3509 Debolt Road
Cincinnati, OH 45244
Expanding Access to Food for Families and Children
Grant Application:
These funds will help support IPM's programs which expand access to food for families and children in need, including our Choice/Drive-Through Food Pantries, Mobile Food Pantries, and IPM's Food Resource Hub. These programs reach food insecure families who live in a portion of eastern Hamilton County, Clermont County and Brown County, Ohio.
Grant funding was requested to support the operations and outreach activities of IPM. This included: (1) the continued sourcing of fresh produce and nutritional food products (whole grains, lean meats and low-fat dairy products) for its client choice and drive-through food pantries (in Amelia and Newtown), (2) new mobile and pop-up pantry events (in targeted neighborhoods and food deserts), and (3) the promotion of greater inter-agency cooperation and resource sharing through the Food Resource Hub.
Grant Evaluation Report:
The year 2022 proved a challenging year in terms of increased community need. Growing inflationary pressure and recessionary fears have added a complicating factor for local emergency food relief agencies. Escalating housing costs (where in the Cincinnati metropolitan area the percent increase in average rent expense year-over-year has been among the highest in the nation) have contributed to increased financial distress in the community and increased household food insecurity (as households reduce their food expenditures, and nutritional intake, in order to cover the increased costs of housing). Many households that formerly considered themselves food secure are now experiencing greater hardship and uncertainty.
IPM has responded to the increased need for charitable aid through its ongoing food pantry operations and various outreach activities. Funds awarded through the Dater Foundation were received at a critical moment (just as the community need began to significantly increase). One of the challenges of an increasingly inflationary environment is the effect that it has on households that previously considered themselves food secure. For many of these households, sudden episodic experiences of food insecurity can be severely disorienting. It also reflects the degree to which food insecurity closely correlates with income volatility and a lack of liquidity (and not just poverty per se). The importance of this distinction is that many households experiencing sudden food insecurity may find that they lack the qualifying income for government nutrition programs (and would altogether lack access to supplemental food resources without the continued presence of IPM in the community).
In 2022, IPM recorded 70,321 individual pantry visits and the distribution of 1,002,394 pounds of food (compared to approximately 61,000 individual pantry visits and the distribution of 867,000 pounds of food in 2021). This represents an increase of more than 15 percent from 2021 (in both individual pantry visits and total food distributed). In 2023 (through April 2023), IPM has recorded 20,605 individual pantry visits and the distribution of 311,838 pounds of food.
Through its mobile and pop-up pantry operations, IPM expanded food access through the elimination of geographic distance barriers for high-need populations and those residing within local food deserts. Targeted sites included affordable housing communities, churches, and schools in rural Appalachia. In 2022, IPM hosted 68 mobile and pop-up pantries (impacting 5,623 households). Through April 2023, IPM has hosted an additional 27 mobile and pop-up pantries.
The Dater Foundation was of vital importance in supporting the Food Resource Hub at IPM. In 2020, IPM established, in collaboration with the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, a Food Resource Hub. Within this model, IPM operates as a Food Resource Hub for other community service agencies and schools, allowing these organizations to access, as needed, IPM food resources for their respective client bases (as well as personal care essentials that cannot be purchased with SNAP benefits). In 2022, IPM distributed 139,788 pounds of food to 44 partner agencies. Through April 2023, IPM has distributed an additional 47,377 pounds to food to 22 agencies.