Center for Hunger-Free Communities just released 5 reports on discrimination and food insecurity

Remember that November report that 18 percent of Philadelphians are food insecure? It gets worse.

Drexel University’s Center for Hunger-Free Communities just released a series of reports on the intersection of discrimination and hunger in Philadelphia. In sum: People who experience discrimination in places such as school, the workplace or healthcare settings are more likely to experience long-term food insecurity.

The reports are the result of 700 interviews with mothers of young children in the emergency room at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children.

The center also runs the Witnesses to Hunger program, which invites people experiencing hunger and poverty to be their own advocates via photography and public speaking for the sake of influencing policy.

Philly.com published an essay about the studies’ results yesterday by Witnesses to Hunger Community Engagement Specialist Sherita Mouzon, who writes:

“As a dark-skinned black woman born into poverty, I know all too well the insidious ways that discrimination plays out in life. I was that child disciplined by white teachers more than other students; I was that kid ostracized for smelling like kerosene due to our house having no standard heater, I was that child going to school hungry. To experience hunger and discrimination as a child is very traumatic, especially when no one wants to talk about it.”

In 2016, the Center for Hunger-Free Communities also published a report on the link between childhood food insecurity and long-term trauma.

Have an idea to reduce hunger in Philadelphia? Broke in Philly partner Billy Penn is co-hosting the Full City Challenge, a pitch competition for small-scale hunger alleviation pilots happening this winter.