1,561,360 people in Georgia struggle with hunger - 523,470 of them are children (17).
Although the national rate of food insecurity, as measured in 2015, hovers around 13%, those rates can double or even triple those measures in households with children or single mother households, as well as for African American and Hispanic individuals and families.
Approximately 755,400 people in the metro Atlanta area need to feed themselves though meal service programs and food pantries (16).
The Atlanta area is composed of extremes – low poverty rates in the north, high poverty rates in the south. In Fulton County alone, almost 19% of households are food insecure. And in Macon, Terrell, and Hancock counties, the rates of food insecurity near almost 25%. Food insecurity can be seen particularly in and around downtown Atlanta, but it must also be noticed that apparently highly food secure suburbs surrounding Atlanta are also facing a rapid growth in food insecurity (15).
