Neil Hetherington and his team at Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto have long vocalized that government policies impact how often people visit food banks. Now they have data to back up that assertion. The food bank supplied monthly usage data from January 2014 through March 2020 to researchers at…
Posts published in “Advocacy”
Food Bank News has found that 33 of the 101 largest food banks in the country are excelling in using their websites in four areas important to advocacy — having SNAP-related education and outreach on the site; having an advocacy page; having legislative policies on the site, and having calls…
For years, the food banking sector has talked about the need to address the root causes of hunger. Now there is a campaign and toolkit to help ignite those plans into action. The Next Shift campaign, created by the organizations and individuals of Closing the Hunger Gap, puts forth a…
Fifty-two years ago this week, the Nixon Administration convened a national conference on ending hunger that resulted in landmark legislation, including the creation of WIC. The conference was considered a breakthrough success in addressing the food and nutrition issues of the time. This week, Massachusetts Representative Jim McGovern is revving…
Miles-long lines at food banks during Covid highlighted just how easily families may slip into food insecurity, despite the ongoing efforts of food banks over the past 50 years to distribute food. Even before Covid exposed the precarious nature of many families’ food budgets, hunger relief organizations were beginning to…
Although Good Shepherd Food Bank has long served diverse communities across Maine, it wasn’t until Covid-19 hit that the organization realized how much variety there was in the food its clients wanted – and how little of that variety it provided. The problem became apparent when fears about how the…
Food Bank News has determined that 21 of the 100 largest food banks in the country are utilizing best practices in advocacy. These 21 food banks are active in all four of the areas Food Bank News identified as vital to having an effective advocacy program, placing them on the…
Two years ago, Maine introduced legislation that endeavored to do something that has never happened in the U.S. — formally recognize the human right to food. The bill proposed a ballot measure for voters to decide whether the state constitution should establish a right to food and “freedom from hunger.”…
Between a new administration and growing momentum around a Covid-related aid package, anti-hunger advocates have reason to be optimistic about federal steps toward hunger relief in the near future. Yet there are still plenty of concerns. “If we’re successful in getting an aid package and an increase in SNAP, I…