Whether you’re a donor, volunteer, advocate or community partner, being informed will help you make a more meaningful difference in alleviating hunger in our community.

The Basics

Feeding America’s What is Food Insecurity? guide is a great starting point for those looking to build a basic understanding of the issue before deepening their knowledge.

Food Insecurity in Massachusetts

Research:

• Project Bread posts new data and research regularly, linked here. Key topics include the relationship between systemic racism and food insecurity (also linked below), the impact of the pandemic on food insecurity, and SNAP.
  • Project Bread also regularly shares blog posts about the organization’s advocacy efforts, informed by research, linked here.

News coverage

• To view The Open Door’s most recent service facts, click here.
• To view the most recent news stories about The Open Door, its programs and local food insecurity, click here. Recent coverage includes:
  • New Food Truck Widens The Open Door’s Scope Gloucester Daily Times (Nov. 13, 2021)
  • Online Ordering System at Food Pantry Helps Create More Choices, Eliminates Returns WBZ Sept 13, 2021
  • Food Pantry Launches Online Ordering System Gloucester Daily Times Sept. 3, 2021
• The Greater Boston Food Bank catalogs relevant media coverage about itself and its partners here. Noteworthy recent coverage pertaining to food insecurity includes:
  • Food Insecurity in MA Compounded by Supply Chain Issues, Inflation Public News Service (Dec. 27, 2021)
  • ‘It is Staggering’ Food Insecurity Remains High Even as Pandemic Eases The Boston Globe (Nov. 18, 2021)

Food Insecurity and Institutional and Systemic Racism

The Open Door remains committed to evolving through greater diversity, equity, and inclusion measures, continuing to engage in the important conversations around diversity, and providing equitable food access for those in our community who are facing food insecurity

Below are resources for learning more about the relationship between structural racism and food insecurity in Massachusetts.

Research and Data

• New Food Insecurity in Massachusetts Report by The Greater Boston Food Bank Finds Racial Inequities in Food Insecurity and Gaps in Food Access (May 5, 2021)
• Project Bread’s Barriers to SNAP Research (Aug. 2021)
• Barriers to Food Access in Latinx Community, Point to Deep Systemic Inequities and Discrimination (July 7, 2020)

Media Coverage

• Food Insecurity: It’s Only the Surface of a Sea of Inequality WGBH (Jan. 21, 2021)

Understanding Hunger on the National Scale

• Feeding America shares relevant coverage pertaining to the latest issues pertaining to food insecurity people face across the country. Click here for the latest.
• The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) gives an overview of Food Insecurity in America, linked here.

Please note: This page is intended as a resource and starting point, and is not a comprehensive list by any means.