Kansas Food Security Task Force

The Kansas Food Security Task Force

Kansas Food Policy Council

Regional Food Systems

Human Health & the Environment

Resources

Coordinator: Barbara LaClair, kshunger@yahoo.com

What is food security?

Household food security is the assured access to enough food to provide all household members with an active and healthy life. Hunger, a more severe form of food insecurity, means that a household member has actually gone without eating because of a lack of resources to obtain enough food.

What is the Kansas Food Security Task Force?

The Kansas Food Security Task Force is one of three sub-committees of the Kansas Food Policy Council. The Food Security Task Force brings together representatives from each of the Kansas State agencies that administer federally-sponsored nutrition programs, the Kansas Extension Service, and private sector and religious groups that are actively involved in providing emergency assistance and reducing hunger and food insecurity in Kansas.

Goals:

The goals of the Kansas Food Security Task Force are to reduce levels of hunger and food insecurity in Kansas, through the following activities:

Assess and monitor food insecurity and hunger in Kansas
Improve participation of food-insecure families in available nutrition assistance programs
Strengthen the emergency food assistance network in Kansas
Encourage community-level action to reduce food insecurity and hunger
Identify ways to eliminate the root causes of food insecurity and hunger in Kansas

Milestones:

Hired Task Force Coordinator Barbara LaClair
Hosted 4 meetings of the Food Security Task Force in 2006, bringing together representatives from state agencies, and private and faith-based hunger agencies
Reviewed a wide range of data an information to deepen Task Force members' understanding of food insecurity and hunger in Kansas
Submitted annual reports and policy recommendations to the Governor of Kansas

2010 Report of the Kansas Food Security Task Force, February 2, 2011

2009 Report of the Kansas Food Security Task Force, January 28, 2010

2008 Report of the Kansas Food Security Task Force, December 12, 2008

2007 Report of the Kansas Food Security Task Force, November 30, 2007

2006 Report of the Kansas Food Security Task Force, December 22, 2006

Quick facts about food insecurity in Kansas:

From 2002 to 2004, one in eight Kansas households experienced food insecurity each year.
Kansas currently is tied at 9th highest among the states for household hunger, with nearly five percent of households experiencing hunger.
Households including children experience food insecurity at nearly twice the rate of those with only adult members
More than one in three households led by single mothers experience food insecurity
Food insecurity affects working families – nearly two-thirds of food insecure households have at least one member employed full-time

For more detail on the issues of food insecurity and hunger in Kansas, see the following reports published by the Kansas Health Institute:
http://www.khi.org/resources/Other/51-0401HungerHeartland.pdf (881K pdf file)
http://www.khi.org/resources/Other/63-9908HungerKansas.PDF (73K pdf file)

What can be done to reduce food insecurity and hunger in Kansas?

There are many way in which individuals, organizations and communities can take action to reduce food insecurity and hunger. For some ideas, see the following links:

Community Strategies for Reducing Hunger, from the Kansas Hunger Reduction Network, 2005
Click the icon for the file. (27K pdf file)

What One Person Can Do to Support Community Food Security
- from the Community Food Security Task Force
http://www.foodsecurity.org/what_you_can_do.pdf

Together We Can! A What, Why, and How Handbook for Working to End Hunger in Your Community
United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, January 2000. FNS-315.
www.fns.usda.gov/fsec/FILES/wecan.pdf

The National Nutrition Safety Net: Tools for Community Food Security
United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service. January 2000. FNS-314.
www.fns.usda.gov/fsec/FILES/SafetyNet.pdf

Community Food Security Assessment Toolkit
United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Assistance Research Program. July 2002. E-FAN-02-013.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan02013/

What's Cooking in Your Food System? A Guide to Community Food Assessment
- available for purchase from the Community Food Security Coalition, http://www.foodsecurity.org/pubs.html#cooking

Getting Food on the Table: An Action Guide to Local Food Policy
Community Food Security Coalition
http://www.foodsecurity.org/pubs.html#action_guide

State of the States: A Profile of Food and Nutrition Programs Across the Nation
Food Research and Action Center, March 2006
http://www.frac.org/html/publications/pubs.html

Want to keep up with the latest on food security issues?

Take a look at the following resources:

Foodlinks America news update
- published 24 times per year by California Emergency Foodlink in Sacramento, CA and distributed by:
Weinberg & Vauthier Consulting
6412 CR 116
Burnet, TX 78611
To request a free subscription to the newsletter, contact Barbara Vauthier at: bvauthier@281.com.

Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) weekly news digest
- Current and archived editions can be viewed on the FRAC website, where there is also an option to subscribe to an e-news version.
http://frac.org/reports-and-resources/fracs-weekly-news-digest/

Kansas Nutrition Network monthly electronic newsletter
- highlighting a variety of food and nutrition issues. To view current and archived editions, go to: http://www.kansasnutritionnetwork.org/newletter.html

The Community Food Security Coalition maintains the COMFOOD listserve, which frequently includes posted messages about food security issues. To subscribe, go to: http://www.foodsecurity.org/list.html

Questions or ideas for reducing food insecurity in Kansas?

For more information, contact: Barb LaClair, kshunger@yahoo.com

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