Connecticut: Local Impact
Hunger Statistics in Connecticut:
According to this latest data, 14.3% of Connecticut residents—about one in seven people—experienced food insecurity, while 17.0% of children lacked reliable access to enough food. (Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap 2025, based on 2023 estimates.)
That child food insecurity rate represents an estimated 175,864 Connecticut kids (17.0% of the 2023 child population)—enough to fill Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field (40,000 seats) more than four times.
About 516,640 people across Connecticut face hunger. This challenge exists in every county, affecting urban, suburban, and rural communities alike.
Many households experiencing food insecurity earn too much to qualify for federal nutrition programs and instead rely on Connecticut food banks and their network of local partner agencies to meet basic food needs.
Partner Stories
End Hunger Connecticut! Inc.
At Nourishing Neighbors, we believe that no child should have to learn on an empty stomach. Through our funding, we supported statewide efforts in Connecticut to elevate the importance of school breakfast and lunch as essential tools for student well‑being and success. Last year, our investment helped expand outreach to families and communities by equipping school food service leaders with resources shared at parent and community events, while also strengthening partnerships with organizations like the School Nutrition Association of Connecticut, FoodCorps, and the Farm to School Collaborative. Together, these efforts helped raise awareness, reduce stigma, and reinforce the role of nutritious school meals in supporting children every day.
Our funding also helped fuel advocacy and collaboration that reached beyond individual schools and into policy change. By supporting convenings like a child nutrition roundtable that brought school food service directors together with state and national leaders, including the USDA, we helped elevate real‑world experiences from the front lines of school meal service. These conversations helped catalyze a growing, 1,000‑member coalition advocating for universal free school meals in Connecticut—an effort that has already resulted in state funding to provide free meals to all National School Lunch Program schools through June 2023. Through Nourishing Neighbors, we are proud to invest in solutions that not only feed children today, but work toward lasting policy changes that ensure every student has consistent access to the nutrition they need to thrive.
