Source: School of Public Health
Family eating at the dining table together
Family eating at the dining table together
Each year, hundreds of thousands of Michigan parents worry whether they can afford to feed their children. Increased food prices, the state’s housing crisis, and the end of COVID-era financial support have all led to more Michigan families experiencing food insecurity today than before the pandemic.
Now, a new report led by the University of Michigan School of Public Health details the first-hand experiences of these families; their challenges signing up for food assistance, the stress and shame of having to ask for help with food, and parents’ deep commitment to making sure their children are fed—even if it means that they go without.
Called “Feeding MI Families: Michigan Families’ Lived Experience of Food Access and Food Assistance,” the report describes the findings of the Feeding MI Families community-based participatory research project, which has engaged nearly 1,300 parents from urban and rural communities across the state. The goal of the project is to elevate the lived experience of food insecurity in order to spur improvements in federal, state, and local food systems so they work better for families.
Feeding MI Families was established in 2021 with a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to elevate the experiences of food-insecure families from Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Battle Creek. In 2022, with support from Michigan Farm Bureau Family of Companies, Feeding MI Families expanded to include families from the state’s 57 rural counties. Rural communities often have food insecurity rates comparable to urban areas. According to the report, 22% of children in Michigan’s Wayne and Roscommon counties are food insecure.
“While we think that living in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula could not be more different than l
iving in Detroit, over and over, we heard the same challenges when it comes to buying food, whether it be lack of transportation, high food prices at local grocery stores, or not being able to find brands that can be purchased with WIC benefits,” says Kate Bauer, director of Feeding MI Families and an associate professor of Nutritional Sciences at Michigan Public Health. “While the solutions to these challenges may differ based on location, families’ needs and wants are the same.”
Bauer notes that many food assistance programs want client and community input but don’t have the resources to gather this information, and that there are often disconnects between those who hold power and those who rely on services.
“There are a lot of stereotypes and assumptions about families experiencing food insecurity,” Bauer says. “We hope that Feeding MI Families helps dispel these inaccuracies and motivates more organizations to meaningfully engage individuals with lived experience in decision making. Communities know what they need to overcome food insecurity. We need to listen and learn from them.”
Katherine Bauer
