In fiscal year 2022, the Food Depository advanced a policy agenda to strengthen federal nutrition programs that protect our neighbors from food insecurity.
At the federal level, we advocated for increased commodities flowing through the nation’s emergency food system to enable food banks, pantries, kitchens, and shelters keep up with increased demand and rising food costs.
In Illinois, the Food Depository worked as part of the Illinois Commission to End Hunger to make it easier to enroll – and stay enrolled – in federal nutrition programs. For example, the Commission has been working to simplify the way elderly and disabled households renew their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and to give households with an older adult, disabled person, or person experiencing homelessness the option to redeem benefits for restaurant meals, not just groceries. The Commission is also working to better leverage technology, for example utilizing text and email to communicate with participants about benefits and increasing the number of nutrition programs with an online application option.
Locally, the Chicago Food Equity Council convened working groups to advance the city’s food equity agenda. This public-private partnership includes the Chicago Mayor’s Office, the Food Depository, City of Chicago departments and community organizations working together to ensure all Chicagoans have access to healthy, affordable food and that food becomes an engine for community wealth building. The agenda of the Chicago Food Equity Council includes connecting more people with food programs, increasing support for local growers, and supporting BIPOC food entrepreneurs.
The Food Depository believes successful advocacy leverages the expertise of our community partners and our neighbors with lived experience in poverty and food insecurity. More than ever, we are committed to centering and elevating their voices in our work. To this end, the Food Depository launched the Food Equity Ambassadors program, an advocacy training fellowship made available to our community partners. We also convened the Community Council for Food Equity – an advisory council of neighbors with lived experience to inform our policy work and invest in their advocacy and organizing skills.
“Food is not a privilege, it’s a basic human right.”
Lovely Sardin, Food Equity Ambassador & Senior Operations Coordinator at IMAN Food & Wellness Center
In April, the Food Depository was recognized nationally for its advocacy work and the Food Equity Ambassador Program. Feeding America honored us with the Network Excellence Award, its highest annual honor, for these initiatives.
