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…
Posts published in “Equity”
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…
Coming out of Covid, many food banks that benefitted from pandemic-era giving and extra government aid directed more funding toward employees, particularly to lift the pay of low-wage workers (see our story here). A few years later, outside aid is now harder to come by, but the work to ensure a…
It’s one thing for a food bank to say it’s going to get involved in the food justice movement. It’s another to actually do it. Alameda County Community Food Bank made a definitive move into food justice when it agreed to invest between $2 million and $2.5 million per year…
Manna Food Center’s paper-based system for helping people purchase food at local markets is not very sophisticated, but gets points for innovation. Since the pandemic, Silver Spring, Md.-based Manna has been distributing paper vouchers to hundreds of people monthly, who can use them to purchase culturally relevant food at small…
Without input from the community, the renovation of Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank’s main warehouse, unveiled last week, probably would have turned out a little differently. In improving the warehouse, the food bank employed the same strategy it had when it constructed a brand new warehouse in another location in 2021.…
Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana has joined the growing number of food banks that are lifting pay, ensuring everyone in the organization is earning a living wage. Gleaners announced in May that it has been certified as providing a minimum starting wage of at least $18 an hour, the designated…
When Eloise’s Cooking Pot started a program to purchase produce from local BIPOC farmers and producers, it didn’t take long to identify a slew of challenges in those working relationships. While the farms produced food that was unparalleled in quality and rich in cultural relevance, they often struggled with practices…
Beyond Hunger in Chicago has become the first food pantry in the nation to take part in the Good Food Purchasing Program, an initiative that prioritizes values over low cost when making food purchases. The premise behind the program is that an entire ecosystem exists behind the food that communities…