FOOD EQUITY

DATA PROJECT –
PRODUCE GOOD
Lindsey Olamendi Smith
Nadia Gloag
Jennifer Rojas
 Partner Organization

Mission statement: “Build an active and

engaged community committed to finding
sustainable solutions to alleviate hunger,
reclaim and repurpose waste and promote the
health and well-being of all.”

“Because 40% of all food goes to waste, and

because 1 in 5 people in San Diego County is
food insecure. By harvesting the extra bounty
of San Diego County and delivering to those in
need, we are solving the problem of hunger
and waste in one sweet step.”

“Produce Good.” Produce Good, producegood.org/.

Statistical Analysis

Time to look at the SNAP Policy Database statistics!

Why was this data collected?

Because SNAP is federally funded, and it is necessary
to track federal funding. It can show how beneficial the
SNAP program is to people, and keeps track of what
people are using and benefiting from SNAP the most.
This allows the government to make an informed
decision on whether or not they should continue to
fund SNAP.
 More Stats Analysis
Some Important Variables:
certearn: the proportion of people in a state or
region using SNAP for a period of time
certeld: same as certearn, but with elderly people
certnonearn: same as certearn, but with
non-earning and nonelderly people
noncit: all legal noncitizens who apply for other
SNAP eligibility requirements - Coding description:
range = 0, 1, where 0 = no and 1 = yes
How was the data collected?
The data was supplied by the United
States Department of Agriculture's Food
and Nutrition Service.
When was the data collected?
The data was collected every month from
January 1996 through September 2016
 Summary Statistics – certearnavg

The minimum average proportion of people in the US using SNAP is 3.06%.

min 3.055555556 This proportion was found in Delaware in 2015.

q1 6.076064825 The 25th percentile of the proportion of people in the US using SNAP is 6.08%

med 7.755425685 The average proportion of people across the US using SNAP is 7.76%

mean 8.63489749 The average proportion of people across the US using SNAP is 8.63%

q3 11.83845826 The 75th percentile of the proportion of people in the US using SNAP is 11.84%

The maximum average proportion of people in the US using SNAP is 15.17%.

This proportion was found in South Dakota in 2007. Many of the highest
max 15.17290878 proportions of people using SNAP were found in South Dakota.
 Summary Statistics – certeldavg
The minimum average proportion of elderly people in the US using SNAP is 7.25%. This
min 7.253339291 proportion was found in New Hampshire in 2005.

q1 11.65983187 The 25th percentile of the proportion of people in the US using SNAP is 11.66%

med 13.33333333 The average proportion of elderly people across the US using SNAP is 13.33%
The average proportion of elderly people across the US using SNAP is 15.63%

The wide difference between the median and the mean means that some states over some
mean 15.63100255 years have had very high proportions of elderly people relying on SNAP.

q3 19.88615131 The 75th percentile of the proportion of elderly people in the US using SNAP is 19.89%

The maximum average proportion of elderly people in the US using SNAP is 50.95%. This
proportion was found in Mississippi in 2016. This means that in 2016, about half of Mississippi's
elderly population was reliant on SNAP! Many of the highest proportions of elderly people in the
max 50.94706345 US using SNAP was found in Mississippi between 2013 and 2016.
 Summary Statistics – certnonearnavg
The minimum average proportion of non-earning, nonelderly people in the US using SNAP is 4.535%.
This proportion was found in Arizona in 1999. Many of the lowest averages of non-earning, nonelderly
min 4.534513197 people using SNAP were found in Arizona in 1999 and 2000.

q1 7.810400963 The 25th percentile of the proportion of non-earning, nonelderly people in the US using SNAP is 7.81%

med 10.69439843 The average proportion of non-earning, nonelderly people across the US using SNAP is 10.69%
The average proportion of non-earning, nonelderly people across the US using SNAP is 10.54%

Because the median and the mean are very close, we can deduce that there have been no extremely
high proportions of non-earning, nonelderly people across the US using SNAP, or, if there were, there
mean 10.54447378 were also extremely low proportions.
The 75th percentile of the proportion of non-earning, nonelderly people in the US using SNAP is
q3 12.54725025 12.55%

The maximum average proportion of non-earning, nonelderly people in the US using SNAP is 20.82%.
This proportion was found in New York in 2014. Many of the highest average proportions of
max 20.82428551 non-earning, nonelderly people in the US using SNAP were found in New York.
Graphing

From this graph we can

see that the number of
people that rely on
SNAP has been
gradually increasing
through the years.
The equation shows that
every year that passes
we can expect to see
about an increase of
.139% of the population
using SNAP.
 LIMITATIONS

One limitation was that there were no races listed. This is a limitation because we couldn’t properly
analyze the impact of inequities in different races and which races are most affected.

Another limitation is the age. Since there is a lack of age and age differences it doesn’t properly show
which age is most affected by this and which ages need to be more focused on.

One improvement we would make to the analysis would be to narrow down the data. Our reasoning is
that there was too much data to interpret, which created confusion for the interpretation. Next time, we
would hope to be more specific with the data.
 POLICY AND COMMUNITY
IMPLICATIONS
One way that the local leaders can help food aid is watching fraud.The reducement of fraud would help
greatly in this situation. Local leaders should focus on this because of how fraud can give people their unfair
share of food aid. To distribute evenly, fraud should be more focused on so everyone has the same amount
of food aid.

Another way to help with food insecurity is by schools. School directors can help with food insecurity
by enforcing/ introducing the idea of bringing packaged goods to school. For example, when a student brings
in these goods, they can receive extra credit for a class to feel more motivated to do it. This is a win-win
situation because all of these students are inspired to bring food and the people who are suffering are
receiving the goods.
THANK YOU!

Fin