Unemployment in Yuma is 3 times higher than the rest of Arizona. How one food bank keeps up

Yuma’s unemployment rate is higher than the rest of the state. In March, it stood at 11%, and it’s up to nearly 14% in April. The state’s unemployment rate, by way of comparison, is under 5%.

The Show spoke about that and what it means, with Andy Robinson, president and CEO of the Yuma Community Food Bank. Robinson began with why it is that the unemployment rate in Yuma is so much higher than it is in the rest of the state.

Full conversation

ANDY ROBINSON: Well, I don’t know if I have every answer. But I think some of the things that we do see here in Yuma is because we are such an agricultural based area that we do have a lot of migrants that come in and out, and that does cause some of our employment to probably spike at times.

And we also just, probably a little bit lower economic opportunities out here with the border and things like that. It just does affect, it feels like, our county more so than others, that the swings are a little more dramatic.

So when prices go up and businesses are making hard decisions on maybe cutting back or not hiring as much, I think in Yuma it’s affected a little bit more, and we feel it a little bit at a higher level.

MARK BRODIE: So maybe some of the same factors as being felt elsewhere, they’re just felt more more strongly in the Yuma area?

ROBINSON: Correct. I think it’s I think it’s a similar situation, other than maybe the produce, the agricultural things like that, because that that is one thing that a lot of the other areas in the state don’t have all the time in such a large swing from from summer to winter. But I think all the same other economic issues that the state is realizing, I just think that we we reflect it a lot harder in our area.

BRODIE: And so what does that mean for you at the at the Yuma Community Food Bank?

ROBINSON: Well, obviously the demand is high. I mean, we’re trying to help people fill some of the gaps. When bills go up and expenses go up, they’re having to make hard decisions on do I go buy food, or do I buy gas to go to the my job, or do I pay the electric bill, or do I pay rent?

And so here at the food bank, we’re seeing a lot of people come in and we’re helping them out on the food side of it as much as we possibly can to give them some hope and some breathing room, hopefully, from that point when all these other things are maybe working against them a little bit.

BRODIE: How has demand changed maybe over the last let’s say maybe six months or so?

ROBINSON: The demands have been high. Ever since some of the changes with SNAP and stuff like that. One of our zip codes that we service, 85364, is the highest SNAP recipient in the state, percentage wise.

So we definitely have seen some things happen with SNAP changes, reductions, some ideas like that, that we’ve definitely seen an increase on demand over last year.

BRODIE: And are you finding that when people come in — it sounds like you’re having more people come in — but are they also needing more from you, especially if they’re part of the 11% or so of the population that doesn’t have a job?

ROBINSON: Yeah, I would say they would we try and give out equal amounts obviously when they come in. Most we can give out once a month. And then if the people need more, then they come in and we can give them a different type of food that we’ve purchased or purchase the food that’s been donated.

But if it’s food for that’s earmarked from like DES and things like that, we can only really give that out once a month. And so any other food that we can give out and help out with, that’s going to ... come out of kind of a different fund.

BRODIE: OK. So what does that mean in terms of your supplies if, you know, folks in your community maybe have have greater need and there are more of them? Like what does that mean for what you have on the shelves?

ROBINSON: We’re very fortunate, Mark, that we have a lot of community participation, both volunteers as well as funding. We get a lot from our local businesses, some of our corporate sponsors, generous funding from other people as well, and we’re able to provide.

We’re not having an issue of running out, thank goodness, because of the generosity of our community and some of the funding that we are applying for and getting.

BRODIE: What are you looking for in the coming months? As SNAP continues to be sort of in flux, and the unemployment rate is what it is, and the economy is what it is. What do the next couple of months maybe look like for you?

ROBINSON: It’s definitely an increase. I mean, we’re seeing double-digit increase on people coming in that we didn’t have over last year. So we’re just preparing for that. We’re trying to buy more where we can, really directing every fund that we can, being very efficient in in the money that we do have to make sure it’s going into food, so we’re ready for any influxes that happen.

We know that the summer came early here in Arizona. It got hotter earlier in March, and saw a lot of spikes with electric bills and things. But we know that July and August and September are the highest ones. So we know that these people are going to, our neighbors and the people, our clients, are going to come in are going to have even more of a need in the next few months. So we’re just trying to be prepared so we’re ready to help them out when we can.

BRODIE: What does it look like for the people that you’re serving when social safety nets come with a work requirement in an area that has a relatively high unemployment rate?

ROBINSON: Well, I’m going to tell you, Mark. I don’t know if you’re aware, but the Yuma County actually has a waiver for that that work requirement. So luckily, we were able to work with Arizona Food Bank Network, as well of our state officials to apply for a waiver.

It didn’t come till March. So a lot of people were affected at the beginning of the year. But the issue is the communication. A lot of these people fell off DES and they have to reapply, but they don’t have to work. They don’t have a work requirement, I should say, for to receive SNAP here in Yuma.

Yuma’s the only county I believe in the state of Arizona that has this because of our high unemployment rate. But a lot of the people who fell off at the beginning of the year haven’t been communicated or the backlog from DES is so long for them to get on that they still haven’t received SNAP benefits yet.

We’re trying to pass the word out to people to go ahead and reapply, so they may be able to get some of these benefits that they’ve lost.

BRODIE: So in theory, there are people out in your community who maybe don’t need quite as much from you, but just don’t know it?

ROBINSON: Possible. It’s very possible. I mean, we don’t have all the numbers, and we don’t know who’s qualifying and who’s not. We we don’t do SNAP here. We support the people, but most of our clients obviously get SNAP or used to get SNAP, some type of a benefit from that point.

BRODIE: Do you have reason to believe that either the unemployment rate or the demand for food from from your food bank will go down anytime soon?

ROBINSON: I don’t. I really don’t, not with everything that’s going on. I think it’s actually just going to keep ramping up as things — unless the economy really turns around and employment changes and things like that happen right away. I think there’s always going to be a need, and I don’t see it going down. I probably I would love to see it stabilize and, you know, but we’re going to see where that goes with the numbers.

BRODIE: All right. That is Andy Robinson, president and CEO of Yuma Community Food Bank. Andy, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

ROBINSON: Thanks, Mark.