Title:Researchers find benefits to food assistance amidst crisis

When the spread of COVID-19 prompted school closures across the country, Georgetown’s Child Development & Social Policy Lab was uniquely positioned to gather data on the changing needs of food-insecure families. Professors Rebecca Ryan and Anna Johnson found that school closures had immediate and prolonged effects on the food security and mental health of children and parents.

Prior to the pandemic, the lab had been evaluating the effect of the Power Packs Project food assistance program on the well-being of families in lower-income areas of rural Pennsylvania. This program, which is funded largely by private donations, sends low-income students home on Thursdays with packs full of fresh ingredients and recipes for families to consume over the weekend. When stay-at-home orders came into effect, the numerous school systems partnering with Power Packs were forced to halt or modify their food distribution plans because many of their volunteers were elderly or at-risk.

“The pandemic presented to us a unique, natural experiment to see if this program could help in a crisis,” Ryan says. The data revealed that, among families with continued access to Power Packs food, there was a bigger spike in food insecurity at the outset of school closures, followed by a pronounced decline in food insecurity over time. Families who did not have continued access to the packs had a smaller spike when schools first closed, but their sense of food insecurity, including worry about running out of food and skipping meals, did not abate.

This research confirmed that Power Packs is reaching the most vulnerable families, alleviating their anxiety about food, and reducing the incidence of undereating and meal skipping. Families in the first group were more likely to rely on free and reduced lunch programs for their kids during the week, in addition to weekend Power Packs. “When you take that away, it’s a real shock to the family system,” Ryan says. “A lot of parents lost the ability to work. And those who were dependent on hourly wages were immediately hard-hit by the pandemic.”

The team gathered data via text message surveys asking participants to rate their daily levels of food intake, worry about running out of food, sadness, stress, irritability, and depression. As parents with continued program access began to strategize how to feed their families, their worry and depression decreased, but their daily irritation continued; by contrast, child sadness and worry remained elevated throughout the spring. Ryan believes that having a social worker for kids and parents to talk to could provide much-needed social and emotional support.

Food insecurity is deeply connected to negative outcomes for children and parents, Ryan explains. It can lead to behavior problems, lower cognitive scores, anxiety, depression, and poor health. Improving support systems for food-insecure families is a social justice issue. “Food insecurity is far more prevalent among under-resourced racial and ethnic minority communities,” she says.

Ultimately, food security also relates to educational access. Georgetown’s Child Development & Social Policy Lab conducts research to inform programs and policies that help children reach their full potential. “I think our lab’s mission really reflects cura personalis,” Ryan says. “We’re interested in finding ways to level the playing field, so that kids growing up in socio-economically disadvantaged communities and families have the same opportunities to attend a school like Georgetown as kids who are more advantaged.”