Dr. Bryce Lowery, an Associate Professor of Regional and City Planning, collaborated with Dr. Madison Swayne, Dr. Iana Castro, and doctoral student Jessica Embry of San Diego State University to explore food security issues in the San Diego County area. Their work was published in Preventing Chronic Disease, a peer-reviewed journal sponsored by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The team worked to identify how the availability of stores that accept Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) payments, authorized by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP), changed with long-standing patterns of food insecurity during the pandemic. SNAP is a federal program that provides food-purchasing assistance to individuals and families in low-income communities. Many people receive this assistance through the EBT system, which allows state welfare departments to issue benefits electronically.
Through their research, the team discovered that the loss of EBT stores had a stronger impact on food access for residents in low-income communities than in communities that face fewer financial hardships. To learn more about this research and read the full publication, click here.
Citation: Lowery BC, Swayne MR, Castro I, Embury J. Mapping EBT 2022. Store Closures During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Low-Income, Food-Insecure Community in San Diego. Preventing Chronic Disease. 19: E37.