Capacity, Need, and Location: Emergency Food Programs in the Detroit Metropolitan Area

• In Event: 2244 - The Politics of Spatial Exclusion

Abstract

Today, nearly 50 million Americans receive emergency food assistance from community-based organizations. Despite the importance of local emergency food programs, relatively little is known about the organizational characteristics or spatial context of emergency food providers. Moreover, little is known about whether access to emergency food programs is related to receipt of food assistance. Using unique survey data of food pantries linked to a panel household survey in metropolitan Detroit conducted in the years following the Great Recession (Michigan Recession and Recovery Study, or MRRS), this paper examines questions about the provision and receipt of emergency food assistance. First, how do food pantries differ by structure and capacity? How are organizational characteristics associated with location and caseload characteristics? When controlling for household characteristics, how is the presence and availability of food pantries associated with receipt of emergency food assistance? Answers to these questions will help fill important gaps in the literature around urban inequality and poverty.

We find first that nearly half of all emergency food programs listed in community directories were either not operational at the time of the survey or did not provide emergency food assistance. Second, we find emergency food programs to be quite heterogeneous. More than three-quarters provide non-food sources of assistance, although services available vary by organizational size and internal structure. Preliminary multivariate findings also suggest that geographic location is closely associated to capacity – with suburban food pantries lagging those in the City of Detroit in size and diversity of programming. We find that Detroit residents with income below the federal poverty line have nearly 50 percent greater access to food pantries than suburban residents and non-poor households. Despite differences in access, we do not find consistent evidence in our preliminary analyses that spatial proximity to food pantries alone is associated with household food pantry receipt.

Author

• Scott W. Allard, University of Washington