A new poll finds food security has improved in the High Point area in the last five years, but there are concerns those gains might not last.
A 2015 national poll was a wake-up call for many in the region after it found food insecurity in Greensboro and High Point was higher than almost anywhere in the country.
The next year High Point University conducted its own poll of five ZIP codes in and around the city. A repeat poll this year found big improvements. Fourteen percent reported hardships in getting food, down from 23 percent in 2016.
Rev. Joe. Blosser is the Culp Director of Service Learning at High Point University and was a founding board member of the High Point Food Alliance. He says philanthropic efforts such as backpack programs helped. But it will take a sustained effort to continue the progress.
"We have major discrepancies and inequalities in our community, and we need to be talking about and thinking about how to close those gaps,” he says.
Blosser says pandemic relief assistance also helped people get access to food, and that part of the solution is coming to an end.