Mapping Hunger on a Local Level

The Three Square Food Bank and Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, released it's most recent Map the Meal Gap study in summer of 2012. This study more accurately reflects who is truly hungry at the local community level by taking into consideration such factors as unemployment rate, federal food assistance eligibility rates and average cost of a meal.

Other key findings from Map the Meal Gap included:

• 17.6 percent – the percentage of the population who is food insecure in the four Southern Nevada counties. That is more than 340,000 people in our community.
• 58.9 million -  the number of meals needed each year to close the gap between the need for food and what is currently made available through federal programs and charitable organizations.
• $2.58 – the average price per meal in Southern Nevada, based on new research by The Nielson Company.

Read the Map the Meal Gap report here.

view the 2012 food insecurity map

Hunger’s Impact on Our Community: Envisioning a Food-Secure Southern Nevada

In spring 2009, the Three Square Food Bank launched an ambitious research initiative: to map the impacts, implications and indirect costs of hunger in Southern Nevada. This research was done in conjunction with a series of events which brought together local, national and international experts in the fields of hunger and social services. The result is Three Square’s first policy paper, “Hunger’s Impact on Our Community: Envisioning a Food-Secure Southern Nevada.” This report explores the impacts of hunger in Southern Nevada in four specific topic areas:

• Children and Education
• Senior Citizens
• Health Care
• Economy and Housing

Read the full report hereRead the White Paper Synopsis here.