Despite the momentum around September’s White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, President Joe Biden did not mention domestic food insecurity in his State of the Union speech earlier this week.
It was at least heartening that the CEO of one of the nation’s largest food banks was invited to attend the speech as the guest of the U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.). Allison O’Toole, CEO of Minnesota’s Second Harvest Heartland, had hoped to witness President Biden reiterate his pledge to end hunger in America by 2030 while in attendance at the joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.
Instead, topics like excessive fees charged by hotels and credit card companies got more airplay from the President than domestic hunger. Even so, O’Toole said she is hopeful, especially as the Farm Bill comes up for reauthorization this year. “I’m always hopeful,” she said. “I expect the Farm Bill to be bi-partisan like it has been for so long.”
As is the case in many states, demand for charitable food in Minnesota is soaring. Hunger Solutions, a Minneapolis-based advocacy group, reported this month that visits to food pantries in the state spiked by nearly 2 million in 2022 compared to a year earlier, as prices rose and pandemic aid faded. “That trajectory is going in the wrong direction,” O’Toole said.
Second Harvest Heartland is well aware that the burden of hunger falls disproportionately on people of color. One in five Black and one in four Hispanic Minnesotans face hunger compared to roughly one in 25 white ones, O’Toole said, making the food bank’s equity investments all the more important. “We’re going to have to double down on those investments and think differently and more boldly about how we tackle this,” she said.
O’Toole has high expectations about the food bank’s ability to work with the state on nutrition policy (see here for more on state-focused nutrition advocacy). With a Democratic-controlled state legislature and an $18 billion surplus at the state level, O’Toole expects to see Minnesota soon adopt universal school meals, as well as a state-funded child tax credit. (Editor’s Note: The Minnesota House did indeed pass a bill guaranteeing free breakfast and lunch to all Minnesota students, as well as $5 million in emergency funding for the state’s food pantries.)
Minnesota already is using Medicaid data to identify students who also qualify for free school meals and automatically enrolling them through a process known as “direct certification.” According to published reports, 90,000 students in Minnesota are now getting free meals through this program.
While policy progress at the federal level remains less certain, O’Toole has a positive outlook about the impact of Minnesota’s actions. “We can show the way,” she said. – Chris Costanzo
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