Who are the hungry in Minnesota?

Marilyn Jackson works full time but doesn't make enough money to pay all the bills and put enough food on the table for the five grandchildren she's raising.

That puts the Minneapolis woman among the 10 percent of Minnesotans who, as the federal government describes them, don't have consistent access to enough nutritious food. Most of us would just say they go hungry sometimes.

Ground Level has written a lot about the local food scene in Minnesota, how it's growing and becoming more sophisticated. One of the hopes of proponents is that local food isn't simply an economic phenomenon but a solution to nutrition and hunger concerns in the state.

That's why Julie Siple's piece on Minnesota hunger is worth reading and listening to. Siple is embarked on a year-long reporting project for MPR News on the shape of hunger in Minnesota. Check out a good start and look for occasional posts here from her in the future.

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