MA Food Equity & Access Report


Massachusetts Annual Statewide Survey on Food Insecurity, Equity & Access

GBFB has conducted annual research since 2020 to examine the prevalence of food insecurity and the barriers to accessing food assistance programs in Massachusetts. This is important to GBFB and our hunger-relief partners so that we can make data-driven, community-based investments and advance priorities that will impact the lives of our most vulnerable neighbors. 

In 2024, GBFB completed its fourth annual statewide food access study in collaboration with Mass General Brigham and funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant facilitated by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). 

2024 Food Equity & Access in Massachusetts: Voices and Solutions from Lived Experience.

Survey Methodology

  • GBFB conducted this statewide independent and anonymous survey of more than 3,000 Massachusetts adults by an online survey research firm, to examine the continued elevated levels of food insecurity 
    households face and their experiences with state and federal nutrition assistance programs. 
  • The survey was originally adapted with the National Food Access and COVID Research Team (NFACT), a collaboration of researchers from 15 states. At the time, GBFB was only one of two food banks leading on statewide research. This is one of the only statewide surveys conducted by a food bank nationwide.  
  • Over the last four years the survey has evolved with input from the state, community, and healthcare partners, including our Health and Research Council. The first two years we measured food insecurity prevalence using USDA’s Six-Item Short Form Food Security Survey Module, for the past two years we measured using the full 18-item USDA Household Food Security Survey Module which allowed us to measure child-level food insecurity and severity of food insecurity. In addition, we have increased our comprehensive approach to evaluating barriers and facilitators to accessing community food assistance programs, WIC, SNAP and Universal School Meals. New this year, the survey was available in Chinese, Portuguese, Haitian Creole in addition to English and Spanish. Also, we asked lived expertise solutions to food insecurity, how much additional money would be required to support food needs, food insecurity among seniors and college students, experiences with universal school meals, barriers and facilitators to participation in WIC and county-level data.
  • This survey included demographic quotas based on the American Community Survey from the Census Bureau for income, gender, race/ethnicity, age, education, and region to ensure we included representation of voices that are historically unheard. 
  • After the data was collected, our research collaborators at Mass General Brigham used a statistical weighting procedure to ensure our estimates were representative of the state’s population based on the Census Data. 

For more information about the design, implementation and presentation of the survey, please reach out to our team at DATA@gbfb.org.  

Previous Food Equity & Access Reports

Other GBFB Publications

Do you have additional questions about the study?

Contact our Business and Data Analytics Team at data@gbfb.org.

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