Food Insecurity and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

About DELTA AHEAD

Access to nutritious food is one of the conditions that can affect a person’s safety, health, and options when experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). ACESDV is exploring this connection in Arizona through DELTA AHEAD, a project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

DELTA AHEAD stands for Domestic Violence Prevention Education and Leadership Through Alliances: Achieving Health Equity Through Addressing Disparities. The project works to prevent IPV before it happens by examining how conditions such as food access, housing, transportation, and economic opportunity affect the risk of violence. It supports and evaluates prevention strategies at the community and state levels so more people have a fair opportunity to be safe and healthy.

Learn about the DELTA AHEAD evaluation partnership

Food Insecurity and IPV in Arizona

What is food insecurity?

Food insecurity is a household’s limited or uncertain access to enough nutritious food for a healthy life because money or other resources are limited. It can range from worrying about running out of food to skipping meals. Hunger is something a person may experience as a result.

The ACESDV fact sheet highlights these figures.

• 1 in 7 adults in Arizona experience food insecurity.
• 1 in 5 children in Arizona experience food insecurity.
• 54% of women and 44% of men in Arizona have experienced IPV in their lifetime.
• About twice as likely to experience food insecurity among women who report IPV compared with women who do not report IPV.

Food Insecurity and IPV in Arizona Fact Sheet (PDF)

How food insecurity and IPV are connected

IPV can affect people of any gender and can involve physical, sexual, emotional, or economic abuse by a current or former partner. A partner may use food as a tool of control by withholding it or restricting the money or transportation needed to get it. Financial abuse can also limit a survivor’s access to income and employment. After leaving an abusive relationship, survivors may face greater food insecurity as they rebuild financial stability.

Conditions that can increase risk and limit options

• Limited financial resources can make it harder to afford food and increase dependence on a partner who uses abuse.
• Financial stress can strain relationships and make it harder to afford food.
• Housing instability or homelessness can limit safe places to store and prepare food and increase exposure to unsafe situations.
• Limited transportation can make it harder to reach grocery stores, workplaces, and support services.
• Isolation can reduce access to trusted support, food assistance, and options for leaving an abusive relationship.

In Arizona, barriers to safety and services can be compounded by geography, language access, racism, and discrimination. These conditions shape prevention and access to support in rural, Indigenous, immigrant, and Spanish speaking communities.

DELTA AHEAD Project Highlights

• Arizona prevention landscape. ACESDV and the Center for Policy Research examined existing prevention efforts. The scan found that much of the work focused on education for young people in schools. It identified opportunities to broaden prevention through health equity, address the conditions that affect risk, and improve how organizations collect and share data.
• Statewide data dashboard. ACESDV partnered with the Arizona Department of Health Services to develop a public dashboard that supports a better understanding of IPV in Arizona.
• Food insecurity and IPV training. ACESDV created a training for community partners on the connection between food access and IPV. ACESDV has also delivered the training in person. Visit the Arizona Food Bank Network training hub for access to its Cultivate learning platform.
• Navajo County partnership. ACESDV has partnered with Navajo County to work toward a community garden and a place where community members can access food and other resources.

Food and Prevention Resources

Funding Acknowledgment

This project was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through DELTA AHEAD, Grant NUS4CE002316. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the state or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.