The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ signed into law on July 4, is landing with a thud among food bank leaders who fear aggressive cuts to SNAP and Medicaid will put more pressure on the hunger relief system. Provisions in the law put more than five million people at risk…
Posts published in “Strategy”
Houston Food Bank has found an unconventional way to improve the experiences of pantry clients by tapping mystery shoppers, a tactic typically used in retail. With its Neighbor Experience Initiative, the food bank deployed mystery shoppers to report back on their in-person interactions at several pantries. Through the lens of…
Many people may know DC Central Kitchen as the inspiration for world-renowned chef José Andrés’ global version of the same concept, World Central Kitchen. But the DC-based outfit also stands out for its innovative, on-the-ground hunger relief efforts, particularly its Healthy Corners initiative, which utilizes urban corner stores as distribution…
Mid-Ohio Food Collective is no stranger to the community service model of food banking, which pairs a broad range of social services alongside food distribution. In fact, the food bank helped pioneer the concept with its Mid-Ohio Markets – eight of them so far – that combine free grocery markets…
Partnership for a Healthier America is not a food bank, but it has a goal that many can relate to: building sustainable access to fresh produce. Especially since the pandemic, the 15-year old organization has been in a perpetual cycle of seeking to make communities healthier through nutritious food. Under…
GUEST POST BY AMY HAYNES, FACILITATOR, COACH, SOCIAL WORKER – In the face of rising demand, fluctuating resources and systemic change, food bank leaders are leaning into innovation and reimagining what’s possible. Those are the conclusions of a series of interviews conducted with eight seasoned food bank leaders, each bringing…
Coming out of Covid, many food banks phased out their drive-through distributions. Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana is taking the opposite approach by leaning into its drive-through. There are good reasons to move away from drive-through distributions, as they generally don’t let clients choose their own food, nor access wrap-around…
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…
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…