By 2019, as state leaders talked about setting an ambitious goal to end hunger in Maine, the number of people experiencing food insecurity had been creeping up for years.

At the time, 167,000 people across the state struggled to afford food. Among them were more than 44,000 children.

Hunger prevention advocates and state leaders saw a path forward for Maine, which has one of the highest food insecurity rates in New England. Setting goals to bolster economic security, ensure equitable access to food, better understand poverty and harness federal programs, they created a strategic “Roadmap to End Hunger by 2030.”

Maine was among the first states to develop this type of plan and is considered a leader in that work, said Anna Korsen, co-chair of the state’s Ending Hunger Advisory Committee.

Despite several years of work with some big wins, including providing free meals for all students, at least 25,000 more Mainers are experiencing food insecurity than in 2019. The state’s rate is now 13.8% — the highest it’s been in a decade, according to Feeding America.

Those involved with the plan say they remain optimistic that Maine can reach its goal, but it will have to overcome new challenges, including historic cuts to federal nutrition programs.

The work to respond to and prevent hunger, they said, has never been more critical.

“Hunger is a policy choice and we can choose something different,” Korsen said. “It takes significant investment and significant policy change, but I think we can get there.”

FOOD INSECURITY IN MAINE TODAY

Jennifer Richardson’s students at Lewiston Regional Technical Center know they can come to her when they’re hungry. She keeps a drawer stocked with Pop-Tarts and other snacks for students who missed a meal or are too hungry to wait for lunch.

“They know they can ask me for it, no questions asked,” said Richardson, a member of the Ending Hunger in Maine Advisory Committee. “This is a no judgment zone because I know those struggles and it’s OK.”

She is open about her own experiences with hunger — as a young mother, she relied on food stamps to feed her family — and doesn’t want her students to feel ashamed.

“Kids are worrying about things today that they should not have to worry about,” she said. “They worry about how their brothers and sisters are going to eat.”

That worry is felt acutely across Maine, where 11% of households have incomes under the poverty line and another 29% live paycheck to paycheck, said Dan Coyne, who co-chairs the advisory committee and is president of the United Way of Southern Maine.

Many of those who live just above the poverty line are “largely invisible to the system, but the data shows us the families are still struggling,” he said. “They walk a tight rope.”

Food is the second highest cost for households, Coyne said.

“We often say that rent eats first, then the impossible choices come,” he said.

Heather Paquette, president of Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn, said the latest data shows that at least 191,000 Mainers — including 1 in 5 children — are experiencing food insecurity. Food pantries across the state report that demand, which was already high, has increased in the past year as food prices climb and people lose access to assistance programs.

CHARTING A PATH

It took two years of work by hundreds of people to develop the roadmap, which envisions a Maine free from hunger. One of its goals is to have no residents experiencing very low food security and no more than 4% with low food security by 2030.

The roadmap, which was finalized in 2022, takes a two-pronged approach: addressing the urgent need to feed people today and setting people up to feed themselves in the future by ensuring Maine has affordable housing, transportation, thriving wages and access to child care.

“There are a lot of solutions to end hunger in Maine and they’re not all about food,” Korsen said.

In 2021, Maine became one of the first states to offer free school meals for all students. It is one of the few big policy changes associated with the roadmap.

The state has also implemented paid family medical leave, made investments in child care and the child care workforce, and supported ways to increase the housing stock — all efforts advocates said are needed to create the economic stability necessary to end hunger. The state also implemented SUN Bucks, a benefit that provides families with school-aged children $120 per child during the summer to help pay for healthy foods.

Much of the work on the plan has focused on strengthening coordination and collaboration. The Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future last year started an effort to bring together state agencies to better coordinate access to food assistance and leverage funding opportunities, according to an office spokesperson.

FEDERAL CHANGES CREATE CHALLENGES

Last year, the federal government approved the largest cuts in history to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). When announced, Maine officials estimated 30,000 of the 176,000 Mainers who receive SNAP will lose their benefits by the time they are fully implemented.

“While we have set this ambitious goal, the federal government continues to undermine it,” said Alex Carter, a policy advocate with Maine Equal Justice, which has been involved with the initiative. “Already, people in Maine and across the country were struggling to put enough food on the table. Those cuts added more red tape, slashed funding and shifted costs onto states that were already struggling to balance budgets and meet people’s needs.”

Federal cuts are “going to be catastrophic” for Maine and directly impact the state’s efforts to increase food security, Korsen said.

The state’s strategy to end hunger relies on federal programs, including SNAP and Women, Infants and Children (WIC), which are long considered among the most effective ways to increase food security and lift people out of poverty.

A spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future said in an emailed response to questions that “much of our focus over the last few months has turned to minimizing harm.”

The SNAP cuts came on top of other federal changes that impacted Maine last year.

Good Shepherd Food Bank lost $1.2 million in federal funds used to purchase fresh produce from Maine farmers and distribute it to food pantries. The organization also said it saw a 50% reduction in food from the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which provides U.S.-grown food to participating states.

The Trump administration’s new federal budget proposal further reduces SNAP funding, cuts WIC benefits for fresh produce for pregnant and postpartum people and their children, and reduces funding for the SUN Bucks program.

“If federal funding and federal food were stable and people were not losing those safeguard benefits, I believe we would be so much further along in our work to end hunger and achieving the first food-secure state than we are today,” Paquette, from Good Shepherd Food Bank, said.

THE PATH FORWARD

Maine is now focused on mitigating the impact of federal cuts by working to explain SNAP eligibility requirements and how they could affect recipients, according to state officials.

The Maine Legislature this session passed several bills designed to bolster the state’s efforts to address food insecurity.

Among them was LD 2051, which ensures access to SNAP for some people who no longer qualify for federal food assistance benefits, including refugees and asylees, and survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. It allows them to access state-funded benefits if they meet all other eligibility criteria. The cost of the change is minor and will be absorbed by the existing Maine Department of Health and Human Services budget, according to the fiscal note for the bill.

Lawmakers also passed an emergency bill that creates a nearly $88 million contingency fund using money from the state’s general fund to ensure SNAP benefits continue during future federal shutdowns. The legislation was enacted as an emergency measure and placed on the appropriations table to await a funding decision.

In response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture ending its annual household food security report, the Legislature also passed a resolve to study food insecurity in Maine.

Carter, from Maine Equal Justice, said she is encouraged by the progress Maine has made and said that, despite the setbacks from federal cuts, she thinks ending hunger is still “absolutely possible.”

“We’re the wealthiest country in the world,” she said, “and it’s all about priorities.”