Food Insecurity & Hunger
This page highlights food insecurity challenges in New Orleans, including food deserts, high costs of fresh food, and insufficient school meal variety. Proposed solutions include expanding community gardens, increasing food assistance programs, and supporting local grocery stores in underserved areas. Policy recommendations focus on enhancing SNAP benefits, promoting urban agriculture, incentivizing grocery store openings in food deserts, and improving school meal programs. Key organizations like Second Harvest Food Bank and Grow Dat Youth Farm are working to address these issues. Success stories from Minneapolis and Austin provide insights into effective strategies like urban farming and universal school meal access.
Many low-income communities in New Orleans suffer from food deserts, meaning they lack access to fresh and affordable food.
Key Issues
- Food Deserts: Over 20% of households lack access to full-service grocery stores.
- High Cost of Fresh Food: Healthy food is often too expensive compared to processed options.
- School Lunch Deficiencies: Many children rely on school meals but don’t get enough nutritional variety.
Possible Solutions
- Expand community gardens and urban farms to provide fresh food.
- Increase food assistance programs and mobile grocery initiatives.
- Support local grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods.
Organizations Working on This
- Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans - no-hunger.org
- Grow Dat Youth Farm - growdatyouthfarm.org
- Top Box Foods New Orleans - topboxfoods.com/new-orleans
Policy Recommendations
- Expand Food Assistance & Urban Agriculture Programs
- Increase SNAP Benefits & Accessibility: Expand eligibility for food assistance to more families.
- Create a Citywide Urban Farming Initiative: Provide grants to community gardens and urban agriculture programs.
- Improve Grocery Store Access in Food Deserts
- Offer Tax Breaks for Grocery Stores Opening in Underserved Areas: Provide incentives for supermarkets to expand into food deserts.
- Strengthen School Meal Programs
- Ensure Free Breakfast & Lunch for All Public School Students: Guarantee nutritious, locally sourced meals in all schools.
Who Should Implement These Policies?
- Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry
- New Orleans Food Policy Advisory Committee
- Second Harvest Food Bank
Outside Success Stories
- Minneapolis, MN - Urban Agriculture & Food Deserts
- What Worked: Minneapolis introduced tax incentives for grocery stores in underserved areas and invested in urban farms to provide fresh produce.
- Lesson for New Orleans: Urban agriculture & grocery store incentives can combat food insecurity.
- Austin, TX - School Meal Expansion
- What Worked: Austin made free breakfast and lunch available to all public school students, regardless of income.
- Lesson for New Orleans: Expanding school meal programs can ensure kids have access to food.