This report presents a more complete picture of what it means to be food insecure in Maryland. It reviews and interprets available data sets from various resources to better understand how wages, housing, and other indicators of hardship (aka “root causes”) interconnect and ultimately manifest in the form of food insecurity.
As COVID-19 opened the eyes of many to the prevalence of food insecurity among our neighbors, it also brought increased understanding of the growing need for on-campus pantries at colleges across Maryland to help meet the growing need for food assistance.
“It takes me back to when I was a child in the inner city where food was a lot scarcer. When your neighbor up the street couldn’t get out or had health issues, so you took what you had and shared with them. To me the food bank is that neighborhood, that village I grew up in. It lets me know that I’m not alone — lets me know that people still care for people.”
To better serve our neighbors in need as rates of food insecurity remain high, we’ve introduced innovative pilot programs to address the root causes of hunger and identify and assist more food-insecure families across Maryland.
In FY21, 223 dedicated Network Partners stood up for their communities and helped keep a constant stream of food flowing into the hands of their neighbors in need, including the older residents of Park View at Coldspring in northwest Baltimore City.
Check out the latest local and national news about the Maryland Food Bank and how we’re addressing hunger in our communities.
