“Find Food Support” Provides Resources for Food-Insecure Americans

by Marissa Sheldon, MPH
find food support

Part of the Food Policy Snapshot Series

Policy name: Find Food Support

Overview: Google recently launched a new search tool to help Americans find free food support in their communities. 

Location: United States

Population: 333 million

Food policy category: Food insecurity

Program goals: To help hungry Americans find local food assistance programs.

How it works: Find Food Support is a website using a Google Maps tool to help individuals locate sources of free food in their communities. Google partnered with No Kid Hungry, FoodFinder, and the United States Department of Agriculture to identify more than 90,000 food support sites including food banks, food pantries, and school lunch pick-up locations across all 50 states.  

Users enter their location (city, zip code, or street address) into the search bar on the website, and the map produces multiple blue bubbles that can be clicked on for more information about each site.

The website also provides links to support for seniors, military families, or families with children, hotlines, and state benefit guides. 

Progress to date: Google has stated that searches for terms such as “food bank near me” and “food stamps application” reached record highs in the past year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, they created Find Food Support to make all resources related to food insecurity available in one place. 

Why it is important: Feeding America indicated that in 2019, food insecurity rates in the US were the lowest that they had been in more than 20 years, with 10.9 percent of individuals (35 million) reporting living in a food-insecure household. When COVID-19 struck in 2020 and all non-essential businesses were shut down, however, the country entered an economic recession and unemployment reached a record high. As a result of  unemployment, school closures, and food production shortages, 45 million people are estimated to have experienced food insecurity in 2020.  

While the projections for 2021 show a slight decrease in food insecurity rates compared to 2020, 42 million are still expected to experience food insecurity, which is 7 million more than before the pandemic. 

Program/Policy initiated: The tool was launched on June 29, 2021. 

Point of contact: N/A

Similar practices: Many state food banks’ websites include search functions that will provide information about food assistance programs in a particular community, but Google’s tool appears to be the first to aggregate information for all 50 states on one platform. 

Evaluation: This tool has not yet been evaluated. 

Learn more: 

References:

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