IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i21p11350-d667263.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Did School Meal Access Change during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Two-Step Floating Catchment Area Analysis of a Large Metropolitan Area

Author

Listed:
  • Jason Jabbari

    (Social Policy Institute, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA)

  • Yung Chun

    (Social Policy Institute, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA)

  • Pranav Nandan

    (Social Policy Institute, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA)

  • Laura McDermott

    (Social Policy Institute, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA)

  • Tyler Frank

    (Social Policy Institute, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA)

  • Sarah Moreland-Russell

    (Social Policy Institute, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA)

  • Dan Ferris

    (Social Policy Institute, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA)

  • Stephen Roll

    (Social Policy Institute, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA)

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) resulted in school closures and contingencies across the U.S. that limited access to school meals for students. While some schools attempted to provide alternative meal access points where students or parents could pick up meals, many students—especially those in low-income households—lacked adequate transportation to these access points. Thus, physical proximity to meal access points was particularly important during the pandemic. In this study, we explore how school meal access changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as it relates to race/ethnicity and socio-economic status. Taking into account both the “supply” (meal access points) and the “demand” (low-income students) for free meals, we employed a two-step floating catchment area analysis to compare meal accessibility in St. Louis, Missouri before and during the pandemic in the spring and summer of 2019 and 2020. Overall, while school meal access decreased during the spring of 2020 during the early months of the pandemic, it increased during the summer of 2020. Moreover, increased access was greatest in low-income areas and areas with a higher proportion of Black residents. Thus, continuing new policies that expanded access to school meals—especially for summer meal programs—could lead to positive long-term impacts on children’s health and well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Jason Jabbari & Yung Chun & Pranav Nandan & Laura McDermott & Tyler Frank & Sarah Moreland-Russell & Dan Ferris & Stephen Roll, 2021. "How Did School Meal Access Change during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Two-Step Floating Catchment Area Analysis of a Large Metropolitan Area," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-17, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11350-:d:667263
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11350/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11350/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rahkovsky, Ilya & Snyder, Samantha, 2015. "Food Choices and Store Proximity," Economic Research Report 210316, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Kuhn, Michael A., 2018. "Who feels the calorie crunch and when? The impact of school meals on cyclical food insecurity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 27-38.
    3. Rhone, Alana & Ver Ploeg, Michele & Williams, Ryan & Breneman, Vince, 2019. "Understanding Low-Income and Low-Access Census Tracts Across the Nation: Subnational and Subpopulation Estimates of Access to Healthy Food," Economic Information Bulletin 289136, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    4. Gordanier, John & Ozturk, Orgul & Williams, Breyon & Zhan, Crystal, 2020. "Free Lunch for All! The Effect of the Community Eligibility Provision on Academic Outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Kim, Kyusik & Ghorbanzadeh, Mahyar & Horner, Mark W. & Ozguven, Eren Erman, 2021. "Identifying areas of potential critical healthcare shortages: A case study of spatial accessibility to ICU beds during the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 478-486.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Amanda A. Harb & Katherine J. Roberts & Julia E. McCarthy & Pamela A. Koch, 2022. "Comparison of Missing School Meals among Public Schools: How Did New York State Do during COVID-19?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-11, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marcus, Michelle & Yewell, Katherine G., 2022. "The Effect of Free School Meals on Household Food Purchases: Evidence from the Community Eligibility Provision," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    2. Melissa Goodman & Jessica Thomson & Alicia Landry, 2020. "Food Environment in the Lower Mississippi Delta: Food Deserts, Food Swamps and Hot Spots," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-13, May.
    3. Jin, Tanhua & Cheng, Long & Wang, Kailai & Cao, Jun & Huang, Haosheng & Witlox, Frank, 2022. "Examining equity in accessibility to multi-tier healthcare services across different income households using estimated travel time," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 1-13.
    4. Bastian, Nathaniel D. & Swenson, Eric R. & Ma, Linlin & Na, Hyeong Suk & Griffin, Paul M., 2017. "Incentive contract design for food retailers to reduce food deserts in the US," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 87-98.
    5. Dan He & Zixuan Chen & Shaowei Ai & Jing Zhou & Linlin Lu & Ting Yang, 2021. "The Spatial Distribution and Influencing Factors of Urban Cultural and Entertainment Facilities in Beijing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-21, November.
    6. Cotti, Chad D. & Gordanier, John M. & Ozturk, Orgul D., 2020. "Hunger pains? SNAP timing and emergency room visits," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Marks, Mindy & Prina, Silvia & Gernhardt, Roy, 2023. "Government Shutdown and SNAP Disbursements: Effects on Household Expenditures," IZA Discussion Papers 16452, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Dahan, Momi & Sayag, Doron, 2024. "Scarcity and consumption priorities," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    9. Krista Ruffini & Orgül Öztürk & Pelin Pekgün, 2023. "In-Kind Government Assistance and Crowd-Out of Charitable Services: Evidence from Free School Meals," CESifo Working Paper Series 10763, CESifo.
    10. Ollinger, Michael & Ver Ploeg, Michele & Dicken, Chris, 2021. "Super Stores’ Impact on the Availability of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Approved Stores," Economic Research Report 327192, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    11. Lin, Jie & Cromley, Gordon, 2023. "Using the transportation problem to build a congestion/threshold constrained spatial accessibility model," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    12. Davis, Will & Kreisman, Daniel & Musaddiq, Tareena, 2023. "The Effect of Universal Free School Meals on Child BMI," IZA Discussion Papers 16387, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Elina T Page & Elizabeth Larimore & John A Kirlin & Mark Denbaly, 2019. "The National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey: Innovations and Research Insights," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(2), pages 215-234, June.
    14. Zhang, Junyi & Hayashi, Yoshitsugu, 2022. "Research frontier of COVID-19 and passenger transport: A focus on policymaking," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 78-88.
    15. Jessica E. Todd & Lisa Mancino & Brandon J. Restrepo & Claudine Kavanaugh & Chris Dicken & Vince Breneman, 2021. "Food Away From Home And Caloric Intake: The Role Of Restaurant Menu Labeling Laws," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(1), pages 53-71, January.
    16. repec:ags:aaea22:335700 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Cuadros-Meñaca, Andres & Thomsen, Michael R. & Nayga, Rodolfo M., 2022. "The effect of breakfast after the bell on student academic achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    18. Helms, Veronica E & Coleman-Jensen, Alisha & Gray, Regina & Brucker, Debra L, 2020. "Household Food Insecurity and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Federal Housing Assistance," Economic Research Report 327205, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    19. Sam Sims, 2021. "The impact of timing of benefit payments on children's outcomes," CEPEO Briefing Note Series 11, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, revised Feb 2021.
    20. Xiaowei Cai & Richard Volpe & Christiane Schroeter & Lisa Mancino, 2018. "Food retail market structure and produce purchases in the United States," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(4), pages 756-770, October.
    21. Chenarides, Lauren & Jaenicke, Edward C., 2016. "Store Choice and Consumer Behavior in Food Deserts: An Empirical Application of the Distance Metric Method," 2017 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 6-8, 2017, Chicago, Illinois 250118, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11350-:d:667263. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.