Social Problem and Social Welfare Response: Food Insecurity in North Carolina (Major Course Project Example)

Major Course Project: Social Problem & Social Welfare Response

Select one social problem or population discussed in the course and examine it from a broader social welfare perspective: the nature and scope of the problem, populations affected, contributing factors, how society has responded, social welfare programs and policies, an actual agency addressing the issue, barriers and gaps, the role of the social work profession and changes that could improve the response.

• Part I – Understanding the Social Problem: define it; who is most affected; three contributing factors; effects on individuals and families; effects on communities; one misconception and why it is inaccurate.
• Part II – Scope: at least three current statistics (one national, one North Carolina or local) and one current trend, with explanation.
• Part III – How Has Society Responded? Past views; one significant change today; what caused it; whether it improved outcomes.
• Part IV – Social Welfare Response: at least three programs, policies or services: name, purpose, population, assistance, funding, benefits.
• Part V – Agency Spotlight: name, location, mission, population, services, area, funding, access, one strength, one limitation, and how it fits the larger response.
• Part VI – Barriers and Gaps: at least three barriers: explanation, who is affected, how access is limited.
• Part VII – Role of Social Work: three roles, contributions beyond individual clients, importance of empowerment.
• Part VIII – Recommendation for Change: what, why, who benefits, who must be involved, how it improves the response.
• Part IX – Course Connection (1–2 paragraphs) and Part X – Sources: at least five credible sources, including the Zastrow & Hessenauer textbook, a government source, the agency’s official website and two additional credible sources; include a reference slide.

Original example for study purposes.

Slide 1: Title

On slide: Food Insecurity in North Carolina: Social Problem and Social Welfare Response · [Name] · [Course] · [Date]

Slide 2: Part I – Understanding the Problem

On slide: Definition · Who is affected · Contributing factors · Effects · Misconception

Speaker notes: Food insecurity is a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to enough food for an active, healthy life. It is most common among low-income households, children, single-parent families, Black and Latino households, people with disabilities and rural residents. Three contributing factors are (1) low wages and poverty, which leave families choosing between food, rent and medicine; (2) rising costs of food and housing, which shrink what paychecks and benefits can buy; and (3) limited access, including rural “food deserts” and lack of transportation, worsened in western North Carolina by Hurricane Helene in 2024.

For individuals and families, food insecurity is linked to poor nutrition, chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, stress, depression and children’s difficulty concentrating in school. For communities, it increases health care costs, reduces school achievement and workforce productivity and strains charities and local governments.

Misconception: “People who are hungry or use SNAP just don’t want to work.” This is inaccurate: many food-insecure households include working adults in low-wage or unstable jobs, and many others are children, older adults or people with disabilities who are not expected to work. Hunger usually reflects wages, prices and access, not lack of effort.

Slide 3: Part II – Scope of the Problem

On slide:

• U.S.: 13.7% of households (about 18.3 million) were food insecure in 2024 (U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA], 2025).
• North Carolina: about 1.71 million people (15%, 1 in 7) are food insecure, including 504,790 children (21.5%) (Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina [FBCENC], 2026).
• Central and eastern NC: 629,980 people (14.8%); 1 in 3 Black households and 1 in 4 Latine households (FBCENC, 2026).
• Trend: hunger is rising; NC has 464,910 more food-insecure people than in 2021.

Speaker notes: National food insecurity rose for a third straight year to the highest level in nearly a decade, and USDA has since ended this annual report, so the 2024 data are the last federal measure (Welsh, 2026). In North Carolina, children face the highest rates, and racial disparities are large, reflecting long-standing gaps in wages and wealth. The trend is worsening: food banks report sharp increases in visits at the same time that federal assistance is shrinking.

Slide 4: Part III – How Society Has Responded

On slide: Charity and commodities → Food stamps as a right → Work requirements and cost shifts → “Food is medicine”

Speaker notes: Historically, hunger was addressed mainly through churches, charities and the distribution of surplus farm commodities, and it was often viewed as a personal or moral failing. A pilot food stamp program operated from 1939 to 1943, and the Food Stamp Act of 1964 created a permanent program that became a national safety net. Paper coupons were replaced with electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards, and the program was renamed SNAP in 2008. One significant change today is the recognition of food insecurity as a health issue. North Carolina’s Healthy Opportunities Pilots, launched in 2022, used Medicaid funding to provide food, housing and transportation support and reduced health care costs by an average of $164 per month per participant (North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services [NCDHHS], 2026). This shift was driven by research on social determinants of health and Medicaid reform. It improved outcomes, but funding lapsed in mid-2025 and was only partially restored in 2026 (Baxley, 2026), showing how fragile innovations can be.

Slides 5–6: Part IV – Social Welfare Response

Speaker notes: Social welfare is broader than DSS. Schools, health systems, Medicaid and food banks all play roles. Recent federal law (H.R. 1, 2025) expanded SNAP work requirements to adults up to age 64, removed exemptions for veterans, homeless individuals and former foster youth and shifts administrative costs to states and counties beginning October 2026, with benefit cost sharing tied to error rates beginning in 2027 (Nickodem, 2025). NC DHHS expects about 90,000 adults to lose benefits because of work requirements (Bonner, 2026).

Slide 7: Part V – Agency Spotlight

On slide: Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina · Raleigh, with branches in Durham, Greenville, New Bern, Southern Pines and Wilmington · 34 counties · 700+ partner programs

Speaker notes: The Food Bank’s mission is to “Nourish people. Build solutions. Empower communities.” Since 1980, it has served people facing hunger across 34 counties in central and eastern North Carolina, including children, older adults, working families and communities affected by disasters. Services include distributing food to more than 700 partner pantries, meal programs and shelters; school, summer and senior nutrition programs; fresh produce and healthcare-site pantries; and help applying for benefits such as SNAP. It is funded by individual and corporate donations, foundation grants, food donations and federal and state support. People access services by finding a nearby partner pantry or meal site through the Food Bank’s website or by calling. Strength: its large network reaches rural communities that government offices may not. Limitation: rising demand and federal cuts mean charitable food cannot replace SNAP; as its CEO has said, no food bank can absorb a crisis of this scale alone (FBCENC, 2026). The Food Bank fits into the larger social welfare system as a bridge between emergency relief, public benefits and community health.

Slide 8: Part VI – Barriers and Gaps

• Eligibility rules and paperwork: new work requirements and documentation can cause eligible people to lose benefits. Affected: older adults 55–64, veterans, former foster youth, people with unstable work. Result: benefits are cut even when need remains.
• Transportation and rural access: pantries and DSS offices may be far away with limited hours. Affected: rural residents, older adults and people without cars. Result: people cannot reach food or apply for help.
• Stigma: shame about using SNAP or food pantries. Affected: working families, students and older adults. Result: eligible people do not apply.
• Funding gaps: federal cuts and new cost shifts to counties strain both public agencies and food banks. Result: waiting lists, less food per visit and fewer staff to process applications.

Slide 9: Part VII – The Role of Social Work

On slide: Broker · Advocate · Case manager · Community organizer · Policy advocate

Speaker notes: Social workers act as brokers, connecting families to SNAP, WIC and pantries; case managers, helping clients complete applications and recertifications; and advocates, helping clients appeal benefit denials. Beyond individual clients, social workers organize communities to create food pantries and gardens, develop programs in schools and clinics, conduct needs assessments and advocate for state funding and policy changes (Zastrow & Hessenauer, 2023). Empowerment is important because people facing hunger often experience stigma and powerlessness. Involving them in designing services, such as client-choice pantries, and supporting their voices in policy discussions respects their dignity and leads to more effective solutions.

Slide 10: Part VIII – Recommendation for Change

On slide: Place trained SNAP and Medicaid benefits navigators at food bank partner sites and clinics in high-need counties.

Speaker notes: What: expand benefits outreach by placing navigators, including social work interns, at busy pantries and health clinics to help people apply, recertify and document work-requirement exemptions. Why: enrollment is falling while hunger rises, and paperwork errors increase both lost benefits and the state’s error rate, which will determine future costs. Who benefits: eligible families, older adults and veterans, as well as counties and the state, which avoid higher costs from error-related penalties. Who must be involved: NCDHHS, county DSS offices, the Food Bank and its partners, health systems, schools of social work and state legislators for funding. Improvement: it would connect emergency food with long-term benefits, reduce churn and errors and make the safety net easier to navigate.

Slide 11: Part IX – Course Connection

Speaker notes: Food insecurity shows how a social problem rooted in poverty, prices and policy becomes the focus of social welfare responses such as SNAP, WIC and school meals; how social services such as DSS offices and food banks deliver that help; and how the social work profession links people to services, advocates for them and pushes for better policies. When policies change, such as new work requirements, the effects ripple through every level, from families to counties to charities.

At the beginning of the course, I thought of social welfare mainly as public assistance from DSS. I now understand it as a broad system that includes schools, health care, Medicaid innovations, nonprofits and community groups, and that its strength depends on political choices about funding and eligibility.

Slide 12: References

Baxley, J. (2026, September 9). NC’s Healthy Opportunities Pilot is coming back, but not at full strength. WFAE. https://www.wfae.org/health/2026-09-09/ncs-healthy-opportunities-pilot-is-coming-back-but-not-at-full-strength

Bonner, L. (2026, May 12). NC residents to go hungry, counties to pay more for SNAP under federal changes. NC Newsline. https://ncnewsline.com/2026/05/12/nc-residents-losing-food-aid-counties-to-pay-more-for-snap-under-federal-law-changes/

Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina. (2026). New data shows 629,000+ people face food insecurity in our region, amid worsening hunger crisis nationwide. https://foodbankcenc.org/news/state-of-hunger-2026

Nickodem, K. (2025, October 31). What’s happening with SNAP in North Carolina? Coates’ Canons: NC Local Government Law. UNC School of Government. https://www.sog.unc.edu/blogs/coates-canons/what%E2%80%99s-happening-snap-north-carolina-0

North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. (2026, June 2). Healthy Opportunities Pilots lead to healthier outcomes and reduce NC Medicaid costs [Press release]. https://www.ncdhhs.gov/news/press-releases/2026/06/02/healthy-opportunities-pilots-lead-healthier-outcomes-and-reduce-nc-medicaid-costs

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. (2025). Household food security in the United States in 2024 (Economic Research Report No. ERR-358). https://ers.usda.gov/sites/default/files/_laserfiche/publications/113623/ERR-358.pdf

Welsh, C. (2026, January 5). The last U.S. hunger data: What we lose with the termination of the USDA’s Household Food Security in the United States report. Center for Strategic and International Studies. https://www.csis.org/analysis/last-us-hunger-data-what-we-lose-termination-usdas-household-food-security-united-states

Zastrow, C., & Hessenauer, S. L. (2023). Empowerment series: Introduction to social work and social welfare: Empowering people (13th ed.). Cengage.