The impact of the Meals-to-You program on food insecurity

Theresa Anderson, Elaine Waxman, Craig Gundersen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Food insecurity among children in the United States remains a serious problem, especially during summer months. While there are summer meal programs such as the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), participation rates are low. In response, in 2019, Meals-to-You (MTY) was piloted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty where food boxes were delivered to households with a focus on rural areas. This was expanded during COVID to an Emergency Meals-to-You component. We find that among participating households, those receiving more boxes had larger declines in food insecurity, especially in more remote rural areas.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1499-1512
Number of pages14
JournalApplied Economic Perspectives and Policy
Volume44
Issue number3
Early online dateJun 21 2022
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • food assistance
  • food insecurity
  • hunger
  • poverty
  • school meals

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Development
  • Economics and Econometrics

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