The percentage of Hispanic visitors to the Des Moines Area Religious Council food pantry network is increasing, particularly among first-time users, according to a DMARC report, “Portrait of a Food Pantry Visitor: Data, Demographics, and Disparities, released earlier this week.

The annual report looks at data from July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, and is based on 12 to 14 questions food pantry visitors are asked to answer to help DMARC better understand the needs of the community. In addition to using the data in various reports, it is used to educate the public, funders and elected officials about food insecurity in the community.

DMARC’s food pantry system includes 14 brick-and-mortar pantries, several mobile pantry locations and a no-contact home delivery program.

The recent report showed that the DMARC pantry system served 70,730 individuals in fiscal year 2024, up from 59,884 the prior fiscal year. One in three were first-time visitors during the 2024 fiscal year.

Those individuals visited a pantry more than 324,000 times in 2024, with more than 28,000 households receiving assistance, up 22% from the prior year.

The report breaks down the racial and ethnic disparities seen in pantry users, saying, “these inequities are not unintentional, but are by design as specific federal, state and local policies were created to advantage and disadvantage various populations in our society.”

While the percentage of white visitors decreased from 49.3% in fiscal year 2023 to 39.7% in fiscal year 2024, the percentage of Hispanic visitors rose from 20% in fiscal year 2023 to 25% in fiscal year 2024. That is up from 18% in 2022, the report showed.

According to U.S. Census data, about 7% of Iowa’s population identifies as Hispanic.

“Hispanic people are less likely to receive disability benefits, social security and SNAP,” the report stated. “This can likely be attributed to documentation status limiting program eligibility and fear of repercussions for using programs even when eligible.”

The report also showed the percentage of Hispanic people visiting a DMARC food pantry for the first time in fiscal year 2024 was 34%, up from 25% the prior year and 21% in 2022.

The report also showed that 20.4% of DMARC pantry users in fiscal year 2024 were Black, up from 18.8% the prior year (about 4.1% of Iowa’s population is Black), with the percentage of people identifying as Asian/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander also increasing to 9.9%, up 1 percentage point from the prior year. Only about 2% of Iowa’s population falls into that category.

“These disparities are the direct result of historical policies rooted in racism, sexism and classism,” DMARC CEO Matt Unger said in the report. “They are not happenstance.”

Other data contained in the report shows:

• Nearly 3 of 4 pantry visitors live below the federal poverty level, with 95.8% earning less than 200% of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, that equals more than $62,000 a year.

• One in three people using a DMARC food pantry were under the age of 18, with more than 20,500 children being assisted by the pantry system in fiscal year 2024.

• Women are more likely to use a food pantry than men, with 52.6% of pantry users being women, compared to 47.1% being men. The report showed 0.2% identified as transgender, nonbinary or other.

• 46% of renters in the Des Moines metro are rent burdened, with a gap of affordable rental units in Polk County standing at more than 11,200.

• 36.9% of food pantry visitors are receiving SNAP benefits, with 23% of new visitors using SNAP, despite nearly every visitor being eligible for the food assistance program.