Analysis of Right to Food in West Virginia

Sustainable Development Internship 2023


Area of Inquiry

Food System Transformation

The Center for Resilient Communities (CRC) has explored the role the food system plays in building community resilience at a local, regional, and even global scale. CRC's theories of change are focused on challenging food system inequalities, supporting cooperative structures of equitable food system development, supporting agroecology practices and methods that mitigate climate change and exploitative labor, and work towards food sovereignty and the “right to food” in Appalachia and beyond.

The work completed by the Right to Food Group in the 2023 Spring semester supports the research completed under this area of inquiry.

Energy in Food Justice


Sustainable Development Internship Program (SDI)

The Sustainable Development Internship is designed for undergraduate students who wish to cultivate their leadership and community-based research capacities to contribute to transformative social change in Appalachia. The Sustainable Development Internship provides undergraduate students a space to build confidence and capacity in their search for creative solutions to local and global problems.

The WVU Center for Resilient Communities in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, launched the internship program in 2019 to support professional readiness, community-based research training and provide opportunities for students to engage with community partners in meaningful social action in WV. Since 2019, the CRC and partners have hosted over 80 students and supported 13 community-based organizations that are working to improve access to food, advance environmental conservation, agricultural development, downtown revitalization, health equity and environmental justice. Sustainable Development Interns have hailed from degree programs across the Eberly College of Arts and Science including Geography, Women’s and Gender Studies, Anthropology, Political Science, Biology, International Studies, World Languages and Environmental Geoscience.


Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

In January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development officially came into force. These goals were developed by global leaders in an UN Summit held in September 2015.

Students participating in the Right to Food Group through the SDI program during the Spring 2023 semester aimed to further work within the FJL that will help West Virginians realize their right to food. Emphasizing an effort towards SDG 2, Zero Hunger, with the objective of a hunger-free world coming to fruition by 2030. In pursuing this work, students additionally worked towards goals of no poverty, good health and well-being, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, and peace, justice, and strong institutions.

Click  here  for more information on UN SDGs.


Research Importance

In West Virginia, 20% of people rely on emergency food networks each month to make ends meet, and almost 20% of residents receive SNAP benefits, despite high rates of employment and work ethic in citizens. We see consistently that even those who are working multiple jobs are still struggling to make ends meet.

Much of this problem is historically rooted in colonial oppression, imperialism, and capitalism. In the wake of crises such as the 2008 recession, government shutdowns, and the COVID-19 pandemic, an expansion of charitable food assistance programs as a response to poverty and hunger. These charitable pathways, designed for short term relief, are not adequate in the long-term state of crisis we have been in for decades.

What is right to food?

In framing nutritious food as a human right, we embrace collective responses that tackle the root causes of hunger and poverty long-term. While the right to food is not a recognized legal framework in the US, we can use the frameworks given to us through academic research and international legal frameworks.

For example, the human right to food has been codified under international law since 1948. Over 30 countries have codified the right to food in their constitutions. The US, despite being integral in the creation of the International Covenant on social, cultural, and economic rights, has never ratified the document.

The University of Miami Law School has outlined four aspects of the right to food that must be acknowledged for the right to be fully realized: Adequacy, Availability, Accessibility, and Sustainability. ADEQUACY: Food meets the dietary needs for growth, development, and physical maintenance. ACCESSIBILITY: Food can physically be reached by all folks regardless of age, mobility, race, or crisis. Food is also economically accessible, wherein the cost of food does not force people to forfeit standards of living. AVAILABILITY: A well-functioning food system exists that can get goods from point A to B and food is available for purchase. SUSTAINABILITY: Food production is sustainable for the environment, for health, for our communities, and for the future generations.

All of these categories must also engage with key aspects of political agency and people’s capacity to claim their Right to Food. We used this framework to analyze nutrition assistance programs in West Virginia through a Right to Food lens. 


Nutrition Assistance Programs

The United States has federal agencies that manage some of the largest food programming in the world. There are 15 federal nutrition programs funded by the United States Department of Agriculture. The Right to Food group focused on three major types of interventions: The first was School based Nutrition, as schools are critical nutrition hubs in communities across the state. The second was Senior nutrition programs funded under the Older Americans Act. People 65 and older are a growing percentage of the general population, and West Virginia is the state with the largest percentage of seniors in the country after Florida.  The third were other food access interventions partially funded by federal funds, but which rely heavily on private organizations for implementation such as the Child and Adult Care Food Program, Farmacy programs, SNAP Stretch programs and Summer Food Service. Through research, it was discovered that these are splintered, uncoordinated and their level of implementation varies from place to place, often based on dynamics of uneven development.


Visualization of administration.

National School Lunch Program

School based nutrition programs are administered by the US Department of Agriculture which determines programmatic rules including nutrition guidelines and meal reimbursements rates. The West Virginia Department of Education then contracts with the federal government to administer the program at the state level and works with county school boards to serve meals and process reimbursements. Counties have significant power to determine menus and eligibility through enrollment in the community eligibility provision. WVDE also works with private agencies to implement other programs. These vary significantly in terms of their capacity and budgets. Some are small volunteer organizations, others are highly professionalized social service agencies. Finally, the Summer EBT program provides direct cash assistance to students out of school during the summer months for redemption at food retailers across the state. This program grew out of the Pandemic when school closures across the country forced a rethinking of the adequacy, accessibility, availability, and sustainability of these programs in times of crisis.


SNAP-Ed

Access SNAP-Ed framework  here. 

Another set of programs that were studied in this project are those implemented and supported by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed). Originally created in response to the 1977 Food Stamps Act, SNAP-ED has provided  “nutrition education and obesity prevention for persons eligible for SNAP through the  promotion of healthy food choices and physical activity consistent with the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans.” The SNAP-Ed evaluation framework considers the short, medium, and long term goals for individuals, environmental settings, and sectors of influence. The program has the potential to significantly advance conversations about the Right to Food in WV and experiment with programming that can enhance existing federal nutrition assistance programming. Funding for this program comes through the Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. There is a fixed amount of funding based on the overall level of enrollment of SNAP participants


Next Steps

The Food Justice Lab has and continues to support a national community of practice for the Right to Food in the state, alongside WV Food for All who advocate for policies to improve access to food and strengthen community food security organizations in the state and Voices of Hunger who organize people with lived experience with tools for pedagogy and advocacy to demand their Right to Food through a state constitutional amendment. Moving forward, WV FOODLINK will be undergoing an update to reflect the work that has been conducted throughout the SDI.


Call To Action

VOTE with food in mind. Food is political. It affects all people everywhere. There is a need to re-politicize food & hunger in West Virginia and the US more broadly.

Share testimony, or collect stories from neighbors - if 20% of West Virginians are or have experienced food insecurity, you are likely interacting with people in your everyday lives that struggle. Bring out those struggles. One way to do this is to engage with Voice of Hunger WV that focuses on amplifying the stories and experiences of West Virginians facing food insecurity as a way to advocate for the Right to Food.

Get involved with policy - support for the Office of Community Food Security. It is necessary that state funding to match federal dollars and support more robust programming in WV. Also, ask representatives at all levels of government, local, county, state and national, whether they support the human right to food. Have a conversation about it. Articulate it and shift the narrative on food and hunger away from shame and personal failure toward one that embraces collective responsibility to nourish our communities. 

Visualization of administration.

Access SNAP-Ed framework  here.