Final Project: SCAP

Jessica Bushaw

Arizona State University

OGL 350 Section 86982- 86983

Dr. Kermit Brown

November 27, 2022

 The children that reside within the country of Maricopa in Arizona are dealing with food

insecurity at a rate that is higher than the national average. On average in 2020, 16.8% of

children are food insecure, meaning that they are unsure where their next meal will come from or

when it will be (Feeding America, 2020). This is greater than the national average of 12.5%

(Food Assessment Coordination Team, 2019). Food insecurity can have a huge impact on

children mentally, emotionally, and physically and can even lead to them doing worse in school

due to their inaccessibility of adequate food and meals to nourish themselves and grow. To

combat this, an organization created called FICM which stands for Food Insecure Children of

Maricopa created an action plan to combat food insecurity for children within Maricopa by

creating an afterschool meal distribution program that allows any child under the age of 18 to

receive a free afterschool meal at any functional public school within Maricopa County.

Children need to be able to have a reliable source of food and meals in order to fuel them

to continue to grow. Studies show that children are one of the most impacted demographics for

food insecurity, and can have increasingly concerning negative impacts on growth and potential

later in life. These impacts can include “increased hospitalizations, poor health, iron deficiency,

developmental risk, and behavior problems, primarily aggression, anxiety, depression, and

attention deficit disorder”,” increase children’s risk of poor school readiness, poor school

performance and subsequent health disparities and poverty”, and ” associations between

household food insecurity and low scores on measures of health, behavioral functioning, and

academic performance” (Maureen Blac, 2012).

The afterschool program created by FICM would allow any child under the age of 18 to

receive a free afterschool meal that they have the option of taking home or eating in the cafeteria

on public school premises during the week. The distribution of these meals would be in the
cafeteria or they could be prepackaged to distribute while children are exiting the classroom for

the day. Doing this would provide an accessible opportunity for children that are food insecure to

receive a free meal after school to contribute to their health and well-being. To receive the food,

there would be partnerships with the St. Mary’s food banks located across the valley and with the

Fry’s Marketplace grocery stores to receive a balanced supply of food from these organizations,

whether it be a portion of their donations at the food bank or the grocery stores able to donate

food that they deem is not visually appealing to sell but is still nutritionally healthy and not gone

bad. There could also be partnerships with local restaurants to donate food that they do not sell

within a day and is not on the verge of expiring to be included in the meals.

In addition to the partnerships around the valley, there would also be an increase for

education taxes within Maricopa County, to be increased 1% and allocated towards this program

to secure the funds and availability of staff and food to continue with the program. By doing this

it not only secures funding and availability, but the program continuing to exist will help

decrease the percentage of food insecure children within Maricopa County to encourage the

development of children’s full potential. Children at any elementary, middle, or high school

would be able to participate in this program to secure a solid meal after school. People over the

age of 18 would not be able to participate since the program targets children specific food

insecurity.

The biggest threat to this program would be the inability to secure funding or donations

to the program in the form of money or food in order to distribute to children. Another threat is

an agricultural threat of crops failing to grow or there being a national food shortage. In these

circumstances, the program is at risk because it depends on funding, food, and distribution

availability in order to function and secure meals for at risk children that are in Maricopa County
schools. To combat this, the program could possibly adapt to giving nonperishable food instead

of an entirely hot or cold meal. While not quite as nutritious, it would still be a secure method of

children being able to have access to a meal after school for sports, homework, and overall

growth.

The long term implications of this program if successful would be that it is something

that could be adopted statewide or even nationwide. As a whole, the United States of America

does have a problem of food insecurity with children and if states and school systems adopted

this program by local partnering or raising taxes then it could have a positive impact on the

national percentage of children who are impacted by food insecurity. By ensuring that children

have access to food and nutrients, it secures the development and growth of the next generation

of people to live within the United States of America and creates a better society overall by

allowing people to live up to their full potential and not be bogged down by environmental or

financial factors that negatively impact a human function of needing sustenance to survive.

Food Insecure Children of Maricopa and the afterschool meal program serves as a

community pillar to promote the growth and development of children within the community. By

doing this, we place value in the upcoming generation of people by allowing them the space to

develop, grow, think, and not be held back by not having access to food or a hot meal. Delivering

accessibility to an afterschool meal to all children under the age of 18 living in Maricopa County

will decrease the amount of food insecure children in Maricopa through local partnerships, taxes,

and stable timelines of food distribution.

References

Feeding America. (2020). Food Insecurity among Child (<18 years) Population in Maricopa

County. Retrieved from Feeding America:

https://map.feedingamerica.org/county/2020/child/arizona/county/maricopa

Food Assessment Coordination Team. (2019, 09). A Comprehensive Food Assessment for

Maricopa County. Retrieved from Vitalyst Health:

http://vitalysthealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/MARCO_Report_V5.pdf

Kotlowitz, A., & James, S. (Directors). (2011). The Interrupters [Motion Picture].

Maureen Blac, P. (2012, 06). Household food insecurities: Threats to children’s well-being.

Retrieved from American Psychology Association:

https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/indicator/2012/06/household-food-insecurities