The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts has a few things going for it when it comes to Food is Medicine. First, it has long championed building relationships with area hospitals, giving it valuable exposure to the healthcare world. Second, it operates in a state that is actively pursuing solutions and…
Food Bank News
One of the most difficult aspects of advocacy for nonprofits is figuring out where to focus the most energy and attention. Boston-based Project Bread, which promotes food security and food access throughout Massachusetts, recently met this challenge head on. To determine its eight-point legislative agenda for the state’s upcoming 2025-2026…
March was not a good month for food banks. Early in March, food banks found out that $500 million for LFPA, a popular federal program that gives them money to buy food from local farms and ranchers, would go away. Toward the end of the month, they learned that another…
Seven years ago, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, published what it called a “groundbreaking” report on food bank nutrition policies. It found that food banks with formal nutrition policies distributed more fresh fruits and vegetables than those without, while also distributing much less unhealthy food. (See our article on…
INDIANAPOLIS, IN. – One of the best things a food bank can do to get started in Food is Medicine is to lobby their state food-bank leadership to get involved. That’s because the managed care organizations seeking to use nutritious food to improve public health generally operate statewide and even…
Candice Griego is on the hunt for mutton. As the Director of Tribal Relations at Roadrunner Food Bank in Albuquerque, N.M., Griego has identified mutton as highly desired among members of the Navajo Nation. Tracking it down is one part of her five-months-in role, which is entirely new to the…
There’s no doubt that food banks have been getting bigger in recent years, with every quarter bringing news of more food banks opening new, larger warehouses. Partly behind the surge in growth has been a powerful federally-funded financing tool called the New Markets Tax Credit program. Although the program is…
Offering culturally familiar meals to immigrant populations has been expensive, operationally challenging, and not always in line with client expectations. Even so, Open Arms of Minneapolis is fully committed to continuing to serve the meals. “There has to be an organizational commitment where you just say, ‘Yep, we’re gonna do…
GUEST OPINION BY DR. MARK BROWN, CEO OF WEST HOUSTON ASSISTANCE MINISTRIES – As of March 4, the U.S. has imposed a 25% tariff on nearly all goods imported from Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10% tariff on imports from China. These measures are expected to raise food prices…