Eliminating the Burden of School Meal Debt

Through collaboration among community members, local school districts, the Kansas State Department of Education, and beyond, Kansans can identify long-term solutions that work for them and relieve the burden of school meal debt. Read our brief to learn more about school meal debt and how to address school meal debt policies.

Hunger in South-Central Kansas

To analyze hunger in South-Central Kansas, Kansas Appleseed focused on data and community insights from the following counties: Barber, Butler, Comanche, Cowley, Edwards, Harper, Harvey, Kingman, Kiowa, Marion, McPherson, Pratt, Reno, Sedgwick, Stafford, and Sumner.  According to the report, low SNAP participation, state policy, and transportation issues are key barriers to addressing hunger in Southeast Kansas.

Hunger in Southeast Kansas

Despite being the largest and most effective program for reducing hunger, SNAP participation has decreased consistently in Southeast Kansas while food insecurity remains high. This report follows a series of community conversations on hunger and examines food accessibility in the following 10 counties: Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Labette, Montgomery, Neosho, Wilson and Woodson

​Hunger in Southwest Kansas

Learn about  barriers to food access faced by many Southwest Kansans–particularly immigrants and their families who make up 25% of the Southwest Kansas population–as well as opportunities to improve outcomes.

COVID-19 and Hunger in Kansas

This report examines how hunger and hardship in Kansas were impacted by COVID-19 and explores opportunities for policymakers to respond to hunger not just during the pandemic and its recovery period, but in the years to come. 

Barriers to SNAP in Kansas

SNAP reduces hunger, improves dietary intake, bolsters local economies, and lifts people out of poverty. Kansas created barriers making the program difficult for people to access and exacerbating racial disparities. These barriers are unfair and unjust and make it harder for Kansans who are struggling to make ends meet.​

Reducing Childhood Hunger in Kansas

In 2016, Kansas Appleseed released "Reducing Childhood Hunger in Kansas," a report outlining what contributes to childhood hunger in Kansas and what steps we can take at state and local levels to reduce hunger. We've updated this report to reflect current data. Kansas has made strides in some areas–such as increased participation in the Summer Food Service Program and School Breakfast–but there is still room to grow: Nearly one in five (18.3%) of Kansas kids is food insecure. 
We're working to:
  • Connect more Kansans with food assistance (SNAP)
  • Help more Kansas kids access healthy, affordable summer meals
  • Help increase nutrition program participation in the Kansas's largest district, Wichita-USD 259
  • Engage more Kansans in anti-hunger advocacy​
  • Advocate for Medicaid expansion