing to address gaps in racial equity in food security during coronavirus?

• Read about how COVID-19 has devastated food security in the Middle East.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, more Americans—and particularly Americans of color—have experienced food insecurity, meaning they have limited or uncertain access to enough food.

In 2018, about 20 percent of Black households and about 16 percent of Hispanic households were food-insecure, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food insecurity survey. About 8 percent of white households were.

But the figures have increased since the pandemic.

Several reasons may explain the increase. The surge in the unemployment rate, loss of subsidized meals because schools closed, delays in relief payments and increased food prices could account for the increases, according to the institute’s research paper.

Households with children were even more affected. According to the institute’s research, 41 percent of Black households with children and 36 percent of Hispanic households with children struggled with food insecurity.

The racial gap in food insecurity has been documented for decades, and it correlates with the difference in wealth between white and minority households.

Read the full article about food security's equity gaps by Pramod Acharya at The Counter.