MCDC News and Updates

Tag: food

Story Map

Missouri Children and SNAP

Posted on by glenn

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest nutrition assistance program in the United States, providing credits for food purchase to low-income participants and households. Missouri KIDS COUNT is the state data provider for the national KIDS COUNT project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. KIDS COUNT supports children’s well-being by providing data to inform policy and investments.

In 2018, we posted a story map exploring topics including food insecurity and asthma hospitalizations in addition to SNAP benefits. This month’s story map compares the 2018 map for the percentage of children in Missouri households by county that receive SNAP benefits to the most recent corresponding Missouri KIDS COUNT data from 2023.

Missouri Census Data Center partners with MSDIS on mapping and data projects. MSDIS is a spatial data retrieval and archival system offering many mapping resources, primarily focused on the state of Missouri.

Map of the Month

Food Insecurity for Missouri’s Children

Posted on by glenn

One of the most significant changes to daily life that we’ve seen from Missouri’s response to the Coronavirus is the closure of many public school systems. While no state-level order has been put into action, cities and counties from across Missouri have closed their doors and moved to online education. This, in turn, has brought the topic of childhood food insecurity to the forefront of many discussions across Missouri.

This web map, designed by the Missouri Spatial Data Information Service (MSDIS), illustrates the percentage of children, by county, who are faced with such a challenge. With schools now closed for an unknown amount of time, it is more important than ever to keep the reality of childhood hunger in mind.

Missouri childhood food insecurity

The Missouri Census Data Center frequently works with MSDIS on mapping and data projects. MSDIS is a spatial data retrieval and archival system offering many mapping resources, primarily focused on the state of Missouri.