SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization projects more children will go hungry in South Dakota this year and won’t know where their next meal is coming from.
Feeding America says the child food in security rate for 2021 in South Dakota will be 16.3%, up from 15.3% in 2019. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as reduced food intake, disruptive eating and decreased quality and variety in diets.
The USDA recently reported a national trend of increasing food insecurity, which rose to 14.8% in 2020.
“I think it is really concerning,” said Lisa Davis, Senior Vice President of No Kid Hungry campaign, a national initiative to end child hunger. “Children who face hunger generally have worse health impacts on their physical and brain development… They don’t do well in school, they graduate at lower rates, and those consequences for kids literally last a lifetime.”
