One in five Minnesota households face food insecurity.
Twenty-six percent of Minnesota households with one or more children under 18 were also food insecure. For households with at least one school-age child from 5 to 17 years old, the percentage of food insecure households jumped to 28%. The results of Second Harvest Heartland’s statewide hunger survey, conducted with help from Wilder Research, were evocative.
Households of color – defined in the methodology as households where at least one member is Black, Indigenous or from another community of color – were also disproportionately affected by food insecurity. Karen Spitzfaden, director of consumer insights and digital strategy at Second Harvest Heartland, noted that 40% of Minnesota households of color were food insecure compared to 20% of households overall. Fifty-two percent of Minnesota households with at least one Black member, along with 52% of American Indian and Alaska Native Indigenous households in the state, were also food insecure.
Food insecurity is where households were unable to get enough food with or without help from the emergency food system.
Even Minnesotans who were food secure based on survey data have concerns about affordability. Allison O’Toole, chief executive officer of Second Harvest Heartland, said 30% of all Minnesotans are “worried they won’t be able to afford food in the next year.” For households of color in Minnesota, that number is 47%.
“People are living paycheck to paycheck. Grocery prices are about 30% higher than they were in 2019. The same goes for energy prices; the cost of rent (and the cost of) childcare. When you put all those (together), it’s a confluence of events,” added O’Toole.
Though she noted that federal and philanthropic assistance helped her organization provide Minnesotans with food during the height of the pandemic, food insecurity went back up after those supports sunsetted. By the end of 2023 the Food Group, which tracks visits to food shelves in Minnesota, had recorded around 7.5 million visits according to O’Toole.
“I’ve heard now that it is 9 million or more (visits in) 2024,” said O’Toole. “What that tells me is the status quo isn’t working.”
In response to the survey, Second Harvest Heartland gathered 300-400 partner organizations at its first Make Hunger History summit on Jan. 31 – an opportunity to promote collaborative solutions. Though Second Harvest Heartland’s mission to get 90% of Minnesota households to food security by 2030 was announced last year, more recent uncertainty around federal funding was a topic of discussion.
In the midst of federal uncertainty, Gov. Tim Walz emphasized the state’s resilience and willingness to tackle the problem of hunger, noting that Minnesota’s “superpower” is how Minnesotans act collaboratively, building ecosystems of support between federal and state governments, local nonprofits and faith-based organizations.
“I’ve been using a phrase I heard somewhere, ‘Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare,’” said Walz. “I think we possess both of those in Minnesota. We are enthusiastic, but we will not back off.”
Speakers on a panel at the event on the topic of food as medicine also voiced concerns around federal funding. Lisa Lane, chief external affairs officer of Open Arms of Minnesota, which sends nutritionist tailored meals to critically and chronically ill people, said her organization receives federal funding through the Ryan White CARE Act and the Older Americans Act. As this funding may be in jeopardy, Open Arms is looking to philanthropy to help fill in the gap.
Abby Gold and Terese Hill work for the University of Minnesota and Fairview Health Services, respectively and receive federal funding from the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program. One part of this funding allows the organizations to participate in produce programs, where health systems work with farmers to provide freshly grown produce to patients. This service isn’t just about providing food to people who are ill, but about preventing illness.
“Yes, we want funding for food for people (who) need it,” said Hill. “But also there’s a whole amount of work around prevention and how we can keep people well, rather than treating the illness.”
“One of the reasons we’re talking about food as medicine is because we have to frame it (that way) so that we get those resources from a medical system that sucks up so much of the oxygen,” added Dr. Nathan Chomilo, medical director of Minnesota’s Medicaid and MinnesotaCare programs. “This is a decision we’ve made as a country. It’s a decision that’s rooted in our health care system being founded in capitalism. There is no real reason that we shouldn’t have created a system where everyone doesn’t need to worry about food.”
Deanna Pistono
Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.
