Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance and Arkansas’s six Feeding America food banks unite to release the Arkansas Hunger Continuum, providing new insights into barriers, needs and realities of hunger across Arkansas.
New findings from the Arkansas Hunger Continuum show that 37 percent of Arkansans, more than 1.14 million people, don’t have enough food to meet their needs. The research released today by the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance in partnership with Arkansas’s six Feeding America member food banks, provides one of the most comprehensive looks yet at how Arkansans experience hunger and why so many families are still struggling despite a nearly twofold increase in charitable food distribution over the past decade.
The findings were unveiled at a joint press conference bringing together leaders from across Arkansas’s charitable food network to spotlight the barriers that keep individuals and families from achieving food security.
The Arkansas Hunger Continuum was developed to better understand why food insecurity persists despite significant growth in the charitable food response, drawing on more than 1,700 representative phone interviews and more than 3,500 paper surveys conducted with Arkansans statewide.
“Food Banks across Arkansas have nearly doubled charitable food distribution in the last decade, yet food insecurity rates have continued to rise. We commissioned this study to help us understand this seeming contradiction,” said Christie Jordan, CEO of the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas. “Because we measured food access and access to food assistance together, we were able to gain more insight into the experiences of people facing hunger in Arkansas. Because of this survey, we discovered that more than 400,000 Arkansans are food-secure only because they receive food assistance from programs like SNAP, WIC, and charitable food. It is my hope that leaders and decision makers can utilize information from this report to evaluate programs, interventions, and policy that will advance Arkansans toward food security.”
A New Way to Measure
Hunger in Arkansas
Most surveys treat food insecurity as a simple yes or no question. The Arkansas Hunger Continuum takes a closer look, examining two things that are usually measured separately: whether a household has enough food, and whether that household is getting food assistance. Putting those two factors together sorts Arkansans into four groups, or “stops,” along a continuum, and the picture that emerges is more complicated than either measure alone could show.
At one end, 14 percent of Arkansans, or 432,370 people, are getting no food assistance at all and still don’t have enough to eat. Another 23 percent , or 710,321 people, are already receiving support through SNAP, WIC, or charitable food and still fall short. Together, these two groups make up the 37 percent of Arkansans facing hunger. A smaller share, 14 percent , or 432,370 people, are food secure only because of the assistance they receive. This demonstrates the important role food assistance plays in helping families achieve food security. The remaining 47 percent , or 1,451,526 people, meet their food needs without any help at all, compared with 62 percent of Americans nationally. That 15-point gap underscores the scale of food insecurity in Arkansas.
“The Arkansas Hunger Continuum gives us a clearer, more complete picture of hunger in our state by showing not only who is struggling, but how and why families are falling short,” said Sylvia Blain, CEO of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance. “When we understand the barriers Arkansans face, we can move beyond one-size-fits-all solutions and build responses that meet people where they are. This work is stronger because Arkansas’s six Feeding America food banks came together with a shared commitment to using data, partnership, and local expertise to create a more coordinated statewide response to hunger.”
Many Who Are Struggling Never Ask for Help
One of the most striking findings is that 40 percent of Arkansans experiencing hunger did not seek public or private food assistance in the past year. Among households experiencing food insecurity that receive no food assistance, 70 percent have incomes above 130 percent of the federal poverty level, and most include working adults, some working more than one job. The findings show that food insecurity affects many working families and households who may not see themselves as eligible for or in need of assistance.
The research also found that 47 percent of Arkansans said someone in their family did not have enough food in the past year because of a lack of money or another sign of food insecurity, underscoring the broad reach of food insecurity across Arkansas.
When Families Connect with Support, It Works
The data also shows what happens when families do connect with support. Among households receiving free school breakfast, 85 percent reported that their children eat breakfast more often, 85 percent reported improvements in school performance such as higher test scores, and 80 percent reported more regular school attendance. Among households receiving charitable food, 68 percent report less stress about feeding their families, 63 percent report eating more fruits and vegetables, and 62 percent report having enough food to last through the month.
“This research helps us see the people and communities behind the numbers and better understand the barriers that keep families from getting the support they need,” said Taylor Speegle, CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. “For food banks, that means looking beyond how much food we distribute and using what we learn to strengthen local partnerships, connect families with the right resources, and build a more effective path toward long-term food security.”
Support for these programs runs high across the board. More than 90 percent of Arkansans, including those who are already food secure, said they support government food assistance programs for low-income families and families with children.
Turning Research Into Action
The Arkansas Hunger Continuum is part of a broader effort to strengthen how Arkansas understands and responds to food insecurity. The Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance is also working alongside food bank partners to expand the tools and resources available to communities across the state.
The Arkansas Food Atlas is an interactive data tool that provides organizations, community partners, and policymakers with information to better understand food access, identify gaps in services, and inform strategies to address food insecurity across Arkansas.
The Alliance has also completed a statewide expansion of online SNAP application assistance; building services already offered in 37 counties. With the expansion to all 75 counties, Arkansans in communities that previously did not have access to online application assistance can now receive support navigating the SNAP application process and connecting with available nutrition benefits.
The Arkansas Hunger Continuum represents a coordinated effort among Arkansas’s six Feeding America food banks and the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance: Arkansas Foodbank, Food Bank of North Central Arkansas, Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas, Harvest Regional Food Bank, Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, and River Valley Regional Food Bank. Together, the organizations are using statewide data to strengthen collaboration and inform long-term, sustainable strategies to address food insecurity across all 75 Arkansas counties.
The full report and additional resources are available at arhungeralliance.org.
