At the beginning of the pandemic Bauer, an epidemiologist, worried about the many families who were experiencing hunger as schools and day cares closed, people lost their jobs, and the economy came to a halt. She started working with local and national experts to identify strategies to ensure that all families were able to consistently access nutritious food.

In these conversations, Bauer noticed discrepancies between what families wanted and what food assistance programs provided. At the same time that many families were saying they didn’t have enough food to eat, some programs weren’t being used to their fullest. The underlying problem, she would find out, was simple: The people making decisions about food assistance were not consistently talking with the beneficiaries of these programs.

To address this gap, Bauer and her team developed Feeding MI Families. It began with a focus on Michigan’s urban families supported by a $400,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. With this funding, the project has engaged parents from Detroit, Grand Rapids and Battle Creek who have experienced food hardships, building their capacity for advocacy and community-based research.

Over the remainder of 2022, these parent leaders will conduct surveys and interviews with 750 families in their communities. Of particular importance when working with these urban families, many of whom are Black, Latino, Middle Eastern and/or new immigrants, is how racism and discrimination has affected their ability to access food and food assistance—and what can be done to eliminate these serious barriers to health. The ultimate goal of this work is to develop parent-driven recommendations for food assistance that feeds families with dignity and respect. 

With the Farm Bureau, Bauer’s team will replicate its urban work across Michigan’s 57 rural counties—including every county in the Upper Peninsula and northern lower Michigan. This month, parent leaders from these counties will survey 600 rural Michigan families to document their expertise and ideas for change. The Farm Bureau will use their recommendations as a road map for future investments to eradicate rural child hunger.

“Many Michigan families are still struggling, perhaps even more so than during the early days of COVID-19. The pandemic is ongoing, the federal aid mostly gone, and food prices and gas prices continue to climb,” Bauer said. “Many parents are talking about the current ‘food crisis,’ which they do not expect will end anytime soon. In partnership with the Kellogg Foundation and Michigan Farm Bureau, Feeding MI Families is helping us understand how to move forward and best meet these families’ needs.”