The Blue Cross Blue Shield plan in Florida has a charitable arm called the Florida Blue Foundation. It has stated that applications are now open for its 2024 Food Security Grant program. For people who live in food-insecure areas, the goal of the Food Security program is to make it easier for them to get cheap, healthy, and nutritious foods.
The Florida Blue Foundation wants to give money to programs that help people who are weak and have a hard time getting and affording good foods. The goal is to help these communities get more food and make healthier decisions. People are more likely to make healthier choices when they can easily get fresh, local foods, according to research. This leads to better health results.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA ERS) says that the number of households that don’t have enough food has gone up to 12.8% in 2022, hitting 17 million households across the country. The rate in 2021 was 10.2%, and the rate in 2020 was 3.9%. This is a big jump. In Florida alone, one in nine people, or 2,314,370 people, are hungry. Of these people, one in six are children, or 613,180 children.
For everyone to live a healthy and happy life, it is important to make sure they can get good food. According to the USDA ERS, food security means always being able to get enough food to live a busy and healthy life. Food insecurity is a problem in every community, but it’s especially bad in rural places because of things like poverty, lack of transportation, unemployment, and the high cost of living. People’s health and well-being can be seriously affected by not having enough food every day.
Nonprofit groups that have shown they know how to deal with food insecurity will get funding from the Florida Blue Foundation for four years. It is important for programs to make sure that everyone has equal access to healthy food and program services. They should also focus on getting underserved or disadvantaged areas from food insecurity to food security.
Making it easier to get healthy food is the 2024 Food Security goal. The last day to send in an application is Monday, May 6, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. (EST).
On or before September 12, 2024, all applicants will be told what their position is.
