Network To End Hunger Releases Update To Hunger Gap Map For Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas Countie

TAMPA, Fla. - Aug. 12, 2019 - PRLog -- Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger releases update to Hunger Gap Map, which provides an interactive picture of the emergency food supply and demand by zip code in a three-county area – Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties. This free tool is located on the TBNEH website http://www.NetworktoEndHunger.org and is used by thousands of agencies, businesses, and individuals around the bay area to determine areas of greatest need and where to locate services.

"The Hunger Gap Map is an important tool and we see it as a major part of the programmatic solution to hunger," said Caitlyn Peacock, Executive Director. "The purpose of this unique map is to translate food insecurity and direct service provider services into a single map that can be used for decision making and program development."

The latest map update includes new supply and demand analysis, as well as new layers like food insecurity rates (by census tract), missing meals with expanded demographic population information, and ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed).

The map was originally developed seven years ago by a TBNEH work team, in response to an agency and community need of wanting to know the supply and demand of hunger. To complete the analysis, multiple reports were used, including Feeding America's Missing Meal Analysis, which analyzes several variables including the number of food-insecure persons and the cost of food and meals; and Neilsen Companies' In-store scanning and Homescan data, which includes the cost of food index.  The supply and demand was determined by investigating charitable response, or the total number of meals distributed from the emergency food system (including mobile pantries, senior meals, weekend bags for children, food pantries, and hot meal providers), and by tracking the raw number of meals needed.

TBNEH's Hunger Gap Map differs from other hunger maps because it uses an ArcGIS mapping program to show the number of missing meals more specifically, by zip code, rather than by county. Users can customize the map's data to obtain individualized information they can use in their work, research, or grant applications.

Agencies, academia, businesses, and individuals can access the user-friendly TBNEH Hunger Gap Map at http://www.NetworktoEndHunger.org and use the information to help identify what specific programs would be needed to help close the hunger gap in specific areas. This map is an educational tool that can help providers gather the information needed to help expand and/or develop new programs to address need. Community members looking for food or community resources are encouraged to use the Hunger Gap Map to locate services. http://www.NetworktoEndHunger.org