![]() | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Abbreviation | THI |
---|---|
Formation | 2009 |
Type | Nonprofit |
Headquarters | Waco, Texas |
Website | texashunger.org |
The Texas Hunger Initiative (THI) is a capacity-building, collaborative project dedicated to developing and implementing strategies to end hunger through policy, education, research, community organizing and community development. THI convenes federal, state and local government stakeholders with nonprofits, faith communities and business leaders to create an efficient system of accountability that increases food security in Texas. [1]
THI believes that Texas has enough food to feed the people of Texas but that the system making food accessible needs to be organized. It is working to end hunger by initiating collaboration, sharing innovative ideas through research, and informing public policy, in Texas and beyond.
Housed within Baylor University, THI is uniquely positioned to lead in research, utilizing the University’s extensive academic network to measure and evaluate existing food programs in order to improve them. Partnering with experts across the academic disciplines, THI’s research team is determined to make research relating to food insecurity both collaborative and actionable. The research THI conducts informs its policy and advocacy work, which in turn informs its programs and outreach, and the effectiveness of its programs is continuously evaluated by this research. The reverse is also true, as THI’s programs and outreach inform what research needs to be done and where policy education is needed.
The Texas Hunger Initiative’s Central Office is currently housed in the Baylor University School of Social Work in downtown Waco. THI also has 8 regional offices across the state that fight hunger on a local level in Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, Lubbock, McAllen, and Waco.
THI is actively involved in expanding the reach of child nutrition programs across the state. This work is funded by Dairy MAX, Share Our Strength and the Walmart Foundation.
THI works within communities to help establish Food Planning Associations (FPAs). There are good people doing great work in every community in Texas, but often they are not connected with each other. THI brings these groups together by assessing the work being done in their communities, identifying gaps in services and collaborating to work toward food security. This work is funded by the ConAgra Foundation.
The Texas Hunger Initiative was started in 2009 as partnership between Baylor University and the Christian Life Commission (a division of the Southern Baptist Convention, with which Baylor is affiliated) with funding from The Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger. [2] It has since expanded to include partnerships with the New York City Coalition Against Hunger (NYCCAH), ConAgra Foods Foundation, and Share Our Strength. [3] Their work has been featured on the White House website.
The Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA) is a United States federal law (act) signed on October 11, 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The Act was created as a result of the "years of cumulative successful experience under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to help meet the nutritional needs of children." The National School Lunch Program feeds 30.5 million children per day. NSLP was operated in over 101,000 public and nonprofit private schools in 2007. The Special Milk Program, functioning since 1954, was extended to June 30, 1970 and incorporated into the act. The act also provided Federal funding assistance towards non-food purchases for school equipment.
Share Our Strength is a national organization working to end childhood hunger and poverty in the United States. Share Our Strength holds culinary events, solicits individual donations, and uses social media to raise funds, which are then used to fund long-term solutions to the hunger problem. Through corporate sponsorships, funds that Share Our Strength raises are then significantly magnified. No Kid Hungry is a national campaign run by Share Our Strength.
The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) is a social benefit organization located in Plano, Texas. The organization distributes donated, purchased and prepared foods through a network of nearly 1,000 feeding programs and 262 Partner Agencies in 13 North Texas counties. The NTFB supports the nutritional needs of children, seniors, and families through education, advocacy and strategic partnerships.
The Arkansas Foodbank is a non-profit food bank located in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Arkansas Foodbank distributed more than 20.9 million pounds of food and grocery products to its member agencies for Arkansans in need in 2013, according to Chief Executive Officer, Rhonda Sanders.
Food policy is the area of public policy concerning how food is produced, processed, distributed, purchased, or provided. Food policies are designed to influence the operation of the food and agriculture system balanced with ensuring human health needs. This often includes decision-making around production and processing techniques, marketing, availability, utilization, and consumption of food, in the interest of meeting or furthering social objectives. Food policy can be promulgated on any level, from local to global, and by a government agency, business, or organization. Food policymakers engage in activities such as regulation of food-related industries, establishing eligibility standards for food assistance programs for the poor, ensuring safety of the food supply, food labeling, and even the qualifications of a product to be considered organic.
Freedom from Hunger is an international development organization working in nineteen different countries. Freedom from Hunger is a nonprofit, nongovernmental, nonsectarian organization classified by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) charity.
CHILDREN AT RISK is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that drives changes for children through research, education, and influencing public policy. Founded in 1989 in Houston, Texas and with an office opened in North Texas in 2011, the organization focuses on the well-being of children and educates legislators on the importance of key children's issues. While focusing on a variety of issues, the primary issues are human trafficking, food insecurity, education, and parenting. CHILDREN AT RISK also has a North Texas office in Dallas. Some of CHILDREN AT RISK's previous primary issues were juvenile justice, mental health, and Latino children.
Voice of Hope Ministries, Inc. is an American non-profit organization operating in Texas.
FareShare is a charity network aimed at relieving food poverty and reducing food waste in the UK, which has been running since 1994. It does this by obtaining good quality surplus food from the food industry that would otherwise have gone to waste, and sending it to almost 11,000 charity and community groups across the United Kingdom via the network partners.
Rise Against Hunger is an international hunger relief non-profit organization that coordinates the packaging and distribution of food and other aid to people in developing nations. Founded in 1998, Rise Against Hunger mobilizes more than 400,000 volunteers each year to package meals for people in need around the globe.
The School Breakfast Program is a federally funded meal program that provides free and reduced cost breakfasts to children at public and private schools, and child care facilities in the United States. All children in participating schools and residential institutions are eligible for a federally subsidized meal, regardless of family income. However, free meals must be offered to children from families with incomes below 130% of the federal poverty level, and reduced price meals to those with family incomes between 130% and 185% of the poverty level. Those families over 185% poverty level have to pay full price for their meals which are set by the school. Even though the children have to pay for their own meals, the school is still reimbursed to some extent.
Hunger Task Force, Inc. is a non-profit, anti-hunger public policy organization in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Hunger Task Force works to end hunger in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin by providing direct food delivery services, and works to end future hunger by advocating for fair and responsible administration of federal nutrition assistance programs.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 is a federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 13, 2010. The law is part of the reauthorization of funding for child nutrition. It funded child nutrition programs and free lunch programs in schools for 5 years. In addition, the law set new nutrition standards for schools, and allocated $4.5 billion for their implementation. The new nutrition standards were a centerpiece of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative to combat childhood obesity. In FY 2011, federal spending totaled $10.1 billion for the National School Lunch Program. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act allows USDA, for the first time in 30 years, opportunity to make real reforms to the school lunch and breakfast programs by improving the critical nutrition and hunger safety net for millions of children. Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and Michelle Obama were a step in transforming the food pyramid recommendation, which has been around since the early 1990s, into what is now known as "MyPlate".
The New York City Coalition Against Hunger (NYCCAH) is a nonprofit organization, which aims to “enact innovative solutions to help society move ‘beyond the soup kitchen’ to ensure economic and food self-sufficiency for all Americans”. NYCCAH works collaboratively with local, state, and national legislatures as well as New York residents and community associations. In contrast to other organizations, NYCCAH generally does not distribute food but rather concerns itself with providing technical assistance to groups which do while simultaneously affecting hunger policy at a more macro-urban scale.
Randel (Randy) Hershel Skinner is a political, judicial and criminal justice consultant known for his work in high crime and impoverished communities. He is also an author and an advisor to political figures of both political parties, bringing his skills to focus on biblical justice from an evangelical perspective. He serves as Executive Director of FEED 3 Inc. and Strategic Justice Initiatives Inc.
Seeds of Hope Publishers is a nonprofit group of believers responding to a common burden for the poor and hungry of God's world, and acting on the strong belief that Judeo-Christian biblical mandates to feed the poor were not intended to be optional. The group intends to seek out people of faith who feel called to care for people in poverty. They hope to do so by informing and inspiring a variety of responses through publications and resources including periodicals, newsletters, and worship materials. Seeds published its first newsletter in 1979 and, although the publications have metamorphosed over the years, has maintained ISSN 0194-4495 ever since.
Hunger in the United States of America affects millions of Americans, including some who are middle class, or who are in households where all adults are in work. The United States produces far more food than it needs for domestic consumption—hunger within the U.S. is caused by some Americans having insufficient money to buy food for themselves or their families. Additional causes of hunger and food insecurity include neighborhood deprivation and agricultural policy. Hunger is addressed by a mix of public and private food aid provision. Public interventions include changes to agricultural policy, the construction of supermarkets in underserved neighborhoods, investment in transportation infrastructure, and the development of community gardens. Private aid is provided by food pantries, soup kitchens, food banks, and food rescue organizations.
A school breakfast club is a provision for children to eat a healthy breakfast in a safe environment before their first class. The term "breakfast club" is commonly used to describe such facilities in the United Kingdom.
Second Harvest North Florida (SHNF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Jacksonville, Florida, that performs food rescue and redistribution to partner agencies in one quarter of Florida's 67 counties. The charitable organization has been active for over 30 years.
St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance is a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization located in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1967 by John van Hengel, St. Mary's was the first modern organization to operate using the food bank model, which spread throughout U.S. and the rest of the world. Today, St. Mary's is recognized as the world's first food bank.