In 2002-3, I assisted America’s Second Harvest and Emergency Food Providers throughout Arkansas to examine the patterns of deprivation relative to the location of emergency food supplies. The following text is an executive summary that highlights some of the report’s findings for part one.

Part Two - HLM and nesting individuals in food pantries in counties

Mapping Arkansas’ Patterns of Hunger

Executive Summary

In 2000, the population of Arkansas was 2,673,400 and 411,777 (15.4%) Arkansas residents lived beneath the federal poverty threshold. For the purpose of this analysis, the seventy-five counties of Arkansas were divided into five geographical regions: Northwest, Northeast, Central, Southwest, and Southeast. The population of Arkansas is expected to grow by approximately 10% in the next decade but the growth is not evenly distributed throughout the state. The majority of growth is expected within the Northwest and Central portions of the state while the Southwest and Northeast regions are expected to remain relatively constant. The population of the Southeast is expected to decline.

In a survey, 655 emergency food providers were identified within Arkansas. This is an extremely large number of providers relative to other states with similar populations and consolidation in some areas may be considered ( Arizona has a total of 315 providers and Nevada has a total of 156 providers). Seventy-four percent of respondents categorized themselves as faith-based organizations and over 50% of these providers operated food pantries (others operated congregate meal sites, shelters etc.). When emergency food providers were asked to comment on changing demographics within their client population, the most frequently identified trends were an increase in single parent families, an increase in the number of seniors and an increase in the number of unemployed clients.

The information contained within the 2000 Census was used to map alterative indicators of deprivation. Although deprivation ‘hotspots’ were dispersed throughout the states, extreme concentrations of need were revealed in the southwest and southeast regions. In these areas, many residents are extremely vulnerable to food insecurity.

The largest food distributors in Arkansas were asked to provide the number of pounds of grocery products distributed by county for 2002. When the total of the number of pounds of grocery products distributed was divided by the number of people living in poverty by county, gaps in emergency food provision were revealed. The greatest need for additional emergency food supplies by region is as follows:

Acknowledgements:

Many people contributed to the creation of this report. Many thanks are extended to all of the Emergency Food Providers throughout Arkansas who responded to our survey. The task of distributing, collecting and entering the survey data was done by Cathy Spivey and Connie Gunter. The efforts and determination of these women helped ensure an excellent response rate. On April 28, 2003, representatives of some of the largest Emergency Food distributors assembled in Little Rock to offer extremely insightful and pragmatic input. These representatives included Stephen Dye of Northwest Arkansas Foodbank, Phyllis Haynes of Arkansas Food Bank Network, Inc., Christie Jordan of Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas, Gene Boyd of the Food Bank of North Central Arkansas, Michelle Harutunian of Harvest Texarkana, Greg Hemphill of Ozark Food Bank, Laura Rhea of the Arkansas Rice Depot, and Carol Hertzog of Potluck. Frank Parsons and Cecilia Mynatt facilitated this meeting. Carol Garrity, Stephanie Dragatsis, Chris Rebstock, and Halley Torres Aldeen from America’s Second Harvest were extremely helpful throughout this process.

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