The University of Kentucky will establish a Rural Child Poverty Nutrition Center to help local groups find ways to coordinate nutrition programs and reduce food insecurity among children in rural areas. About 85 percent of the persistently poor counties in the United States are in rural areas, and children are one of the most vulnerable groups in rural America, said the USDA, which will provide $2.5 million for the center. The money will be dispensed in grants to up to 30 rural areas with high poverty rates in as many as 15 states. The center will evaluate how well each area does in reducing the child hunger rate, and whether the programs would work in other regions.
The university will work with the nonprofit Altarum Institute, a health consultancy, and the Southern Rural Development Center, based at Mississippi State University, to establish the center. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear said the center “will target child hunger and poverty in persistently poor rural communities by partnering with agencies who have the resources and expertise to make a difference. It will attack the root causes of child hunger and poverty.”