15,000 CT Children Struggle with Hunger, Study Shows
/Connecticut’s overall child food insecurity rate is 18.8 percent, or which translates to 151,530 children 
struggling with hunger statewide, according to a recent study from the Connecticut Food Bank and the nation’s largest hunger relief organization, Feeding America. Food insecurity is a phrase used by the USDA to describe lack of consistent access to adequate amounts of food for an active, healthy life. The Child Food Insecurity 2012 Study shows that the number is unchanged from last year’s overall rate of 18.9 percent.
In Connecticut Food Bank’s service area, which includes Fairfield, Litchfield, Middlesex, New Haven, New London and Windham Counties, the child food insecurity rate is 16.9 percent, or 99,610 children. The study shows Connecticut’s child food insecurity rates range from 14.9 percent in Middlesex and Tolland Counties, to 21.2 percent in Windham County. Findings for the counties served by Connecticut Food Bank are:
County Percent Number of Food Insecure Children
- Middlesex 14.9% 5,260
- Fairfield 15.5 35,110
- Litchfield 16.5 6,830
- New London 16.9 9,990
- New Haven 19.1 36,750
- Windham 21.2 5,670
Total 16.9% 99,610
According to the study, 48 percent of the food insecure children in Connecticut Food Bank’s service area do not receive federal food assistance programs such as SNAP (food stamps), free or reduced price school meals, or the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), because their families earn over the income limit to qualify.
An executive summary of the study is at www.feedingamerica.org/mapthegap.
