Elevating Voices to End Hunger

When the Biden Administration needed new ideas and policies on how to intervene, they invited Feeding America, and others, to the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.

Instead of bringing statistics and policy papers, Feeding America wanted to bring the voices and stories of Americans at the heart of the crisis. Amplifying these voices ensures they’re shaping the policy solutions meant to address the crisis – instead of just placating those in power. To bring this perspective they needed to leverage their 200 food banks and the communities they serve.

This was the largest program – ever – to gather first-hand accounts of food insecurity in the US.

Knowing not everyone would be able to participate in this program the same way, Precision and Feeding America constructed three separate ways to gather stories directly – in both Spanish and English. We conducted over 120 listening sessions attended by over 1,000 neighbors (community members who use a Feeding America food bank) and facilitated by local affiliates. We also offered neighbors a web questionnaire – this was completed by over 25,000 neighbors. And we reached out to neighbors through a peer-to-peer texting program, gathering thousands of insights. Precision took all of these individual voices and turned them into a comprehensive report that Feeding America took to the White House.

This report included a massive data component looking at the most urgent concerns facing families such as rising costs, transportation, and the job market, as well as what food assistance programs can be doing better including increasing SNAP/EBT benefits and healthy options.

This approach allowed Feeding America to bring real examples to the White House coupled with data-driven recommendations for how to best approach the hunger crisis.

In addition to the three-prong approach to gathering first-hand accounts, Feeding America partnered with Chrissy Teigen, co-authoring an Op-Ed in USAToday. Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot also appeared on Morning Joe and Good Morning America to speak about the hunger crisis. This earned media strategy raised the profile of both Feeding America and the White House summit. This awareness helped bring in more commitments from private organizations and spread information about the Biden administration’s proposals including expanding free school meals, allowing more people to qualify for food stamps, and improving transportation to grocery stores.