Bundling Food Assistance Resources to Address Food Insecurity

The rise of private food assistance organizations has coincided with a general decline in public food assistance program participation, yet, rates of reported food insecurity remain unchanged. Two possible explanations for this decline are that fewer people are experiencing food insecurity or people experiencing food insecurity are relying on private food assistance resources, such as services provided by food banks and pantries. The extent to which food pantry visitation reduces the likelihood of food insecurity is unclear, particularly as it relates to the effectiveness of federally funded food and nutrition assistance programs. In other words, the effectiveness of food pantry utilization at addressing food insecurity is an empirical question. Given the participation in and use of public and private sector food assistance programs, this study asks the following research question – how is the bundling of food assistance resources related to levels of food insecurity? The aims of this study are to provide a detailed view of food assistance program utilization, spanning public and private sectors; assess the differences among households who use only federal food assistance, only food pantries, or bundle both types of food assistance programs; and, examine the associations between participation in food assistance programs and food security status. We explore this question using data from the USDA’s National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS), a nationally representative survey of 4,826 American households’ food purchases and acquisitions. We find that households who bundle food assistance resources experience the greatest levels of food insecurity among food-insecure households