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Advancing Youth Equity in Baltimore: Food Insecurity and Social-Emotional Learning

Advancing Youth Equity in Baltimore: Food Insecurity and Social-Emotional Learning

Abstract

This paper examines the intersection of adolescent food insecurity and social-emotional learning (SEL) within the context of the Baltimore Children’s Cabinet 2021 Action Plan and an internship at the Mayor’s Office of Children & Family Success (MOCFS). Through participation in the five-year review of the Children’s Cabinet Action Plan, conducting stakeholder interviews, and synthesizing findings from the literature, this study highlights how food insecurity among older adolescents and SEL programming gaps may undermine policy goals in Baltimore. Several peer-reviewed studies within the last five years demonstrate that adolescents’ nutritional access and emotional regulation competencies are tightly connected to academic, behavioral, and health outcomes. My internship results show that although MOCFS and partner agencies provide many supports, adolescents often fall through the cracks of traditional child-focused food and SEL programming. Recommendations include adopting adolescent-centric food assistance, embedding SEL across youth-serving systems, and strengthening cross‐sector data tracking.

Introduction

The Baltimore Children’s Cabinet (BCC) 2021 Action Plan sets a comprehensive framework to advance equity and opportunity for children and youth in Baltimore City. During my internship at the Mayor’s Office of Children & Family Success (MOCFS) from September to December 2025, I helped with a review of the Action Plan’s seven priority areas by conducting research on agency data, interviewing staff and external stakeholders, and drafting sections of the review report. This experience revealed that two inter-related issues - adolescent food insecurity and social-emotional learning (SEL) - emerged repeatedly as barriers to achieving the Action Plan’s goals.

Food insecurity among adolescents is increasingly recognized as a critical public health and developmental concern. Recent national data show 13.5% of U.S. households experienced food insecurity in 2023, and 17.9% of households with children faced hunger. However, many food assistance policies remain oriented toward younger children, leaving older adolescents underserved (Mmari et al., 2024).

In parallel, SEL programs aim to promote self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Emerging evidence shows SEL programming improves academic engagement, social connection and reduces anxiety and depression among youth. In Baltimore’s youth-serving systems, however, SEL is often siloed in schools, rather than integrated across community, public health and social services. By synthesizing my internship observations and current literature, this paper addresses the research question: How do adolescent food insecurity and SEL intersect with the implementation of the Baltimore Children’s Cabinet Action Plan, and what strategies can MOCFS employ to strengthen outcomes for older adolescents?

Method

During my internship at the Mayor’s Office of Children & Family Success (MOCFS), I worked on the five-year review of the Baltimore Children’s Cabinet 2021 Action Plan. My responsibilities included analyzing government and partner-agency progress reports, synthesizing outcomes related to the seven priority areas, and identifying gaps in performance indicators specific to youth well-being. I also participated in interviews with internal leadership and community partners to explore successes and challenges associated with program implementation. These interviews helped generate qualitative insight into how programs supporting adolescents were operating on the ground. Additionally, I maintained weekly internship journals reflecting on observations and connecting them to psychological theories and current research. The approach used aligns with mixed-methods evaluation, integrating document review and stakeholder feedback to capture not only what outcomes were achieved, but also the systemic and environmental factors influencing progress.

Results

Several key themes emerged from the review process. First, findings revealed significant gaps in how current food support systems meet the needs of older adolescents. While younger children are well-served by school-based meal programs and federal supports, adolescents ages 14-19 - especially those disengaged from traditional schooling - face disproportionately higher risks of food hardship. City data and stakeholder interviews indicated that food insecurity frequently contributed to heightened stress, anxiety, and reduced engagement with youth-development services. This aligns with recent studies showing strong associations between adolescent hunger and depressive symptoms, family functioning challenges, and increased mental-health vulnerability.

Second, social-emotional learning (SEL) efforts across Baltimore were found to lack consistency outside of classroom environments. While schools utilize recognized SEL frameworks, many youth-serving community programs do not embed emotional-regulation strategies, relationship-skill development, or resilience-building into their daily practice. This gap has implications for trauma-affected youth who would benefit most from unified and reinforced SEL interventions. Literature supports the integration of SEL across community settings, noting that sequenced, targeted SEL programs improve mental well-being and protective factors for adolescents.

Relationships surfaced among these findings: food insecurity and limited emotional-support systems were jointly contributing to youth disengagement, diminished sense of agency, and susceptibility to negative coping strategies. Together, the findings indicate that although Baltimore has strong initiatives in place, strengthening adolescent-specific food supports and expanding SEL beyond schools are necessary to optimize youth development outcomes.

Discussion

These findings indicate that two cross-cutting constructs - adolescent food insecurity and SEL - should be deliberately integrated within the Baltimore Children’s Cabinet framework. First, the fact that federal assistance programs may not sufficiently support adolescents suggests the Action Plan’s metrics might overlook a key subgroup. My internship experience supports that older adolescents must be explicitly included in BCC priority-area planning (e.g., youth employment, housing stability, healthy development). Second, SEL must not be confined to school settings but must be systematized across youth-serving agencies. The research on SEL programs shows student academic and social-emotional benefits when implemented comprehensively. Third, the nexus between hunger and SEL points to need for integrated interventions: when youth are food insecure, their capacity to benefit from SEL, mentoring, or skill-building falls.

Recommendation

Based on the reviewed data, interviews, and research analysis, several recommendations emerged to help the Baltimore Children’s Cabinet more effectively serve older adolescents. First, city agencies should establish programs that explicitly target adolescent food security, such as food hubs in youth employment centers, after-school and weekend meal expansion for teens, and mobile or peer-led food-distribution initiatives that decrease stigma and increase accessibility. Such targeted strategies are supported by recent findings showing that existing food programs often do not reduce adolescent hunger risk, especially among youth living with chronic conditions.

Second, the Cabinet should institutionalize social-emotional learning across youth-serving organizations through standardized staff training, shared competency frameworks, and performance metrics that evaluate outcomes such as emotional regulation and interpersonal functioning. Research shows that trauma-informed SEL increases academic participation, resilience, and psychological safety for children and adolescents in community settings.

Finally, a cross-sector data strategy is recommended to track the intersection of food insecurity, youth mental-health symptoms, and engagement in community programming. This data should guide future investments in youth equity work to ensure that policy enhancements remain grounded in measurable progress. By combining supports that meet physical needs with approaches that strengthen psychological well-being, the Cabinet can make sustainable advances toward equity, empowerment, and improved developmental outcomes for Baltimore youth.

Conclusion

My internship at MOCFS and review of the Baltimore Children’s Cabinet Action Plan demonstrates that adolescent food insecurity and social-emotional learning are critical, under-addressed factors in youth development, and embedding these constructs more fully into youth policy, program design, and data monitoring will strengthen equity and outcomes for Baltimore’s older adolescents. This experience helped me see firsthand how environmental and systemic barriers - such as hunger, unstable housing, and limited access to SEL support - can restrict youth from reaching their academic, social, and emotional potential, reinforcing that basic needs must be met for positive developmental progress to occur. Mixed-methods evaluation provided deeper insight into how gaps in resource coordination affect real lives, highlighting the importance of improved collaboration across education, health, and human-service sectors. Beyond informing local policy, this internship strengthened my commitment to advocating for evidence-based youth supports and amplifying adolescent voices so that young people are not only beneficiaries of public initiatives, but also active contributors to shaping them. By prioritizing food security, trauma-informed SEL strategies, and equitable access to services, the Children’s Cabinet can continue building sustainable pathways toward empowerment, resilience, and long-term success for Baltimore’s youth.

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