San Diego County CA—The Hunger Advocacy Network, a nonprofit collaborative effort to shape state and federal policies to end hunger, announces today that it has officially joined San Diego Hunger Coalition.
Previously housed at Jewish Family Service of San Diego, the Hunger Advocacy Network has steadily grown in membership, reputation and impact since the group was formalized in 2011 with support from the Leichtag Foundation.
“Jewish Family Service is pleased to have served as an incubator for the Hunger Advocacy Network, and is very proud of its accomplishments to date. The San Diego Hunger Coalition’s focus on research, training and collaboration make it a natural home for the Network in the next phase of its evolution,” says Shana Hazan, senior director of resource development for Jewish Family Service and former supervisor of the Hunger Advocacy Network.
In San Diego County, one in eight people do not always have enough food to eat. For children, the rate is even higher at one in five. “By presenting a unified voice, the Hunger Advocacy Network brings the expertise of its member agencies and the experiences of their clients to bear on decisions affecting state and federal policy,” says Anahid Brakke, executive director of the San Diego Hunger Coalition. “We work on policy changes that lead to better on-the-ground services, so that no one in our region has to go to bed hungry.”
The Hunger Advocacy Network’s accomplishments include preventing $238 million in cuts to CalFresh that would have affected over 320,000 families statewide and successfully advocating for a statewide nutrition incentive program that helps low-income families afford more nutritious fruits and vegetables. The Network has also partnered with MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger and congressional representatives from San Diego County to introduce amendments to federal bills that address food insecurity among active duty military families, which is an ongoing Network focus.
“The Hunger Advocacy Network members have been very supportive of the move to the San Diego Hunger Coalition,” says Diane Wilkinson, Hunger Advocacy Network manager. “It extends our reach, provides direct access to research and eliminates redundancies that had existed between the programs. We all see this as a win-win for both the Network and the Hunger Coalition.”
To learn more about the Hunger Advocacy Network and the San Diego Hunger Coalition, please visit http://www.sdhunger.org/.