Oregon Food Bank: Ending Hunger for Good

by Oregon Food Bank, Inc.

Project Report | Oct 8, 2024
Expanding Food Access and Building Community Power

By Bobak Tarighi | Community Philanthropy Developer

Oregon Food Bank (OFB) has been working tirelessly to meet the growing demand for emergency food assistance. With inflation and rising costs of living, we continue to see over 1.2 million visits each quarter to pantries, free food markets, and meal sites across the state. But our efforts don’t stop at food distribution—we’re also addressing the root causes of hunger, ensuring that every community has access to fresh, nutritious food today while working toward a future where hunger no longer exists.

These initiatives include the Double Up Food Bucks program which provides 1:1 match for SNAP participants at local grocery stores and farmers markets to increase purchasing power of fresh produce for community members. The result is a win on multiple fronts: families and low income Oregonians consume more healthy food, and local farmers gain new customers and a financial boost.

We’ve deepened partnerships with local farmers through initiatives like the Community Grower Support program, which contracts with growers and producers from our Priority Equity Constituencies—including BIPOC, immigrants and refugees, single mothers, and trans and gender expansive individuals—to provide fresh, local, and culturally relevant foods to their communities. As we look to the future, our commitment to systems change continues through policy advocacy and grassroots organizing. For example, our Policy Leadership Council (PLC)—a statewide group of 16 community leaders representing our Priority Equity Constituencies– sets the policy agenda for the full range of our external advocacy. The PLC brings a depth of local leadership, shared vision, lived experience of hunger and systemic inequity, and expertise ending hunger and hunger’s root causes in their communities.

In addition, the Food for All Oregonians (FFAO) initiative is advancing food justice by advocating for expanded access to food assistance, regardless of immigration status. This will ensure that no one in our state is left behind. By removing barriers and increasing eligibility, FFAO will help thousands of families and individuals access the nutrition they need to thrive. To ensure those most affected by hunger and systemic inequities have a voice in shaping these policies and systems, we are laying the groundwork to end hunger for good. Thank you for your continued support in making this vision a reality.

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Jun 7, 2024
Oregon Food Bank Program Spotlight: Policy Leaders

By Heather Ellis | Community Philanthropy Manager - Grants

In 2021, Oregon Food Bank (OFB) formed the Policy Leadership Council (PLC), comprised of community leaders with lived experience of hunger, food insecurity, and its root causes. Unlike any other peer leadership group at a food bank, the PLC develops and drives OFB’s policy agenda, enabling us to achieve our mission of eliminating hunger and its root causes.

To address hunger and its root causes—deeply-rooted inequalities that disproportionately leave behind Black, Indigenous, and people of color; immigrants and refugees; and transgender and gender nonconforming folx—the PLC will lead collectively by:

Identifying the root causes of hunger and opportunities for Oregon Food Bank to contribute to ending these root causes.
Articulating a systems change platform or road map to guide the priorities of Oregon Food Bank now and into the future.
Setting Oregon Food Bank’s positions on legislation and ballot measures in alignment with our systems change platform.

The 14 community members across Oregon have experience in food systems, food sovereignty, emergency assistance, environmental justice, and sustainable agriculture. Each member brings their lived experience, community trust, and expertise to monthly meetings. Over the past year, the PLC has reviewed 80 pieces of legislation to set our policy priorities through an intentional equity lens.

In alignment with the policy agenda set by the PLC, OFB community organizers are actively building Regional Leadership Squads through extensive outreach across Oregon. These squads are instrumental in recruiting and developing priority equity constituency leaders, who in turn inspire others to join the movement towards systems change. We firmly believe that to eliminate hunger and its root causes, we must foster collective power among those most affected by food insecurity and inequality in our communities.

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Feb 9, 2024
Oregon Producers Feeding Oregon Communities

By Melissa Gardea Mick | Community Philanthropy Senior Developer- Grants

Oregon Food Bank is building on a collection of innovative programs to realize how we reimagine and transform our food systems — with equity at their core, from field to market.

And we are uniquely positioned to connect small- to mid-scale producers to markets that serve food insecure communities. To address historical injustices, over the past two years, we’ve launched Community Grower Support pilot programs; the Community Grower Support Fund, Local Food Purchasing Agreement (LFPA) and Native & Tribal Fisheries Fund support producers from our priority equity communities– particularly Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) as well as immigrant and refugees– by purchasing local food to distribute to communities impacted by hunger.

Through this work, Oregon Food Bank pays producers up-front for food that is distributed to community members impacted by hunger — with priority given to socially disadvantaged farmers, fishers and ranchers. Types of food that qualify for purchase include fresh produce, nuts and legumes; eggs and dairy; whole grains; meat, poultry, seafood and freshwater fish. Processed products are to be made with at least 51% of locally-grown or -raised produce. Grantees may identify their own distribution outlets, though Oregon Food Bank assists with connections to new or existing distribution outlets as needed.

Over the first year, OFB was successful in its outreach and the program engaged 162 local and socially disadvantaged producers and vendors. Thanks to private support and government funding we were able to contract with community growers for for fresh, nutrient-dense, culturally-relevant harvests who then distributed foods directly to the communities they represent through Food Banks, Food Pantries, Farms via Community Supported Agriculture Models, Community Organizations, Grassroots Community Groups, and Tribal Communities.

We are meeting producers where they are at. We have seen the transformational impact of these funds through allowing growers to hire employees, invest in critical infrastructure, expand access to culturally specific food and fresh foods to communities not served through food pantries, and provide mental health support and stability to producers.

Links:

https://www.oregonfoodbank.org/news-and-community

Attachments:

Gonzalo Garcia Reyes- Founder, Lomita Farm (PDF)

1 Attachment

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