Governor Announces Goals To Tackle Food Insecurity In Virginia

VIRGINIA — With the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating the concern of food insecurity, Gov. Ralph Northam announced a Virginia Roadmap to End Hunger on Tuesday.

The plan outlines goals and strategies to prioritize addressing food insecurity during the pandemic and beyond. Citing data from Feeding America, Northam said around 850,000 Virginia residents were food insecure before the pandemic, including 250,000 children, An additional 445,000 are expected to face food insecurity due to the ongoing pandemic.

"This pandemic has created challenges for the entire food system and added new burdens on thousands of Virginia families," said Northam in a statement. "Since the beginning of our Administration, we have prioritized addressing nutrition and food insecurity, and that work has never been more relevant than it is today."

The Virginia Roadmap to End Hunger is the work of the Children's Cabinet, a group of administration officials chaired by First Lady Pamela Northam that develops goals, strategies and recommendations supporting children and families. A working group of the Children's Cabinet produced the report with a comprehensive review of food access in Virginia. Stakeholder groups, community leaders, and residents that work in and are impacted by the food system provided input during listening sessions in Abingdon, Roanoke, Danville, Hampton, Fairfax County, Norfolk and Richmond.

The plan's goal and strategies to address food insecurity include expanding child nutrition programs, increasing participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women Infant and Children (WIC) Program, increasing nutrition support for seniors, growing access to local food for schools and families, strengthening connections between food access programs and healthcare sector, encouraging food and agriculture investments in food deserts and marginalized communities, raising public awareness of hunger in Virginia, and support community organizing to address food insecurity and hunger.

As identified in the report, these are the top 10 "aspirational goals" to address by 2025:

1. On average, 70 percent of free or reduced-price eligible students participating in school lunch will also participate in school breakfast.
2. Every school with a 50 percent Identified Student Percentage or greater will participate in the Community Eligibility Provision.
3. All localities will have adequate nutritional support for children during school breaks through Summer EBT, the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), and/or food bank programming such as School-based Pantries and Weekend Food Backpacks.
4. The SNAP participation rate will reach 90 percent (of eligible individuals) or higher.
5. Virginia Fresh Match and the WIC and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Programs will be available at all highly accessible, high-need farmers’ markets.
6. Virginians will have streamlined access to food security information and benefit programs.
7. A framework for incentivizing investment in food deserts and marginalized communities will be established.
8. Evidence-based nutrition education programming will be made available to food insecure families in all regions of the Commonwealth.
9. Home delivered meals for seniors and people living with a disability will be provided as a Medicaid covered service.
10. A statewide network of Hunger Action Coalitions will be established to advance the goals of the Virginia Roadmap to End Hunger and to identify and address local opportunities for improving food access.

The full report is available here.

Patch has partnered with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2020, more than 54 million Americans will not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.