What is the Food & Financial Insecurity Barrier?

Financial Insecurity happens when families are forced into survival caused by a limiting economic environment. Survival refers to the mentality that occurs when an individual is faced with two unideal alternatives, such as whether they should put their money towards paying bills or groceries. A limiting economic environment may include a lack of transportation, job loss, work hour reduction, lack of job upward mobility, immigration status, racism, language barriers, technological divide, lack of job network, and lack of savings account.

When a family experiences a disruption of food intake or eating patterns due to lack of money and other resources, they are typically experiencing food insecurity. This lack of resources could be due to neighborhood factors, such as the lack of full-service supermarkets or grocery stores. Families who live in under-resourced, urban and low-income neighborhoods may lack affordable and nutritious food options. When this is the case, the neighborhood is typically labeled as a "food desert." Convenience stores and small independent stores are more common in "food deserts" and they typically offer lower quality foods and lesser variety of foods. The lack of affordable, healthy options may have negative consequences for both adults and children in the communities. Adults who are food insecure may be at a risk for obesity and other chronic diseases. Food-insecure children may also face a higher risk of developmental problems compared with food-secure children. All of this is a barrier to the development and stability of families in lower-income neighborhoods, such as our Garnet and Maple communities.