Agency sets out to eliminate food insecurity
A third of Coloradans lack access to healthy foods — a difficult reality exacerbated by the pandemic, inflation and longstanding gaps in the state’s food supply system.
Hunger Free Colorado, which is part of The Denver Post’s Season to Share program, aims to slash that percentage by helping people navigate complex food assistance programs and by advocating for children’s access to free, healthy food at school.
“We absolutely can as a society end hunger if we set our minds upon that goal,” CEO Marc Jacobson said.
The need is particularly acute after federal officials in March stopped a temporary COVID- era boost to payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s largest federal food program. On average, monthly benefits were reduced by $ 90 per person.
The amount of money a person receives depends on factors including income and household size. Since the COVID- 19 additional assistance ended, each person receives, on average, about $ 181 a month — or $ 5.94 a day, according to data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Nearly a tenth of Coloradans — about 540,000 people — use the program. Two- thirds of the Colorado families that use SNAP have children, and a third are caring for elderly or disabled people, according to data from the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities.
People eligible for benefits often struggle to navigate the multiplestep process to enroll, Jacobson said. That difficulty is increased for people who are disabled, who don’t speak English or who don’t have homes. The organization has helped 28,000 Colorado households navigate the application process.
“A lot of folks are worrying about if they can reliably or consistently provide healthy food for their families,” Jacobson said. “It shouldn’t be that way.”
Benu Amun- Ra, who uses SNAP and is a member of Hunger Free Colorado’s Community Council, said the pandemic exacerbated inequities and gaps in Colorado’s food supply chain.
“There is a huge gap to getting food on the table,” she said.
Early the pandemic, food banks and pantries struggled to provide fresh, healthy foods. Amun- Ra, who is also a farmer, helped connect food banks with local producers who could provide vegetables, fruits and other nutritious fare. Colorado needs to continue efforts to help connect farms to family tables, she said.
In 2024, Hunger Free Colorado will continue its focus on the implementation of a program to provide free, nutritious lunches to Colorado schoolkids. The organization helped lead a successful ballot initiative in 2022 that created Healthy School Meals for All, which will provide grants to Colorado
schools to buy and serve local foods.
Colorado became the third state to provide free healthy school meals when Proposition FF passed, and several other states have followed suit.
Kids who have stable access to nutritious foods learn more and have fewer behavioral problems, according to the organization.
“With food prices still high, people need as many resources as possible to help them access healthy food,” Jacobson said.