Addressing food insecurity among children in Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS – Local and state leaders are working together to address the needs of child well-being in the state. 

On Monday, the Indiana Youth Institute along with state and local leaders came together for the State of the Child event at the statehouse. The most recent data shows Indiana fell from 24th to 27th in the nation for overall child well-being. 

One of the key problem areas right now is food insecurity among children.

“It’s crazy, the statistics. One in five children in Indiana are food insecure,” said Diara Nicholson, the executive director of Midwest Food Bank. “We are seeing the rise of child food insecurity rates being worse than what we were seeing at the peak of the pandemic.”

Right now, nearly 20% of Indiana kids don’t have reliable access to healthy and nutritious food. A number that is only continuing to rise.

“Child food insecurity is the highest rate it’s been in several years,” said Tami Silverman, president and CEO of the Indiana Youth Institute. “It signals to me that we may want to look at some of the basics, right? We need to make sure that those foundational components of safety – a secure home, a safe home and healthy food – those are the building blocks for childhood success. We want to make sure we are not overlooking those.”

But Indiana is not alone. The neighboring Midwest states of Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio are all on a similar trend as well.

While food banks try to keep up with the increased demand, local and state leaders are doing what they can including working together with those neighboring states.

“If we are struggling in an area, we will have a conversation with them,” Silverman said. “We will share ideas and possibilities and sometimes they will recommend policies that have worked in their state and we can pass those along to our legislators.”

This is not something that can be fixed overnight but advocates said the community can make a difference step by step.

“If we are having a challenge area, access to let’s say healthy foods, then what might you be able to do in your own county?” Silverman said. “Who is already doing that well? How do you show up and volunteer a little bit more with those folks?”

For more information on Monday’s State of the Child event including data from the Indiana Kids Count Data Book, click here. 

Some of the key highlights show both positive and negative trends. The positive trends include child poverty being at the lowest in over a decade, youth employment rising and teen birth rates trending down. Some of the problematic areas include food insecurity being on the rise (as discussed above) and early childhood education enrollment remaining low.

For more information on helping tackle the problem of food insecurity among children, there are additional resources here. For volunteering and donation opportunities with Midwest Food Bank, click here. For information on additional opportunities at Gleaners Food Bank, click here.