New Feeding America Report Shares Insights From Nearly 36,000 People to Help Inform Tomorrow’s White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health
Elevating Voices to End Hunger Together report coincides with the first conference at the federal level focused on hunger in over 50 years
Feeding America®, the nation’s largest hunger-relief network of which Feeding San Diego is a member, has published a new report, Elevating Voices to End Hunger Together: Community-Driven Solutions to Address America’s Hunger Crisis. The report includes insights and anti-hunger policy recommendations from nearly 36,000 people from across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, including individuals in San Diego County. It is a culmination of a three-month listening initiative launched earlier this summer with the goal to help ensure the Sept. 28 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health and the subsequent policy conversations are informed by people facing hunger. The initiative included listening sessions, a survey, questionnaires and text message conversations.
Feeding San Diego, a member of the Feeding America nationwide network of 200 food banks, 21 statewide associations and 60,000 faith-based and charitable partner food pantries and meal programs, is the only member in the region that took part in this comprehensive report.
“The White House Conference could not be timelier, because we know people right here in San Diego County are struggling to afford nutritious food. The pandemic positioned the problem of hunger in the headlines, and it needs to stay there,” said Dan Shea, CEO of Feeding San Diego. “With the current supply chain issues, rising gas and utility costs, and persisting inflation that has impacted every single person’s budget – it’s time to re-examine how to help American families avoid the negative experience of acute or prolonged food insecurity.”
An overwhelming majority of respondents to Feeding America’s survey (92%) agreed that to truly reduce hunger, the government, the private sector, nonprofits, local institutions and communities must come together to create solutions.
The report’s recommendations for federal policymakers—informed by people facing hunger—focus on four key areas: prioritizing dignity, increasing access, expanding opportunity and improving health. For example, the report recommends that Congress increase benefit levels and expand eligibility criteria for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to help more people afford enough nutritious food. Eighty-eight percent of survey respondents said it was important to support people’s dignity and choices in what they feed their families and 78% want SNAP to make it easier to access healthy foods, not restrict food choices.
At the local level, Feeding San Diego is working with elected officials to understand the nuances of the problem of hunger throughout the county and provide food assistance in hunger hot spots. Since the pandemic began in March 2020, Feeding San Diego has been distributing more food than it ever has in its 15-year history. With the impact of inflation, the organization will struggle to provide the meals needed by the hundreds of thousands of people facing hunger in the coming years without collaboration with local government and an increase in charitable donations. Feeding San Diego is spending more money purchasing food to help meet demand, which is not sustainable in the long term. The Elevating Voices to End Hunger Together report includes policy recommendations to help people in need today and address the root causes of food insecurity to eradicate hunger across the nation.
