Food Insecurity

Individuals and families who live in rural areas often face hunger at higher rates, in part because of the unique challenges living remotely presents. These challenges include an increased likelihood of food deserts and food insecurity with the nearest grocery store or food bank potentially hours away. Many individuals living in rural communities have limited access to transportation, which makes getting to work and acquiring food so much harder to do.

Many job opportunities located in Rural East Tennessee are more concentrated in low-wage industries, and these areas have higher rates of unemployment and underemployment. This can make hunger in rural areas a unique challenge:

200,000 individuals and families in East Tennessee are experiencing food insecurity.
56% of individuals in Tennessee fall below the SNAP threshold at 130% of poverty
16.9% of individuals in East Tennessee are food insecure. (Feeding America.2015)

Limited Physical and Mental Health Resources for Limited Income Families

Currently, in the United States, health care is not looked at as a necessity. Which means that consistent, affordable, and sustainable health care is not accessible to rural limited resource individuals and families. Without access to healthy food sources, education on the importance of healthy eating, and the lack of affordable health care, all of which make an impact on the mental health, limited resource individuals and families fall into a cycle of disparity and utilize a large proportion of health care resources.

An example of one of the many cycles limited resource families and individuals fall into is taken from a recent study completed by Second Harvest Food Bank, in partnership with Feeding America called Intervention Trial for Health: Diabetes.

Non-Inclusive Employment Opportunities and Workforce Development Programs

There are many individuals in our communities that need and desire employment, but do not know where they could find employment based upon their background, current ability, or mental health state. These individuals desire and deserve, equal opportunity and access to employment, so that they are able to sustain and better their quality of life.

Many individuals that seek employment, but have a hard time obtaining employment include; individuals experiencing homelessness, individuals coming out of incarceration, individuals within the intellectual and developmental disability community, individuals in recovery, and refugees and immigrants from other countries.