HELPING PEOPLE, CHANGING LIVES Community Action Partnership of Kern (CAPK) is the official anti-poverty agency for Kern County and has been working to provide an integrated network of services since 1965. CAPK is one of Kern County’s largest nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporations and one of more than 1,000 community action
agencies nationwide. Our agency helps participants pursue their educational goals, secure employment, maintain adequate housing, counteracts hunger and malnutrition, provides childcare and preschool education, and other personal and family development opportunities.
It’s CAPK’s mission to “Provide and advocate for resources that will empower members of the communities we serve to be self-sufficient and our vision that we build a future where communities are economically stable centers of potential with abundant resources for all people.”
A COMPELLING LOOK AT HUNGER Food is essential to survival. It’s one of the most basic human needs—something so basic that many of us don’t give it much thought. Those who go hungry think about food, or their lack of food, all the time. In the United States, the food insecurity rate is 11.5%. This means 37,227,000 people living in our country are food insecure. These individuals rely on help from family, friends, and community organizations, like food banks.
Nutrition is about survival for children and infants. But it’s also much more than that. A healthy diet plays an important role in healthy development.
Food insecurity in children means a greater chance of mental and physical health issues, poor academic achievement, and chronic illness. For adults, good nutrition means good health. Food insecure adults are at a greater risk to develop serious disease like diabetes and high blood pressure. The good news is hunger is solvable. Food banks throughout the nation have taken on the great task of feeding their communities. Through complex partnerships, grant funding, and an army of volunteers, these organizations work to feed the neediest in our nation. www.capk.org
More than 37 million people living in our country are food insecure. Feed Kern Now 3
