Food insecure individuals may be unable to reach the food they need, particularly if they live in a more well-off area, according to a new study from the University of Georgia.

The study team worked with the nine regional food banks across Georgia to gather data from surveys and focus groups at the more than 2,000 food pantries in the state. Researchers found:

• There were fewer food pantries in areas with less poverty, which meant people experiencing food insecurity had a harder time getting the food they needed. 
• North and northeast metro Atlanta were the most underserved areas. Poverty was a little less concentrated and more dispersed, so there weren't as many agencies available to help.
• Although many food insecure individuals lived in the southern half of the Atlanta metro area, income levels tended to be lower, so there were also a lot of agencies there serving those populations.
• Many people who relied on food banks did not have vehicles, which made reaching aid organizations even harder.
• Many food banks were understaffed.

Allowing more collaboration between food banks could make it easier to bridge gaps in underserved areas, the researchers said. 

“If we could think about these agencies not just as an immediate source of food in that moment but as places that can connect people to the kinds of social services that provide a more robust safety net for them, that can also be really useful,” said Jerry Shannon, the corresponding author of the study and an associate professor in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.