Chico Statistics

 According to the National Census Bureau's final 2022 report:

• Chico has a population of approximately 102,000 people.
  
• The median age is 28.8 years old.
  
• The median income per capita is $24,475 annually.

We also learned from the census bureau that:

• Chico has an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent currently.
  
• 26.6 percent of Chico's population is under the poverty line.
  
• Of those 19.25 percent are under the age of 18 years old and 8.2 percent are over 65.
  
• 4.6 percent of the city's population under 18 is disabled.
  
• 10.2 percent of the 18 to 64 year old age bracket is disabled.
  
• 36.5 percent of the over 65 year old age group is disabled.

Chico has 87.2 percent of it's children from ages 3 to 17 attending public schools and/or daycare's with inadequate food programs that barely meet the legal requirements. They do the very best with what they have, but most of it is processed or frozen. Fresh produce is a luxury. 25.9 percent of these children are on some form of public assistance and struggling at home as well for proper nutrition due to lack of money. Now with staying at home and online schooling, as well as, job losses, we have a growing disaster. At least our kids were guaranteed 2 meals a day at school. 

I have studied the menu's of various food programs that feed our loved ones and it's quite eye opening. Fresh fruit and vegetables...if available. We won't even discuss the actual "ingredients" of the processed food that they are forced to serve. Or the extremely high sugar and sodium levels in canned or processed foods. Then comes the list of chemical preservatives. This is extremely high calorie, low nutrition food. We would rather teach canning, freezing, preserving and storing of the chemical free food you can grow yourself. Choose your own form of preservative.

According to "Feeding America's" latest report in our country 46.7 million people (14.8 percent) live in poverty. 15.5 million (21.1 percent) of children under the age of 18 grow up hungry. 4.6 million (10 percent) seniors 65 and older live in poverty. ​​48.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households, including 32.8 million adults and 15.3 million children. 14 percent of households (17.4 million households) were food insecure. 6 percent of households (6.9 million households) experienced very low food security. Households with children reported food insecurity at a significantly higher rate than those without children, 19 percent compared to 12 percent. Households that had higher rates of food insecurity than the national average included households with children (19%), especially households with children headed by single women (35%) or single men (22%), Black non-Hispanic households (26%) and Hispanic households (22%). In 2018, 5.4 million seniors (over age 60), or 9 percent of all seniors were food insecure. From the Ground Up finds these numbers unacceptable when there is such a simple solution to food insecurity. We are showing our community how to take control of their lives and health again. And this was before the COVID crisis. The numbers are even more shocking now.