Food Safety Nets Are Straining Under Economic Meltdown

Beyond the gleaming office towers overlooking I-95 in Stamford and the pleasure boats that frequent the city’s marinas, thousands of city residents are struggling with hunger, a situation worsened by the pandemic. Severe food needs in Stamford, which has the most COVID-19 cases in Connecticut, reflect the state and national food emergency wrought by record unemployment. Consistent with the national experience, Latino and black residents, who comprise about 40% of the city’s population, are disproportionately contracting COVID-19 and losing low-wage work. Latinos comprise 26% (33,000) of Stamford’s population, blacks 14% (17,000). The Brookings Institution has reported that more than one in five households nationally were food insecure by the end of April.

Long Live The Rich!

Charter Oak Health Center sits in Hartford’s Frog Hollow neighborhood – one of the city’s poorest. In an area where the median household income hovers around $17,000, Lorraine Reardon sees health issues – obesity, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol – that are connected, at least partially, to poor diet. Reardon started work at the center as a dietitian in 2002. She focused on people who were HIV-positive, or people with AIDS, but health center doctors began referring patients to her regardless of their diagnosis. “A lot of people are trying to make ends meet with $200 a month,” Reardon said.