“All households in Cocke County with children under 18 will replace the
experience of food insecurity with food independence.”
experience of food insecurity with food independence.”
What does it mean to be food insecure?
Food Insecurity refers to the USDA’s measure of lack of access, at times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members and limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods. Food insecurity may also reflect a household need to make trade-offs between important basic needs, such as housing or medical bills, and purchasing nutritionally adequate foods. Food insecure households are not necessarily food insecure all the time.
Most recent data for Cocke County states that 16.4% of the overall population meets the USDA's definition of food insecurity and 19.6% of our county's children (under 18) are food insecure. Both of these numbers are an improvement from data collected in 2020. C-5's purpose is to support the children of Cocke County on their educational journeys from birth to career, and children must be nourished to learn effectively. The impact of child food insecurity includes poor health, difficulty getting the skills needed for kindergarten, poor performance during the first years of school, and less engagement and lower test scores as teens.
Our goal is that through our efforts in the community that the food insecurity rate for children will decrease by 3% by 2025.
Our goal is that through our efforts in the community that the food insecurity rate for children will decrease by 3% by 2025.
