In the introductory chapter of Food and Poverty: Food Insecurity and Food Sovereignty among America's Poor, Professor Maureen Berner alerts readers to the food insecurity crisis faced today by many Americans living in poverty.

Available September 2018, this book explores the rising levels of food insecurity rates in the United States following the Great Recession. This rising rate is occurring in tandem with growing restrictions on government food assistance programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), creating a dilemma in which poverty-stricken Americans lack accessibility to safe and healthy foods.

Berner’s research was also recently published in both the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior and the Conference Proceedings for the American Society for Nutrition. Working with Jessica Soldavini at the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Berner writes about their research on children’s participation in summer nutrition programs. She was also one of several authors who provided an analysis of food insecurity at higher education institutions in the region.

Berner’s personal research focuses on the ability of local organizations to address food insecurity, poverty, and income inequality. She has worked with nonprofits, food banks, local governments, and state agencies, most recently spending a semester in Belgium as a visiting scholar at Ghent University and its Centre for Global Studies.

Maureen Berner joined the School of Government in 1998. She teaches evaluation and analysis courses for Master of Public Administration (MPA) students and provides similar training and advising to state and local government officials throughout North Carolina. She earned a PhD in public policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin; an MPP from Georgetown University; and a BA in global studies from the University of Iowa.

For more information about Berner’s work on food insecurity, visit her website, Hunger Research.