Combating Food Insecurity in Philadelphia: A Multi-Pronged Effort (Part 1)

The imposition of tariffs on trading partners, coupled with the deportation of food supply chain workers and government cuts to food programs for schools and food banks, is expected to increase food prices nationwide. This situation could further strain cities like Philadelphia that already face high levels of food insecurity. 

Philadelphia’s long history of grappling with food insecurity has given rise to numerous community initiatives that are well-equipped to address the anticipated increased need of food access. A range of programs throughout the city and surrounding region are actively working to combat food insecurity, ensuring that residents have access to essential food resources. These collective efforts could be vital as more Philadelphians become susceptible to food insecurity.

In this two-part series we will explore solutions proposed by various initiatives focused on addressing food insecurity in the city, highlighting key aspects such as accessibility, affordability, and education. This first article will focus on the accessibility of food through emergency services that tackle immediate hunger. The second article will explore non-emergency initiatives focused on preventative measures and long-term food security.

Food Insecurity, A Systemic Issue 

Various terms exist to understand food insecurity. “Food desert,” for example, is commonly used to describe geographic areas where individuals have limited or no access to affordable, nutritious, and fresh food. On the flip side, “food swamp” refers to areas saturated with unhealthy food options, such as fast-food restaurants, corner stores, and gas stations, where residents struggle to find fresh produce. 

While one might assume that simply increasing access to nutritious options in food deserts and food swamps would lead people to choose healthier foods, this perspective overlooks critical factors such as food education, the time required to prepare meals, affordability, and cultural or religious beliefs related to food. In this context, food sovereignty advocate Karen Washington argues that neither of these terms truly captures the depth of the issue. Washington has coined the term “food apartheid” to provide a more nuanced understanding of the underlying causes of food system insecurity. This perspective encourages us to think about the deliberate racialized systems of power that have historically shaped our food environments. By framing the conversation in this way, Washington highlights the interconnectedness of various factors—including race, religion, geography, faith, and economics—that contribute to the challenges many individuals face in accessing adequate nutrition.

Washington and other advocates aim to shed light on the systemic inequalities that perpetuate these issues, urging a more comprehensive approach to addressing food access in underserved communities. 

What Food Apartheid Looks Like in Philly

According to recent data, 13.5 percent of U.S. households experienced food insecurity at some point in 2023. In Philadelphia County, this figure rises to 15.2 percent, highlighting the significant challenges many residents face regarding food access and security. 

One of the most pressing issues tied to food insecurity in the city is the lack of nutritious food options. According to a 2019 report, the supply of low-produce stores in Philadelphia is four times greater than that of high-produce stores. Only 12% of stores in the average Philadelphia neighborhood offer high-produce selections, with 66% of food retailers classified as corner stores, chain convenience stores, gas stations, dollar stores, or newsstands. 

Consequently, over 980,000 Philadelphians live in areas saturated with unhealthy food options, and more than 30% of children in the city experience food insecurity. Philabundance, a non profit organization that has been combating hunger in the Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey region for over 40 years indicated that across their area of work, Black and Hispanic people experienced food insecurity 3 to 5 times more than White people.

Another significant factor contributing to food insecurity is the lack of financial resources to purchase food. In North Philadelphia, 30-45% of residents have household incomes below the federal poverty line. A recent study found that 36.9% of households in this area face food insecurity. As of June 2024, nearly a third of Philadelphia’s population —approximately 496,000 residents— relied on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for essential food support, highlighting the challenging conditions surrounding food access in the city.

Emergency Food Services, The Final Stopgap in Combating Hunger 

Every Friday afternoon, rain or shine, volunteers from Food Not Bombs transform the gazebo at Malcolm X Park in West Philadelphia into a bustling market offering free groceries and warm homemade meals. The line begins forming around 4:30 PM, drawing people of all ages, from children with their parents to young couples and seniors, who fill their grocery carts with food. As the weather gets warmer, volunteers expect for more people to start showing up.

Food Not Bombs West Philly is one of three chapters in the city, with the other two in North and South Philadelphia. There are over 500 Food Not Bombs groups volunteering nationwide and thousands more spanning across 60 countries, arguably making it the largest emergency food service in the world. Their mission is to recover food that would have been discarded and share it as a way of protesting war and poverty. 

Fresh produce from The Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market—including cucumbers, apples, Brussels sprouts, potatoes, and bell peppers—along with bagels from a local store, salads from Villanova, and various grocery items from Whole Foods, are arranged on a long L-shaped table. Before the distribution begins, a long-term volunteer sets expectations, encouraging everyone to be patient, mindful, and understanding. With music playing in the background, people begin to approach the table, exchanging greetings with one another and with the volunteers. After selecting their groceries, some attendees head to an adjacent area where warm meals, prepared just hours earlier by Food Not Bombs volunteers, are available.

In addition to serving warm food and assisting individuals in obtaining groceries, volunteers play various roles within the operation. Additional team members break down boxes in the back as food is being distributed. Before the market opened, volunteers with big cars retrieved food items from the wholesale market and others sorted it to ensure quality. 

Food Not Bombs is just one of many emergency food services in the city, dedicated to collecting surplus food that is still good and distributing it to those in need. These initiatives range from food banks and delivery services to pantries and community fridges.

One of the largest food banks in the region is the Share Food Program, which began in 1986 as a low-cost food co-op and has since transformed into a nonprofit organization and broadened its services across the Greater Philadelphia area. A key aspect of its outreach is home delivery, designed for individuals who face challenges accessing nutritious food options. Through its Senior Food Box Program, Share delivers approximately 3,500 grocery boxes to seniors each month. Aside from grocery delivery, Share also provides millions of pounds of emergency food relief in collaboration with nearly 400 pantry partners, food sites, and community organizations across five counties. 

An innovative way Share Food Program supports partners in obtaining food is through their collaboration with Philly Food Rescue. Through an app that functions like a “digital matchmaker,” restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores, and farmers markets can request a donation pickup, which is then matched with one of Share’s partners. A volunteer, referred to as a “local food rescue hero,” claims the pickup in the app and delivers it to locations where it is needed, including places of worship, health clinics, affordable housing, senior centers, and afterschool programs. 

With over 400 active volunteers, the initiative is always seeking additional food rescue heroes. By leveraging technology to connect those with surplus food to those who can facilitate its distribution and those in need, this program provides an innovative solution to addressing hunger while reducing food waste. 

Among the partners benefiting from Share Food Program’s distribution efforts is the South Philly Community Fridge, with seven locations across South Philadelphia. Volunteers Victoria Jayne and Benji Aaron have been involved with the South Philly Community Fridge since 2020. At the time, Victoria was looking for volunteer opportunities that complied with Covid-19 safety measures and didn’t conflict with her work schedule. “Community fridges, they’re open and available 24-7, so it very quickly clicked that this was something that I really wanted to be involved in and was really accessible for me to be involved in,” she recalls. Her husband, Aaron, soon joined her.

On March 7, 2025 they waited outside their newest location at 19th and South street, anticipating the arrival of students from The Philly School who were delivering the contributions from a recent food drive. Weeks prior, Ket Martin, the community service coordinator at the school, had presented a lesson on community fridges to the students during their afterschool program. “I wanted to introduce the idea of community and what it meant to serve our own to help expand the student’s perspectives on community and their relationship with food since food equity is a harsh reality in Philly,” said Martin. Motivated by this discussion, the students took the initiative to organize a food drive at their school. Fifth grader Tyree, along with sixth graders Del, Leila, and Harper, were selected to deliver the collected items to the community fridge and pantry, where they were able to stock the community pantry and fridge, and ask further questions to volunteers Victoria and Aaron.

In addition to donations from community members like these students and food banks like Share Food Program, South Philly Community Fridge benefits from contributions from grocery stores. They have also implemented a unique program that reimburses individuals who shop for items specifically for the community fridge. “We reimburse shoppers for buying particularly culturally relevant foods, things like tortillas or soy sauce that we don’t always get from the food bank or from one of the grocery stores that we partner with, but that are still needed in an integral part of our neighbors’ cuisine,” says Victoria. She believes this initiative presents a volunteering opportunity with low barriers, allowing more people to get involved and support their community.

Victoria and Aaron recognize that the changes in the federal government, such as cutting lunch programs or food stamps may mean that the need for community fridges and pantries grows even more. Hunger is a really pervasive, severe issue,” recognizes Victoria. “We fill the fridges and it turns over.” Both she and Aaron insist that they are always in need of more volunteers, particularly as they hope to expand in the future into other neighborhoods. 

The couple also recognizes that emergency food services are just one part of the equation in combating food insecurity. “There are lots of other organizations that are doing really great work in tandem with us,” they say. “What we aim to do is kind of be that final stopgap in terms of here is a place where you can always donate food. Here is a place that’s always gonna be open and accessible if you wanna go check and see if there’s food there.” 

In the second part of this series, we will examine non-emergency assistance initiatives that are addressing the barriers of affordability, education, and accessibility in the pursuit of improving food access.