An advisory group to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer tasked with identifying the causes and scope of food insecurity in Michigan - particularly as the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated the problem - made several recommendations intended to address the issue.
The Food Security Council, which Whitmer created in August, makes recommendations in three broad areas: addressing the food needs of Michiganders, working with partners to improve the infrastructure of food programs and ensuring there's enough of a food supply in the state.
The 24-person council made the recommendations "to inform the state's response to a potential second wave of COVID-19 or future public health emergency," according to a report issued in October. Whitmer released the group's recommendations Monday.
The recommendations arrive as the state's central 2-1-1 dashboard reports food pantries as one of the top reasons people contact the hotline and agencies that deliver meals to homebound seniors in November said they saw a surge in need, but fewer volunteers and funding. Michiganders on federal food assistance stand to get a 15% increase in benefits later this month, through the latest stimulus package.
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Phillip Knight, executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan, who chairs the Food Security Council, said the group set out to address "root causes as to why people are food insecure," adding that "the biggest tool in the anti-hunger toolbox would be a job and particularly one that pays a living wage."
Food insecurity, or not having access to enough affordable and nutritious food, is an ongoing problem that has only heightened during the pandemic, the advisory council's report found. Before March, about 1.3 million Michigan residents faced food insecurity and now it's about 1.9 million - up by 600,000 and most are children, according to Feeding America.
"The needs are especially recognizable and critical during a pandemic but must continue to be addressed when the current crisis is over," Whitmer said in a news release.
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The report notes that "high food insecurity rates correlate with pronounced racial disparities, in areas such as the metro Detroit area as well as several counties in Northern Michigan in which Tribal reservations are located," citing research conducted in 2018.
Hey Y'all Detroit, a grassroots organization formed last summer, has been delivering free food boxes to Detroit neighborhoods since September. Its founder Charmane Neal sees the crisis unfold every day.
"The need for food has gotten worse," Neal said. Hey Y'all Detroit's two person organization delivers boxes to 63 households, and recently neighbors have been asking for double the portions. "...I've had families reach out to me and say they haven't really had a full meal in the last two weeks which is breaking my heart. I don't know how it got bad again, but it's pretty bad."
Too many Detroit neighborhoods lack grocery stores with nutritious food, she said, leaving residents to rely on unhealthy options. That was a problem before the pandemic, and has been made worse by the economic upheaval families are now facing.
"People are filing unemployment, not getting their unemployment, they're literally choosing between eating and paying their rent and so food insecurity has become a more prevalent issue," she said.
"There is much work that remains," said MDHHS director Robert Gordon in a news release, adding that the council's recommendations "provide a blueprint for building upon the successes that we have achieved. No one should have to worry about having enough food during a pandemic."
In reviewing Michigan's food supply and food insecurity as the pandemic began, here are some of the council's initial fin...

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