CLEVELAND — Northeast Ohio is not immune to the issue of food insecurity, especially when it comes to the youngest in our communities. According to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, one in four children in their six county service area are food insecure.
Additionally, Dr. David Margolius, director of public health for the City of Cleveland, said half of the city’s children live in poverty, with nearly 40% of households with children under 18 receiving SNAP benefits.
However, efforts are being made to tackle food insecurity, with organizations and institutions utilizing a number of different approaches to fight hunger.
On the corner of Imperial Avenue and East 123rd Street in Cleveland, a corner lot flanked by businesses and houses boasts budding corn crops, blossoming apple trees and waist-high tomato plants. This patch of land is the RevLove Farm, which connects and educates community members on agriculture and sustainable food systems.
“RevLove Farm is a community space,” said Shirley Bell. Bell, an executive officer at nonprofit Elements of Internal Movement, which she said works with RevLove. “It's a growing space where we grow individuals, where we grow as a community, and then of course produce.”
Bell said RevLove Farm partners with different workforce development programs -- and especially works with young people -- providing fresh produce for the community while teaching people how to grow crops.
“If they're able to have a back porch with produce that's fresh and it helps them deal with their food security, or that they're able to learn leadership and how we're able to affect policy and change policy and really speak to leadership within their community, that translates to many different careers.”
Bell said the farm offers lessons to be learned beyond just the plants themselves.
“Farms give you a lot of metaphors. You reap what you sow, literally,” Bell said. “As a young person, to understand what I put in the ground and what I invest in. And at the end of the day, it's beneficial.”
In addition to farming the land, solutions to food insecurity can also be found in local lunchrooms. This year, the Parma City School district qualifies for the federal Community Eligibility Provision through the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which allows schools to provide breakfast and lunch at no cost to students depending on the district’s poverty level. It’s one of a number of Northeast Ohio schools that are enrolled in the program, according to 3News partner Cleveland.com.
“It was a federal government initiative, they’ve really sort of taken a broader view of community eligibility and who should be able to apply for community eligibility, and we were able to apply due to the poverty level in the district, and we qualified,” said district superintendent Charles Smialek. “All of our students now will be able to access free breakfast and free lunch, which we’re excited about. It really lessens the tape that parents have to jump through -- the forms, the paperwork, all the different logistical pieces.”
Smialek called the free meals an “equalizing factor,” and emphasized the importance of students having full stomachs for the school day.
“Meeting basic needs is something schools have had to be more aggressive in doing as we’ve seen families struggling at a higher level,” he said. “We’re happy to be able to do that.”
Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio are making sure the support doesn’t stop when school lets out. CEO Allen Smith said that young people can come to their clubs to participate in programming and receive a meal, all free of charge.
“The intent is really for them to engage, have fun, to be supported by positive role models and then also have the opportunity to receive a free meal each day,” he said.
Smith sees the need. He said last year they served about 300,000 meals across the 49 clubs that were open in Northeast Ohio.
“We know that the need is there. We know that our families maybe don't necessarily have the ability to provide a meal to the capacity that we do,” he said. “So it's just really, really important for us. We think it helps drive participation in our sites, and most importantly, it's great for our kids.”
Smith said the clubs receive food from the Greater Cleveland Food Bank among other partnerships, working to fill in the gaps for the families they serve.
“We know that when young people eat, they're better students, their attention spans are better, their behavioral issues are lessened,” he said.
While the issue of food insecurity can be daunting, and while there is more work to be done, Bell recognizes the efforts put forth by RevLove Farm and others to create a better future for the next generation.
“Understanding, yes, we have these difficulties and these issues that we need to address, but there's people that are living in their community that are addressing them, that are impacting the community that they live in,” Bell said.