How food insecurity affects communities

Almost 14% of households across the country experience food insecurity. They are part of communities that regularly lack access to food, especially nutritious options like fresh fruits and vegetables. Healthier communities lead to healthier people.

Why it's important: When individuals within a community experience challenges getting sufficient food, the entire community can feel the effects.

An expert take: "Food insecurity is about quantity — not having enough food to eat to sustain daily life. It's often triggered by financial hardship, scarcity of grocery stores or transportation barriers," said Dr. Kofi Essel, food as medicine program director at Elevance Health.

• "When money gets tight, families may compromise on food. Skipping nutritious food — like eating bread and butter only for a week — can make a sick person even sicker."

Facts about food insecurity:

• Increased hunger is associated with greater consumption of ultra-processed foods, which may elevate blood pressure and increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.
• Increased hunger and poor nutrition may negatively affect sleep and cause anxiety, depression and an inability to focus.
• Uncontrolled chronic conditions associated with food insecurity may increase the risk of developing more than a dozen different types of cancer.

How Elevance Health works in communities to help reduce food insecurity

Just as individuals' health is influenced by their communities, the health of communities is in turn influenced by each person and their health. So, food insecurity is as much a community concern as an individual one.

Communities can work together to improve food security, creating consistent access to the food needed to sustain daily health and well-being.

How it's done: Elevance Health builds nutritious food resilience in local areas by:

• Creating food as medicine programs in community health centers across the country. For members of Elevance Health-affiliated Medicaid plans in Virginia and Kansas, primary care at community health centers includes personalized nutrition support for people at risk for diet-related chronic conditions. Eventually, a nutrition center of excellence designed by Elevance Health, the National Association of Community Health Centers, and community health centers, will serve as a scalable national model to promote food-based clinical care.
• Supporting local stores to develop the needed infrastructure and to stock food items that reflect the community's culture. Store owners may find it difficult to outfit their markets with the necessary equipment to expand and diversify their food products; however, with financial support, these stores can purchase refrigeration and storage units. This enables them to offer more whole foods such as fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, and other necessary items tailored to their communities.
• In 2019, Elevance Health began working with the Food Trust to establish programs in San Jose, California; Cleveland, Ohio; and Indianapolis, Indiana. In 2023, another 12 stores across 10 states participated in the Food Trust's Healthy Corner Store Program.
• Encouraging community support, such as volunteering, donating money or food to community food pantries/banks and buying food from local growers (via farmers markets or food suppliers).

• Since 2014, we've partnered with local Lions clubs to host an annual season of service. In the last 10 years, 15,000 Elevance Health associates have served more than 3 million people through more than 40,000 hours of service.
• Elevance Health Foundation supports organizations working to improve food security. Its $14 million grant to Feeding America's Food as Medicine program increases access to nutritious foods through public food programs. The grant provides resources to assess people for food insecurity and connect to essential local community and federal resources such as SNAP.
• Food pantries inside schools provide a reliable, local source of groceries and nutritional support beyond school meals. Elevance Health built on-campus food pantries at elementary schools in Atlanta, Indianapolis, and Brooklyn, New York in 2021 and continues to keep them stocked during the school year. Associate volunteers distribute free food to school families monthly.
• Community gardens can improve a community's access to food including fresh fruits and vegetables. They can be created in rural, suburban, and urban areas, wherever there is open space. If land is available, existing soil can be prepared and used. Building raised platforms and plant boxes and filling them with nutrient-rich soil provides gardening space on hardscape surfaces like concrete or asphalt.
• Community gardens produce benefits for those working on the gardens. The increased social interaction reduces loneliness and isolation, strengthens interpersonal relationships among community and even family members and increases physical activity.
• Community gardens also bring more greenspace, encourage outdoor time and present educational opportunities — especially for young people.

Learn more about Elevance Health.