Visualizing Food Insecurity Risk for South Carolina
Challenge
Food insecurity is pervasive in the United States, driven by systemic factors like poverty, the failure of wages to keep up with the cost of living, neighborhood disinvestment that limits food access, sputtering rural economies, and a relatively weak social safety net. In South Carolina, the issue is particularly acute: 14.4% of households are food insecure, ranking the state 7th worst nationally. Despite the scale of food insecurity in South Carolina, a lack of detailed, local data makes it difficult for leaders to fully understand the specific program and to design targeted solutions that address food insecurity’s root causes.
Solution
To address this gap, Openfields partnered with Food is Medicine South Carolina (FiMSC) and Furman University’s Institute for the Advancement of Community Health (IACH) to develop the South Carolina Food Insecurity Risk Map – an innovative planning tool that visualizes local-level food insecurity risk alongside relevant demographic, health outcome, and community resource data.
Since no direct measure of food insecurity is reported below the state level, Openfields developed the South Carolina Food Insecurity Risk Index to estimate risk using publicly available data from the U.S. Census. The Index’s construction was informed by a comprehensive review of academic research to identify factors shown to have a causal relationship with food insecurity. Based on the review, Openfields identified four domains of risk, each of which is measured using two variables, shown below.
As a planning tool, Openfields designed the SC Food Insecurity Risk Map to challenge users to view food insecurity risk through multiple lenses, namely by differentiating between the areas where people are most likely to experience food insecurity and those where the highest number of individuals are potentially affected. To achieve this, Openfields constructed the SC Food Insecurity Risk Index using two complementary methods:
- Rate Index: This measure consists of the percentage of the total population that meets the criteria for each risk variable. It represents the likelihood that residents of a given area experience food insecurity risk relative to other areas.
- Count Index: This measure uses the number of people who meet the criteria for each risk variable to reflect the potential burden of food insecurity in a given area.
To better allow local stakeholders to understand food insecurity risk and use the index for planning in their own areas, Openfields developed a StoryMap that explains the key concepts and allows users to explore the data on their own.
Impact
The SC Food Insecurity Risk Map equips stakeholders across South Carolina—including service providers, advocates, policymakers, and community leaders—with a powerful resource to pinpoint and address food insecurity risk. By providing local-level data, it empowers communities to:
- Identify areas of high food insecurity risk and disease burden
- Design localized, upstream strategies that address root causes like transportation barriers and economic instability
- Advocate for more equitable investments and policies to reduce food insecurity both within their community and across the state
About Food is Medicine SC
Food is Medicine South Carolina is a statewide network of partners working to develop a coordinated approach for integrating healthy food access policy, system, and environmental strategies in the health care system throughout South Carolina
