With nationwide food affordability hitting record highs, the North Texas Food Bank says its network is feeling an unprecedented pinch as more lower- to moderate-income families are leaning on food banks and nonprofits.
Since March, the food bank, which manages a feeding network of over 400 food pantries, says it has seen a 17% increase in meals delivered to providers throughout North Texas.
Since last March, when inflation began hitting families hard, the group has provided an average of 12.3 million meals a month. The nonprofit gave out 10.5 million meals a month during the early stages of COVID-19, through February. Before the pandemic, the number was 7.3 million monthly.
North Texas families are spending about $325 more each month on food than they did at the same time last year, according to NTFB data.
“Dallas County is the fifth-highest food insecure county in the country, right here in North Texas. And that’s not something we’re proud of,” said Trisha Cunningham, president and CEO of NTFB. “What is the most sad thing is that out of 200 Feeding America food banks and service areas, we have the fourth highest number of children who are food insecure, which means they don’t know that evening if they’re going to have food on their table when they get home.”
Advocates say food insecurity exists not necessarily because there’s not enough food, but because people cannot afford food with their incomes, along with other basic necessities like housing, transportation and child care.
“That is the story of working poverty that we’ve known about for years,” said Jay Dunn, managing director of The Salvation Army of North Texas. “And that is still happening. But what’s additionally happening now is without losing that income, people are experiencing similar crises.”
Income not keeping up with the rising inflation of about 8.4% continues to strain Dallas Fort-Worth families, especially Black and Hispanic households that face a disproportionate amount of need.
According to 2021 Census data, disparities in national median income based on race and ethnicity include white people earning $75,412, Hispanic or Latino people earning $60,566, and Black people earning $46,774.
In the 13 counties it serves, NTFB says about 13% of people overall face food insecurity. About 23% of Black people face food insecurity in North Texas; 17% of Hispanic people and 6% of white, non-Hispanic people face food insecurity.
About 1.5 million Texas households face frequent hunger, more than any other state, according to NTFB data.
While the need for food banks is growing along with inflation and rising costs, the food bank also says support and donations into food banks have fallen sharply over the past year.
“If you look at what we’re spending today, it’s no secret, we have a $60 million budget, half of that budget, $30 million, is for food,” Cunningham said. “Twenty million dollars is deficit spending because our fundraising has also gone down as well. So we have a little bit of a perfect storm. Needs higher than ever, government support actually below what it was before the pandemic.”
To combat the growing crisis of food insecurity, NTFB is backing several bills in the Legislature that would free up program money for farmers, Texans on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and trade school students.
Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, says lawmakers need to get more creative when trying to solve the food insecurity crisis.
“Sometimes we will provide incentives for businesses to move around the state. At the local government level or at the state government level, could there be an incentive for a private corporation to build a grocery store in an area that they think is risky? Some sort of guarantee from low interest loans?” Johnson said. “The state could set aside a pot of money to which cities and counties could apply for forgivable loans or grants and cooperation in partnership with the federal government and hunger programs.”
Some local nonprofits, such as For Oak Cliff, have also started shifting into food advocacy spaces in order to serve the growing needs in their communities.
The organization has conducted focus groups with Oak Cliff residents to learn more about what it’s like living in food deserts — or in a “food apartheid,” according to Julianna Bradley YeeFoon, FOC’s director of food justice.
“We call it food apartheid because we do want to name the root causes of the ways that our community was designed, laid out the ways the reasons why retail redlining exists and grocery stores aren’t coming here and real human impact that that’s having,” Bradley YeeFoon said.
FOC started a farmer’s market with the help of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help address the lack of food options in a community that lacks the same access to grocery stores and healthy food options compared with other areas.
“At the city and county level, especially at the state level, there is a lot of room for subsidizing new grocery stores, maybe even incentivizing dollar stores to have a little farm stand,” Bradley YeeFoon said. “We’re using the existing infrastructure to make produce more accessible in these areas where we know … there’s really high poverty and a lack of transportation.”
At a Glance
- Since March, North Texas Food Bank has seen a 17% increase in meals delivered.
- North Texas families are spending about $325 more each month on food today than they did the same time last year.
- About 1.5 million Texas households face frequent hunger, more than any other state.
