Hunger Relief Innovation Through Collaboration

The future of an equitable food ecosystem driven from a multi-sector, community centered approach

Abstract

Hunger and food insecurity persists even in the face of global food abundance. The world's farmers produce enough food to feed 1.5x the global population. In the United States, despite being home to 350+ food banks and 60,000 food pantries, 1 in 10 households experience food insecurity. Moreover, families of color are twice as likely as white families to face food insecurity. As a result, we must reframe the problem of hunger from being a problem of scarcity of food to instead being an access and affordability problem. As a society, we have not invested enough in innovation to solve for food access and affordability. When thinking about the future of our food ecosystem, in order to make it more equitable and sustainable, we must invest in solutions that connect rather than compete. Food Connect, a Philadelphia based non-profit hunger relief organization, focuses on bridging the gap between surplus food and hunger. The article outlines how Food Connect is pushing hunger relief innovation through technology, organizational development, pilot programming and partnership management to help build long term sustainable solutions that empower local communities to harness the power of local food players already within the food system.