The holiday season is full of time with family and friends, and many people spend this time eating large meals together. The thought of big tables of nutritious food can bring happiness to some, but food insecurity to many others. Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) is hoping to end that divide.
Food insecurity, or the lack of access to healthy and nutritious food, is most common in lower-socio-economic communities that can’t afford healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. Dr. Deland J. Myers Sr., Professor of Food Systems at the PVAM, was recently granted $5.3 million to create a center focused on researching this issue. Students and researchers will be looking at the causes, impacts, and possible solutions of food insecurity. Researchers at the university are hoping to solve this problem in the next three years and start implementing that solution in communities around the nation.
Nearly 11% of the United States is food insecure. Data from the USDA showed that African Americans make up 22.5% of the food insecure population, followed by Hispanics who make up 18% of that population. More than 14% of people in Texas are food insecure, primarily those in underserved communities. The updated research center will make PVAMU the leading researcher of food insecurity in the entire world.
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