Three months ago, you left your country fearing for your life.
Now, you're learning to navigate a new city, where the street signs are in a new language. You're learning to navigate social interactions that operate on slightly different rules. You're applying for jobs to support your family. You've figured out how to get to the grocery store that sells food your kids will eat-and how to use food assistance programs to get it.
Except that today, those benefits have unexpectedly stopped working. You have no job, no savings, no broader network of friends. And now, you have no food.
What will you do?
This is the situation that faces many newcomers to the U.S. Incoming refugees face very high levels of food insecurity-up to 85% for particularly vulnerable populations. Now, a new study published in PLOS One identifies unexpected "danger zones" when the risk of going hungry is highest and proposes solutions to help new residents thrive.
Patterns of hunger
Researchers interviewed Utah refugees from eight countries to learn when they were most likely to have trouble affording food-and some of the answers were "shocking," says Nasser Sharareh, PhD, research assistant professor of population health sciences at University of Utah Health and the first author on the study. Most surprisingly, he says, "Finding a job can make refugees more food insecure."
Resettlement agencies heavily focus on empowering refugees to attain financial independence by getting a job. But often, a refugee's first job is unstable and low-paying. Their new income is enough to disqualify them from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP benefits, or food stamps)-but not enough to cover food on top of housing and utilities. And if that first job ends, refugees find themselves back in the deep end.
Another pressure point is when SNAP applications should be renewed. When they arrive in the U.S., refugees are enrolled into SNAP by a caseworker at a resettlement agency. But to maintain benefits, most refugees must reapply for SNAP every six months. Many aren't informed that they need to do this-or taught how to reapply. Some people whose SNAP benefits expired went without benefits for up to two months, despite being eligible for them the whole time.
Information is key
Interviewed participants proposed a variety of strategies that could help address or reduce food insecurity-and one of the most actionable is better information. Translated information on topics like food banks and how to apply for SNAP could be a low-cost measure to help empower refugees to find enough food.
Refugees also proposed increasing access to gardens so that they could grow their own food. "Most of these refugees have a gardening and farming background," Sharareh says. "This is what they are good at."
A program called New Roots connects refugees with opportunities to grow food and sell it in farmers' markets. But most interviewed refugees were unfamiliar with the program-another area where simply improving information could make a difference.
Sharareh emphasizes that reducing food insecurity will benefit the economy as a whole, due to reduced societal and health care costs from food insecurity-related diseases. "Food insecurity is costing the U.S. health care system more than $53 billion annually," he says. "So besides having a public health impact, addressing food insecurity can have a positive economic impact on U.S. society."
In the future, Sharareh hopes to continue to collaborate with community partners, resettlement agencies, and refugee organizations throughout Utah to develop some of the strategies refugees suggested, especially by addressing the information gap. "We can at least make sure that refugees know where to go when they need help," he says. "These refugees are exploring a new culture, a new society, a new language, and will become U.S. citizens. They need time. But in the meantime, what if we just make sure that they have the information they need?"
If you're having trouble getting enough food, you can call 211 or apply for SNAP here.
You can find more resources for Utah refugees here or in-person at the Utah Refugee Center.
