www.npc.umich.edu Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan #39, January 2014 Policy Brief The National Poverty Center’s Policy Brief series summarizes key academic research findings, highlighting implications for policy. The NPC encourages the dissemination of this publication and grants full reproduction right to any party so long as proper credit is granted the NPC. Sample citation: “Title, National Poverty Center Policy Brief #x”. Food Insecurity in the Detroit Metropolitan Area Following the Great Recession Sandra K. Danziger, University of Michigan, Scott W. Allard, University of Chicago, Maria V. Wathen, University of Michigan, Sarah A. Burgard, University of Michigan, Kristin S. Seefeldt, University of Michigan, Rick Rodems, University of Michigan, Alicia Cohen, University of Michigan Introduction While the Great Recession oicially ended in June 2009, the recovery that followed has been slow and high unemployment rates persist. he recession contributed to increased food insecurity according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture: from 2008 to 2011, over 14% of households were food insecure at some time during the year, whereas from 1999 to 2007, the igure had been considerably lower at 10-11%. 1 he Detroit Metropolitan Area was much harder hit by the Great Recession than many other areas. As a result, food insecurity has remained quite high in the region. Gunderson et al. (2013) report 18.2% of Michigan residents were food insecure in 2009. In the three counties that comprise the Detroit area, food insecurity rates in 2009 were 23.8% for Wayne County, 15.3% for Oakland County and 17.7 % for Macomb County. 2 In this brief, we use panel data from the Michigan Recession and Recovery Study (MRRS) to evaluate recent changes in food insecurity, identify key risk factors, and examine use of public and private programs intended to reduce food insecurity. We focus on three questions: • What was the prevalence of food insecurity, particularly among low- income households, in the Detroit area in the aftermath of the Great Recession in 2009 and more recently, in 2011? • Among low-income households, what characteristics were associated with the greatest risk of food insecurity at one or both time periods? • Among low-income households, what share of food insecure households received public or nonproit food assistance in the previous year? Data and Methods We analyze data from the irst two waves of the Michigan Recession and Recovery Survey (MRRS), a stratiied random sample of households in the Detroit Metropolitan Area (Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties). he MRRS gathered detailed information about employment history, income sources, education and training, safety net program participation, private social support, material hardships, health and mental health, marital and relationship status, and basic household demographics. At Wave 1, trained interviewers conducted hour-long in-person interviews between October 2009 and March 2010 with 914 adults between the ages of 19 and 64 (response rate of 82.8%). he second wave (also hour-long in-person interviews) was completed between April and August 2011 with 847 of the Wave 1 respondents (response rate of 93.9%). When household and individual survey weights are applied, 1. Coleman-Jensen, Alisha, Mark Nord, Margaret Andrews, and Steven Carlson. Household Food Security in the United States in 2011. ERR-141, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, September 2012. 2. Gunderson, Craig, Elaine Waxman, Emily Engelhard, Amy Satoh and Namrita Chawla. Map the Meal Gap 2013. Technical Brief. http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger- studies/map-the-meal-gap.aspx