Giving Compass' Take:

• Charitable contributions, along with federal nutritional programs are both required to help curb food insecurity. 

• What food and dietary initiatives are working in your community? How can you support these programs on a national level?

• Learn about how urban agriculture can improve food security.

Although food insecurity is a common challenge, it isn’t the same everywhere, and underlying issues and challenges beyond food are important to consider when trying to address the problem.

Our recently released Disrupting Food Insecurity dashboard provides data on food insecurity and related factors at the national, state, and county level.

The dashboard sorts counties into peer groups based on their similarities across these characteristics. This information can help residents, policymakers, advocates, service providers, and other stakeholders better understand the different sets of challenges and opportunities facing their communities.

Food insecurity affects every community. States and regions with the most counties in high–food insecurity groups also contain counties in low–food insecurity groups and vice versa. Similarly, counties in high– and low–food insecurity peer groups are often right beside each other.

Although donations and charitable contributions can help alleviate hunger around the holidays, ensuring all Americans can access and afford adequate and nutritious diets throughout the year requires more than just providing food.

Charitable contributions and federal nutrition programs remain the backbone of efforts to combat hunger and are the first line of defense against food insecurity. Receiving support from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program reduces the risk of food insecurity by around 30 percent.

However, solving systemic food insecurity requires disrupting the root causes of economic distress by finding and implementing sustainable, long-run solutions.

Read the full article about food insecurity by Cary Lou at Urban Institute.