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Food insecurity claim of policy essays
Food insecurity claim of policy essays
Food insecurity claim of policy essays
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What is food insecurity? It is “a household-level, economic and social condition of limited access to food” (Curtis 2008). Nowadays, there are many people that are unemployed and homeless because of our weakening economy. But nobody really stops and thinks about the numerous people that have unequal access to food, especially healthy foods. When I observed the people who go into food pantries, I notice that there are a variety of ethnic groups. However, the most prominent race that I see, are Hispanics. This observation brought me to produce my research question. Is there a significant difference of food insecurity among Hispanics compared to non-Hispanics? The purpose of this paper is to discuss the main factors that cause more food insecurity among Latinos than any other race.
Food insecurity is one of the major social problems that we have in our world today. The concern about this problem is the increasing number of people that are beginning to experience hunger more often. “While hunger has long been a public health concern in developing countries, it has received varying degrees of attention in the United States, most notable during the 1930s and 1960s” (Poppendieck 1992). In addition to lack of food, there are consequences that follow. People, especially children, who suffer from food deprivation also undergo some health issues such as malnutrition and obesity, which leads to more health care and hospitalizations. “In the early 1980s, most reports of hunger involved families with children, the elderly, the unskilled and unemployed youth, the mentally ill, the homeless and minorities” (Brown 1992; Nestle and Guttmacher 1992). However, a particular ethnic group that is greatly affected by food insecurities are the Hispanic...
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...han Hispanics, while Hispanics experience more food deprivation than non-Hispanics.
Works Cited
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Himmelgreen, David A, Rafael Perez-Escamilla, Sofia Segura-Millan, Yu-Kuel
Peng, Anir Gonzalez, Merrill Singer, and Ann Ferris. 2000. Food Insecurity Among Low-Income Hispanic in Hartford, Connecticut: Implications for
Public Health Policy. Human Organization, vol.59, no. 3: 334-342.
Kersey, Margaret, Joni Geppert, and Diana B Cutts. 2006. Hunger in young
children of Mexican immigrant families. Public Health Nutrition, vol. 10, no.
4: 390–395.
Poppendiek, Janet E. 1992 Hunger and Public Policy: Lessons from the Great
Depression. Journal of Nutrition Education. 24.6S-10S.
The Latino community is considered the largest demographic minority in the United States and is expect to increase by approximately 15% in 2050 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2002). The Latino population is comprised of many subgroups from many different regions that have developed unique beliefs, norms, and sociopolitical experiences. Although the term Latino is used throughout this paper, it is important to underscore the great diversity found within the Latino community to avoid the development and perpetuation of stereotypes. In clinical practice, it is important to evaluate the individual in terms of their racial identity, acculturation, and socioeconomic status among other factors to create a more individualized and effective treatment
In today’s society, a huge issue that resonates across cultures is the idea of racially stereotyping an individual or a culture as a whole. Some might join in and take these stereotypes as a joke, and others might believe that these “jokes” are entirely offensive and inappropriate. Although Americans insist on pursuing negative stereotypes associated with Hispanics; because a lot of Latinos are not able to speak fluent English, so they are labeled as “uneducated.” Another common stereotype for Hispanics is that they are all extremely poor and living in poverty because images are constantly seen of them in large groups piling into small vehicles and residences; Hispanics argue that these stereotypes are demeaning and unfair to their culture, because not every Latino is uneducated and living in poverty.
Many in the U.S., today, try to eat well,balanced, meals to order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. They do so by purchasing their food at farmers markets or making their own meals, so their food isn’t processed or genetically modified. Even though people are trying to maintain health in order to live long lives, without medical complications, many don’t have the opportunity to pursue life like this. In “Research shows food deserts more abundant in minority neighborhoods,” the author, Kelly Brooks, portrays an anecdote and logical reasoning, from Kelly Bower’s research, to thoroughly describe the food deserts in poor minority neighborhoods and how this issue needs to be repaired.
The Latino community is a very varied community each with its own unique past and circumstances. In the book Harvest of Empire by Juan Gonzalez the readers can learn and appreciate some of the experiences and history that the different Latino groups had. This book does this with a special emphasis on immigration trends. These points of emphasis of the book are explained thoroughly in the identification of the key points, the explanation of the intersection of race, ethnicity, and class, in addition to the overall evaluation of the book.
Clara E. Rodriguez wrote an essay titled, "What It Means To Be Latino". On this essay she explains the difference between the terms Hispanic and Latino, elaborating on how the term "Hispanic" was created by the U.S. census in 1970, to use it as a general term to describe all of the people who came from, or, had parents who came from a Spanish speaking country. Then she states that the term "Latino", is a term considered to be more neutral and racially inclusive by many people of this population, although she made a good point of view, it still failed to describe the more complexity on the meaning of the term Latino.
Stuff, Casey, Szeto, Gossett, Robbins, Simpson, Connell, and Bogle (2004) Household Food Insecurity Is Associated with Adult Health Status. Journal of Nutrition, 134, 2330-2335. Retrieved from http://jn.nutrition.org/content/134/9/2330.full
Fitzgerald, N., Hromi-Fiedler, A., Segura-Pérez, S., & Pérez-Escamilla, R. (2011). Food insecurity is related to increased risk of type 2 diabetes among Latinas. diabetes, 3(4), 24-26.
In the year 2015, around 40 million U.S. citizens were food insecure (Randall para. 3). Food insecurity can be defined in paragraph 3 by “[having] difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources. This 12.7% of American citizens also contains another group - children. Aged 10-17, 6.8 million adolescents struggle with a food insecurity. There have been several years of cuts to the social programs designed to help these people, along with the Great Recession continuing to leave an impact on the U.S. economy (para. 6). Under the Obama administration, $8.6 billion was cut from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps. From 1993-2001 under the Clinton administration, former President Bill Clinton’s administration “gutted the welfare system” (para. 15). Because of these budget cuts, the families who rely on food assistance from the government have been allotted less throughout the years. From a sociological perspective, the concepts of sociological imagination, class stratification, and social location are in effect when it comes to child hunger in the United States. Being hungry is an issue larger than any one individual can control.
The United States is known as the wealthiest country in the world. But, there are many people that can't afford to buy food for their families, many are also homeless. “While hunger affects people of all ages, it's particularly devastating for children even short-term episodes of hunger can cause lasting damage."(“Child Nutrition Programs") Child hunger in the United States is caused by poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, and food shortage; however there are many solutions to this problem like FRAC strategies, food banks, summer feeding programs, and backpack feeding programs.
Of those, 46.5 million were in poverty (Hunger & Poverty Statistics, 2012). For some individuals’s food insecurity is only a temporary situation, for others it may be for an extended period. Food insecurity due to temporary situations such as unemployment, divorce, major medical or illness can become more long term. The vast majority of these are families with children. The Faces of Food Insecurity Food insecurity does not discriminate; it reaches many segments of society (Whitney, DeBruyne, Pinna, & Rolfes, 2007).
Food insecurity is an issue faced by millions of Americans every day, and the biggest group affected by this is working families with children. Food insecurity is so big that the United States government has now recognized it and provided a definition for it. The United States government has defined food insecurity as “a household level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food” (USDA.gov). Food banks and anti-hunger advocates agree that some of the causes of food insecurity are stagnant wages, increase in housing costs, unemployment, and inflation of the cost of food. These factors have caused food banks to see a change in the groups of people needing assistance. Doug O’Brien, director of public policy and research at Chicago-based Second Harvest says “’we’ve seen a real shift in who we serve. A decade ago, it was almost always homeless, single men and chronic substance abusers. Now we have children and working families at soup kitchens’” (Koch). These families that are feeling the effects of food insecurity will not be only ones affected by it, but all of America. Studies have shown that there is a link between food security, performance in the classroom, and obesity. If this issue is not faced head on, America will have a generation of children not fully prepared for the workforce and high health insurance rates due to obesity health issues.
As long as civilizations have been around, there has always been a group of oppressed people; today the crucial problem facing America happens to be the discrimination and oppression of Mexican immigrants. “Mexican Americans constitute the oldest Hispanic-origin population in the United States.”(57 Falcon) Today the population of Mexican’s in the United States is said to be about 10.9%, that’s about 34 million people according to the US Census Bureau in 2012. With this many people in the United States being of Mexican descent or origin, one would think that discrimination wouldn’t be a problem, however though the issue of Mexican immigrant oppression and discrimination has never been a more prevalent problem in the United States before now. As the need for resolve grows stronger with each movement and march, the examination of why these people are being discriminated against and oppressed becomes more crucial and important. Oppression and Anti-discrimination organizations such as the Freedom Socialist Organization believe that the problem of discrimination began when America conquered Mexican l...
There are many policy issues that affect families in today’s society. Hunger is a hidden epidemic and one major issue that American’s still face. It is hard to believe that in this vast, ever growing country, families are still starving. As stated in the book Growing Up Empty, hunger is running wild through urban, rural, and even suburban communities. This paper will explore the differing perspectives of the concerned camp, sanguine camp, and impatient camp. In addition, each camps view, policy agenda, and values that underlie their argument on hunger will be discussed.
Alaimo, K., Olson, C. M., Frongillo, E. A., & Briefel, R. R. (2001). Food insufficiency, family income, and
Food insecurity and poor nutrition is an alarmingly large problem for low income families, especially in developing countries. Many strategies exist to fight this problem, although not many of these address all the factors contributing to it along with all the possible solutions to solve it. In many cases, multiple strategies must correlate and work together so that all the determinants of this issue are addressed and can fight food insecurity from different angles. This essay will discuss the significance of the problem, a range of possible strategies to solve the problem, and go into detail on a select few that will correlate and work together to solve different factors of food insecurity and poor nutrition.