Extension Brown County » FoodWIse

Food Access and Planning

SNAP Emergency Allotment ending

February 2023 is the last month Wisconsin will issue emergency allotment benefits. Starting March 2023, FoodShare households will only receive their normal FoodShare benefits. FoodShare participants do NOT have to spend all of their benefits each month. They have up to 1 year from the day the benefits were loaded on their Quest card to use them. This means they can save some for later use.
See more resources here.

Video message: Spanish, English, Hmong

2022 Food Security Report

Download the 2022 Food Security Report here.
Extension Brown County partnered with seven Brown County food pantries to conduct the United States Department of Agriculture Food Security Survey with additional localized questions. The USDA Food Security Survey is a validated survey tool used to calculate household summary measures of food security. The additional localized questions were developed and reviewed by community partners with the goal of understanding priority areas in food access in Brown County. The purpose of this project was to develop a deeper understanding of why community members in Brown County might not be able to access the food they need.

Healthy Food Pantry Initiative

Are you or your organization interested in supporting the over 30 food pantries in Brown County?
The Food Drive 5 Toolkit makes it easy! This guide will help you learn why donating nutritious foods can make a difference to local residents. This guide can show you how to make a healthy donation, whether through an individual purchase or an organized drive. When we come together to help our neighbors, we can make Brown County a healthy and thriving community!

The goal of the Safe & Healthy Food Pantries Project is to improve access to and availability of adequate, appropriate, safe & nutritious food for low-income people who utilize food pantries. This goal is accomplished through the development of a guide for coordinators and volunteers of client choice food pantries to make improvements in the food pantry environment. This guide was informed by information captured through surveys and focus groups of food pantry clients, staff, and volunteers of six pantries in Wisconsin and is complemented by research-informed recommendations and best practices for improving the food environment.

Extension FoodWIse and UWGB Professional Social Work Program Food Security Study

The Brown County FoodWIse is committed to making our community more food secure. The USDA defines "food security" as: "When all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient food to meet their dietary needs for a productive and healthy life." To create a food secure community, we need to increase the availability of food assistance programs that enhance dignity, self-sufficiency, choice and access to food through normal channels; such as farmers markets and grocers.

The following documents provide an in-depth look at food security in our community and what we can do to help those that are food insecure become more food secure:

2016 Food Insecurity, Barriers, and Possible Solutions - Survey of Brown County At Risk Households

Food Pantry Usage Trends

Brown County Food Pantry Usage Trends-Usage trends and data of Brown County food pantries for several years.

Interactive Tools & Databases

American Fact Finder - U.S. Census Bureau - An interactive tool that allows you to perform custom queries on U.S. Census Bureau data. Select the geographic region and economic indicators you want to study to learn more about economic and food security trends at the local, state and national level.

Feeding America Map the Meal Gap - An interactive tool that shows food insecurity levels by state and county.

Food Security Project- The Wisconsin Food Security Project provides state and local information about food security and its underlying foundations in Wisconsin. The project promotes food security by empowering planners, policymakers, and local stakeholders to identify strengths, risk factors, and gaps in their communities.

PLACES- The PLACES Project is a collaboration between CDC, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), and the CDC Foundation (CDCF). PLACES will allow counties, places, and local health departments regardless of population size and urban-rural status to better understand the burden and geographic distribution of health-related outcomes in their jurisdictions and assist them in planning public health interventions.

Food Security Websites and Documents

The following websites and documents can help us understand food security and teach us ways to help our community as a whole become more food secure.

Brown County Living Wage Calculator - Find out the calculated costs for single individuals and families to live in Brown County.

FRAC Hunger and Obesity Research - The Food Research and Action Center shows the link between the hunger and obesity.

USDA Annual Report on Food Security in the U.S. - The USDA's Economic Research Service provides national and state statistics on food security based on annual food security data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau as a supplement to the Current Population Survey.