Amid struggles with higher food and transportation costs, fewer donations and increased demand, food banks in Indiana will soon have additional funding to help ensure more Hoosiers have food on the table. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing nearly $1.5 billion for emergency food assistance nationally. .
Save the Children s Rural Child Hunger Research and Innovation Lab aims to help communities design and test new, creative ways to reduce rural child hunger. According to a report called Map the Meal Gap from the nonprofit Feeding America, nine out of 10 counties with the highest food-insecurity rates are rural. Tamara Sandberg, senior adviser for food security at Save the Children, said lessons learned during the pandemic increased flexibility for federally funded food programs across the country. .
A new initiative is providing funding to individuals and grassroots groups across the Commonwealth with creative solutions to reduce hunger among rural children. The Rural Child Hunger Research and Innovation Lab launched today by Save the Children said it aims to help communities design and test out their ideas. Alyssa Taylor, Kentucky state director for Save the Children, said recent natural disasters, including the floods in eastern Kentucky, have spurred crowdsourcing and voucher programs to keep families fed and supply businesses with customers amid recovery efforts. .
A program to provide low-income people vouchers to buy fresh fruits and vegetables may see its county funding cut in half at the Board of Supervisors meeting today in Los Angeles. L.A. County has to decide how to spend the second round of funding from the American Rescue Plan, and it has proposed spending $1 million for next year, down from the $2 million it allocated for the current fiscal year. .