Leran Minc
Since January 20th, it's become increasingly clear. Attacks and threats to programs and services that advance our mission to end food insecurity will be persistent over the coming years.
Here are seven ways we can stay focused and maintain the course to a future where no one goes hungry.
We are fighting for people to have access to food—not for government programs. While we rightly celebrate the role SNAP, school meals and other programs play in supporting families, let’s remember our north star. We fight for people to have dignified access to the foods they want and need by having the purchasing power to make those choices. These programs are powerful means to that end.
Remembering our why and our who can keep us motivated even if day-to-day setbacks in preserving federal programs occur.
Even though federal nutrition programs are popular – including among Republic voters – it's proven to be too easy for politicians to propose cutting benefits from anonymous SNAP recipients. So, we need to break down that anonymity. Let’s amplify what these cuts mean to real people – the working mom skipping meals to ensure her kids have enough to eat, the retired veteran on a fixed income choosing between buying groceries and medication, the first-generation college student balancing a job and their studies. Focusing on the people, not acronym programs, is the antidote.
When news breaks, programs participants need answers and advocates want to do their best to provide those. At Project Bread, we feel the pressure to share the scraps of information we glean from our networks to keep you informed but we are committed to getting the full picture and confirming details before sharing them. Not only is this important for credibility as an organization, but in an era where misinformation can travel quicky, we want to only amplify accurate information that our partners and those receiving support can trust.
Fight the temptation. Only share information you know to be accurate.
If we want to defend the current anti-hunger programs and dream for a future where hunger is permanently solved, we must work hand-in-hand with individuals with current or past lived experience of facing food insecurity. Facts and data absolutely matter. They are critical tools in our toolbox, but the most powerful advocacy comes when we combine facts and data with the real experiences of real people.
Now is the time to strengthen existing relationships and build new connections with real experts on food insecurity. Find as many opportunities as possible to co-lead to stop the attacks of federal programs and to co-create the solutions that will lead us to solving hunger.
This is also a critical time for us to maintain and expand our support for these courageous partners. The attacks on our low-income neighbors have increased and those who receive support continue to have their experiences invalidated. The harmful myths that poor people are less worthy are pervasive once again. We must loudly affirm that all people deserve the dignity of food security. Hunger is a policy choice, not a personal failing.
Attacks on the poor and proposals to cut programs that support food insecure households feels like a bad case of déjà vu especially as many of the proposals floating around Washington DC are lame reruns. The good news? We have defeated these types of attacks before.
During the first Trump Administration there were several proposed rule changes to cut benefits and tighten eligibility in the SNAP programs, weaken meal standards in children nutrition programs, and scare eligible immigrants from applying for assistance. Each one of these rules was blocked or delayed until the Biden Administration moved into the White House and rescinded these harmful proposals. In other words, each time they tried to scale back the nutrition safety net we fought back, and we won.
When you hear about proposals by the Administration or in Congress please keep this idea in mind: the story isn’t finished yet and most of the time nothing has changed yet. We have stopped them before. We can stop them, again. We WILL stop them again.
We believe strongly that hunger is a political choice and that we just need political will to solve it. However, if I was to add one qualifier is that we also need optimistic imagination to envision that future and make plans to reach it. Maintaining the status quo clearly won’t cut it.
In October of 2020, Project Bread began to plan for our Feed Kids campaign for School Meals for All in Massachusetts. At this point in time, the COVID-19 pandemic was still going strong and there was a lot of uncertainty heading into the presidential election. We did not let those head winds stop us from dreaming big and acting accordingly. Now every child in nearly all Massachusetts schools can receive breakfast or lunch for free if they need or want it.
The status quo is a step in the right direction, but it will not solve hunger. Far too many people are still ineligible for assistance. When people receive assistance, it isn’t always enough to support them throughout the entire month or to purchase healthy food.
Instead of simply defending programs, let’s also lay out our vision for our state and for the country. Let’s be bold and inspire people to join the work in achieving our vision.
Food is a basic human right. It shouldn’t matter where you were born, your immigration status, or your gender identity whether you and your family have enough to eat. Yet it’s clear that immigrant and refugee, Trans and gender expansive communities have been the primary targets of attacks both through executive orders and agency policy changes. In our defense against threats to food security services we must remain vigilant and vocal in our support of these communities and any others that get unfairly targeted.
We must also affirm, or reaffirm, a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice as a core value essential in order to end hunger. A legacy of discriminatory policies has made accessing food more challenging for Black, Brown, immigrant, indigenous, and disabled communities. We cannot find a radical solution for ending hunger without acknowledging that history and promoting equity, inclusion, and justice.
I know ending with something straight out of a self-care influencer video might seem like a throwaway, but I believe this is critically important. A lot has been thrown us over the last 2 months and unfortunately there is more yet to come.
Even after reading this list, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking the sky is falling. Take a breath, hydrate, sleep, take a walk, eat a good meal, intentionally disassociate for a few days. Whatever it is you need to take care of yourself so that you can stay in this fight, do it!
This includes celebrating small victories. Yes, hunger may persist and the battles ahead may still be there, but I urge you to please celebrate those victories. If you join or recruit a friend to join Project Bread's Action Team you’ve recruited one more voice to amplify our advocacy—celebrate that. If you raise money to support anti-hunger efforts in Massachusetts through The Walk for Hunger—celebrate that. If you connect someone facing hardship with Project Bread's FoodSource Hotline—celebrate that.
Not every day is a day where we’ll defeat, block, or delay harmful proposals, but there are countless big and small ways we can advance the mission of ensuring no one goes hungry in Massachusetts.