Illinois to award $20 million to address food insecurity
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[September 05, 2023]
By Donna Rolando | The Center Square contributor
(The Center Square) – Millions of Illinois residents are living in food
deserts without convenient access to nutrition, but Gov. J.B. Pritzker
has signed a bill to combat food insecurity with $20 million in taxpayer
funding.
The Illinois Grocery Initiative, funded through a measure signed on Aug.
18, offers incentives for new or expanded grocery stores in underserved
rural or urban areas, often called food deserts.
The bill also fuels research into food insecurity in a state, where at
least 3 million residents are reported to live in food deserts without
access to good nutrition, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture
data.
Although food insecurity has spiked tremendously since the pandemic,
representatives of the Northern Illinois Food Bank see the bill as a
positive step.
“We’re excited when the state wants to invest in supporting our
communities and our neighbors and especially those facing food
insecurity,” Maeven Sipes, the agency’s chief philanthropy officer, told
The Center Square.
Along with funds to encourage economic growth for grocery stores,
research into food insecurity could help attack the problem, Sipes said.
“We really believe the more we know about our neighbors and our
community and their needs, the more we are going to be able to design
solutions,” she said.
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Sipes explained that transportation issues often create obstacles to
healthy food, forcing those in need to shop in neighborhood convenience
stores. While this bill will not fund food banks or pantries, they too
may benefit, she said. That’s because grocery stores often contribute
excess stock.
“We are serving more neighbors now than ever,” Sipes said.
She puts the number of Northern Illinois Food Bank clients at
approximately 490,000 every month for a 70 % increase since the COVID-19
pandemic.
“Even though things like unemployment are lower, especially than during
the peak of the pandemic, with inflation and with reduced government
benefits, neighbors are still having trouble getting everything that
they need and stretching their budgets and using their limited
resources,” Sipes said.
In the last year alone, the food bank has seen a 30% increase in demand
for food, according to Sipes.
Hoping that the law will bring relief, Pritzker said in his news release
the initiative “is the latest expansion of our holistic approach to
ensuring Illinois families can reach the big building blocks of a good
life.”
The release notes that the Department of Commerce and Economic
Opportunity will launch a study into the reasons for food insecurity and
the growth of food deserts to better understand the problem.
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