By Danielle Pagano McGunagle,

When a child gets his or her acceptance letter for college, it is a proud day for the entire family. College means a hopeful future of limitless possibilities: a career, a comfortable life and the security of never having to worry about how to keep food on the table.

Food Bank For New York City’s latest research report, NYC Hunger Experience 2011: Support and Sacrifice, turns that conventional wisdom on its head.

The percentage of residents with a college degree who reported difficulty affording food increased from 24 to 30 percent between 2010 and 2011.

This year's report finds nearly 1 in 3 college graduates in New York City are struggling to afford food — and equal numbers are concerned they will need food assistance over the coming year.

In fact, even as New York City as a whole has stepped back from a crisis point at the height of the recession in 2008, when nearly half of New Yorkers were struggling to afford food, it is now college graduates and middle-income New Yorkers who are experiencing the biggest increases in difficulty affording food — and that should shock all of us.

We call this report “Sacrifice and Support” — why? Because those are the two main strategies New Yorkers are resorting to maintain their ability to afford food.

What's the “sacrifice”? Well, considerable numbers of New Yorkers are cutting back their food purchases — especially on the healthiest food.

What's the “support”? The safety net that's in place to prevent people from going hungry is capturing more and more people in their time of need.

If anything, however, this report helps show where our safety net is falling short — and where it can be strengthened.

Learn more…
 

Danielle Pagano McGunagle is the Director of Communications & Marketing at the Food Bank For New York City.