A "COMMUNITY OF OPPORTUNITY" PROFILE, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ME
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An electronic version of the profile can be found here.
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FOOD SECURITY IN MAINE, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, AND PORTLAND
We all want Maine people, regardless of where they live, to have access to the opportunities that allow them to be healthy. What you might not know is that today, many Maine families are having a difficult time putting food on their tables. People are not deprived of food because food is unavailable in the market, but rather because their ability to get that food is restricted, most often by limited income.
The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) defines food security as “access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members.” Current research ranks Maine third in the nation for people experiencing very low food security. This condition is when eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and food intake reduced because the household lacked money and other resources for food. Previously called “hunger,” the USDA began referring to this condition as very low food security in 2006, though the methods used to assess it remained the same. Over the last 10 years, with the exception of Louisiana, Maine has experienced the largest increase in this “hunger” in the nation.
Cumberland County has 14% food insecurity prevalence. The food stamp program is now known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). In August 2015, Cumberland County lists 30,275 people using SNAP benefits including 11,073 children. Over one-third of all students live in families whose income qualify them for free and reduced price school meals. In Portland, during the 2014-2015 school year, over 50% of the students were eligible for free meals. This means that every other Portland Public School student lived in a household with an annual income, e.g., in a family of four, of $31,000 or less. That was a total of 3,504 kids. Recent data for Portland (August 2015), lists 4,173 children under 18 in households using SNAP.
PORTLAND, ME - COMMUNITY OF OPPORTUNITY
Cumberland County was selected to be one of eight Communities of Opportunity across the country to participate in Growing Food Connections (GFC). GFC is a 5-year initiative funded by USDA-NIFA to improve community food security and support local agriculture and food production. County leadership demonstrated a need and a strong commitment to strengthen the county’s food system and created a steering committee of local government representatives and food system stakeholders to accomplish this work. This steering committee works with the GFC team of researchers and technical assistance providers to identify and address local policy opportunities and barriers to achieve its food system goals.
The GFC Steering Committee planned a “Cumberland County Food System Summit.” This event intended to educate municipal officials and staff about the policy and planning opportunities food can leverage to make communities stronger.
IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT FOOD.
Browse our menu to learn ways to educate yourself and others about food security in Cumberland County, Maine, and the United States.
TOWARD THESE GOALS, THE STEERING COMMITTEE ENVISIONS A CUMBERLAND COUNTY IN WHICH:
GROWING FOOD CONNECTIONS GOALS:
We all want Maine people, regardless of where they live, to have access to the opportunities that allow them to be healthy. What you might not know is that today, many Maine families are having a difficult time putting food on their tables. People are not deprived of food because food is unavailable in the market, but rather because their ability to get that food is restricted, most often by limited income.
The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) defines food security as “access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members.” Current research ranks Maine third in the nation for people experiencing very low food security. This condition is when eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and food intake reduced because the household lacked money and other resources for food. Previously called “hunger,” the USDA began referring to this condition as very low food security in 2006, though the methods used to assess it remained the same. Over the last 10 years, with the exception of Louisiana, Maine has experienced the largest increase in this “hunger” in the nation.
Cumberland County has 14% food insecurity prevalence. The food stamp program is now known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). In August 2015, Cumberland County lists 30,275 people using SNAP benefits including 11,073 children. Over one-third of all students live in families whose income qualify them for free and reduced price school meals. In Portland, during the 2014-2015 school year, over 50% of the students were eligible for free meals. This means that every other Portland Public School student lived in a household with an annual income, e.g., in a family of four, of $31,000 or less. That was a total of 3,504 kids. Recent data for Portland (August 2015), lists 4,173 children under 18 in households using SNAP.
PORTLAND, ME - COMMUNITY OF OPPORTUNITY
Cumberland County was selected to be one of eight Communities of Opportunity across the country to participate in Growing Food Connections (GFC). GFC is a 5-year initiative funded by USDA-NIFA to improve community food security and support local agriculture and food production. County leadership demonstrated a need and a strong commitment to strengthen the county’s food system and created a steering committee of local government representatives and food system stakeholders to accomplish this work. This steering committee works with the GFC team of researchers and technical assistance providers to identify and address local policy opportunities and barriers to achieve its food system goals.
The GFC Steering Committee planned a “Cumberland County Food System Summit.” This event intended to educate municipal officials and staff about the policy and planning opportunities food can leverage to make communities stronger.
IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT FOOD.
Browse our menu to learn ways to educate yourself and others about food security in Cumberland County, Maine, and the United States.
TOWARD THESE GOALS, THE STEERING COMMITTEE ENVISIONS A CUMBERLAND COUNTY IN WHICH:
- Each local government and community is actively working to improve the food system.
- Everyone has access to adequate healthy food as well as the knowledge and means to prepare it.
- Food and agricultural enterprises thrive using just, fair and sustainable business practices and production methods.
- More than 50% of the food consumed in Cumberland County is produced in Maine.
- Cumberland County is a significant and positive force in shaping the food system of surrounding regions.
GROWING FOOD CONNECTIONS GOALS:
- Connect food insecure people with local food.
- Expand availability and preservation of land for commercial and non-commercial food production.
- Build off and coordinate with existing work, bridge the gap between producers, consumers, the public sector, and NGOs, and increase communication between planning efforts of government and the private sector.
- Build local advocacy and organizing capacity for citizens, municipalities, and the county government.
- Wed environmental and economic sustainability in food production.
- Build a web-based information and communication infrastructure that brings together existing data.
- Increase physical infrastructure to support local food production and procurement.
- Drive up and shape demand for healthy, local food.
