Whether tackling hunger or clean water, disease eradication, literacy, or social justice, solutions to the great humanitarian and social problems of our day have eluded us. Both global and local hunger persist, despite the heroic efforts of many. And from both global and local vantage points, it becomes ever clearer that we urgently need to collaborate more effectively with our partners to meet the challenges we face.

For millennia, the human race has been finding ways to help others in need. But addressing social problems through agencies designed and built to tackle particular problems is a relatively new phenomenon. The International Committee of the Red Cross, founded in 1863, is one of the earliest. United Nations organizations such as UNICEF and the WFP are but fifty years old. Many of the largest and best-known NGOs are even more recent players. Founded in 1980, the Capital Area Food Bank was created to end hunger in the Washington, D.C., metro area. Unfortunately, over the last thirty-three years, the need has not diminished. Poverty is on the rise, in our region and nationally. Indeed, we have witnessed a 25 percent increase in hunger since the beginning of the economic downturn in 2008. Today, more than 680,000 individuals, including 200,000 children, in the District of Columbia, northern Virginia, and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland look to us for help. And while the ranks of the working poor are growing, the middle class is also under stress, as many people who have never needed emergency food services find themselves at the doors of our neighborhood partner agencies and food pantries, which depend on CAFB for food and household items.

There was a time when many of us looked forward to ending the scourge of hunger, poverty, and homelessness. But as days become months and months become years, these stubborn social problems have outlasted our commitment, our resources, and sometimes even our compassion. So we ask: Given that these problems are overwhelming and persistent, might not we fight them more effectively in partnership rather than alone? If that’s the case, how can we maximize impact through collaboration? And how should we think about these critical relationships?

At WFP, it became abundantly clear that our work, once deemed the purview of “donor governments,” required a broader set of players. Back then, I was focused on engaging the private sector, in particular, to join with government and civil society to more effectively reach hungry people around the world. During my five years with the UN, our unconventional thinking about public-private partnerships became conventional wisdom, as governments began to embrace the idea that they, too, needed partners — not just for additional funding but for the expertise that private-sector partners often are uniquely positioned to provide. As the UN partnered with Fortune 500 companies and governments to take on child malnutrition, the process of coordinating the work was always harder than we’d initially thought — yet always turned out to be more worthwhile than we’d expected.

At CAFB, our partners include not only private companies such as Marriott and philanthropic entities like the Philip L. Graham Fund, but also hundreds of nonprofits, from local churches to area YMCAs to Martha’s Table, Bread for the City, and other community groups. In working with these partners, however, we have come to realize that it is not enough to address immediate needs in our communities; we must also find ways to create a long-term plan to collaboratively and systematically tackle the problems we face.

To that end, I have just completed a round of conversations with forty or fifty agencies that are working with us to combat hunger in the region. CAFB’s role is to provide our partners with leadership, expertise, training, and food resources to meet the needs of children, seniors, and families in their areas of service. But as we think through the challenges of how to do this effectively, we are also mapping the food insecurity needs and the reach of our and our many partners’ efforts. When that effort is completed, we will be better positioned to empower and support the community agencies best suited to address these challenges.

Just like leaders in the humanitarian aid field, we grapple with how best to work with our partners. Collaboration and information sharing is critical if we are to repair and weave stronger social safety nets that contribute to sustainable reductions in hunger, preventable diseases, and a host of other pressing problems.

We realize that collaboration, to be effective, will require an understanding of the comparative advantages of our various partners. It may also require bringing them together more often — not just to share best practices, but to plan better. Finally, it may require demanding answers to tough questions from all of us. Questions like: Which solutions are most effective? Which should be scaled first? Which should be phased out?

In the end, the best solutions are likely to be implemented street by street, block by block, one community at a time. At CAFB, we’re convinced that working with our partners to understand what works best and then to share best practices and scale solutions as we work toward our collective goals will make it more likely we achieve them.

This post was first published on Huffington Post.

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Chosen unanimously by the CAFB’s Board of Directors, Nancy was the immediate past Director of Public/Private Partnerships and Communications at the United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP), the world’s largest humanitarian agency, feeding 100 million people in 75 countries.

Speaking on behalf of the CAFB Board of Directors, Chairman Greg Ten Eyck said, “Nancy Roman embodies the skills and experience necessary to continue the tradition of excellence and innovation so critical to the future of the Capital Area Food Bank. Her success in raising awareness and resources for the fight against hunger worldwide is well-known and we are confident that her leadership and expertise will allow us to expand further to meet the complex hunger needs in the region.”

At WFP, Nancy supervised a global staff of more than 100 and pioneered innovative partnerships with the private sector that allowed WFP to expand services to millions more mothers and children in the poorest parts of the globe.

“It is a great honor to be chosen for this important role and to follow in the footsteps of a visionary leader like Lynn Brantley,” she said. “The CAFB is on firm footing and prepared for the future because of her leadership and inspiration. I’m so grateful she will continue to advise and support us as president emeritus.”

The Capital Area Food Bank, a member of Feeding America, was founded in 1980 as a temporary hunger relief operation, but poverty and hunger have continued to grow. Today, there are more than 680,000 individuals, including 200,000 children, in the region that look to the CAFB for help.

Over the years, the CAFB has developed a comprehensive approach to addressing hunger by providing nutrition education and training; hosting hunger conferences; attracting some 18,000 volunteers to the food bank annually and advocating on behalf of those who rely on such programs as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

In response to the uncertain economy and the increasing numbers of those suffering from inadequate nutrition, the Capital Area Food Bank recently moved into a new and much larger food distribution center located at 4900 Puerto Rico Avenue, NE. Over time, the new facility will enable the CAFB to meet the growing need by more than doubling its storage and annual food distribution capacity of 33 milion pounds – half of which is fresh produce.

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Nearly 32 years ago, the Capital Area Food Bank, which had been founded in 1980 on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, was a tiny organization facing an apparently insurmountable problem: hunger in the Nation’s Capital. Food stamps had been cut, inflation had been running in the double digits and poor people faced an increasingly bleak future.

With an intrepid heart, sleeves rolled up ready to work and unburdened by either business experience, or a detectible ego, Lynn J. Brantley stepped into the role of heading the fledgling organization. Calling on the expertise and good will of others and driven by her own inner passion, she shifted the story of hunger in the Washington metropolitan area from one of largely unmet needs to the place it is today, still short of the goal of meeting all the need, but served by an organization that this year is distributing over 33 million pounds of food – half of which is fresh produce – through over 700 partner agencies to those facing hunger on a daily basis.

Steadfast in her commitment to social justice and to the community she served, Lynn took the Capital Area Food Bank to leadership within the national food bank scene. With a plain style born of a Lancaster County, PA upbringing rich with Quaker values, Lynn spoke truth to power and time after time melted the hearts and opened the pocketbooks of people willing to join her in protecting the most vulnerable among us. She also touched the souls and spirits of those she met, making those around her better and kinder because of Lynn’s own example. She truly “Let Her Life Speak!”

The Board of Directors of the Capital Area Food Bank, on the occasion of her final board meeting as President and CEO, included in the minutes its deep appreciation for the leadership that Lynn J. Brantley has provided to the organization and to each of us as human beings. We wish her the happiest retirement years, safe in the knowledge that those years will be spent serving others and brightening lives.

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CAFB Chairman Greg Ten Eyck said, “Lynn’s vision and passionate commitment to the mission of the Capital Area Food Bank have remained unchanged over the years – to feed the hungry with dignity, prevent food waste and save partner agencies countless dollars while they serve those most in need.”

Chosen unanimously by the Board, Brantley’s successor will be Nancy E. Roman, currently Director of Public/Private Partnerships and Communications at the United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP), the world’s largest humanitarian agency, feeding 100 million people in 75 countries. Roman will assume her new role as President and CEO of CAFB on Jan. 2.

In the late 1970’s, following cuts in the USDA’s food stamp program, Lynn worked tirelessly with the Interfaith Conference and the United Planning Organization to organize food provisions for the poor in the District of Columbia and surrounding areas. She helped found the CAFB in 1980 on January 15, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday – as a temporary hunger relief operation, but, regrettably, the need continues to grow. She said recently, “ Back then, we had hoped to see poverty and hunger diminish, but today more than 680,000 individuals, including 200,000 children, in our region look to us for help.”

In the early days, the food bank was a small operation providing 1,537 pounds of food per month to a few thousand people. Today, the CAFB has 130 employees and distributes 33 million pounds of food a year – half of which is fresh produce – through 700 non-profit partner agencies in Washington, DC; Northern Virginia; and Prince George’s and Montgomery counties in Maryland.
Due to the uncertain economy and the increasing numbers of those suffering from inadequate nutrition, Lynn embarked on a capital campaign five years ago. “We were outgrowing our former warehouse and were no longer able to meet the growing demand for food,” she said.

The new food distribution center, located at 4900 Puerto Rico Ave. NE, officially opened July 31 and over time will enable the CAFB to more than double its storage and food distribution capacity to meet the growing need.

Under Lynn’s leadership, the CAFB developed a comprehensive approach to addressing hunger by providing nutrition education and training; hosting hunger conferences; attracting some 18,000 volunteers to the food bank annually and advocating on behalf of those who rely on such programs as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

On the eve of her retirement, Lynn said, “Our many partnerships with the community over the years have been central to our role in educating, empowering and enlightening our neighbors about the issues of hunger and nutrition. The community’s continued support will encourage the Capital Area Food Bank to grow far beyond the doors of our new facility as we stand behind our mission to serve others ’til no one is hungry.”

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In the midst of a hunger crisis right here in the Washington metro area, we recently expanded into a new facility that will help us reach the nearly 700,000 individuals, seniors and children struggling to get enough food to eat. Since the food bank’s founding, we have been committed to providing access to quality, nutritious foods. Our Healthy Food Initiative reaffirms that commitment and will help us get good food into the community.

We now have standards on food such as healthy dry goods – beans, whole grains and canned goods –that will help encourage wholesome food donations. We also have programs that showcase how food bank ingredients can be transformed into nourishing meals.

Many of the individuals we serve are not only challenged with finding enough food to feed their families, but they are also coping with diet-related illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. Managing these serious conditions can deplete vital resources that could be used to pay bills and buy healthy food.

We are not the food police but we do care about what we give our community. Our Healthy Food Initiative puts us in a position to distribute healthy food that can help families stretch food dollars and also encourage healthy eating habits that ultimately result in positive health outcomes.

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What did this mean for the Capital Area Food Bank? Last week two tractor trailers filled with food valued at $35,000 each made deliveries from the LDS Church headquarters in Salt Lake City to our distribution centers in NE DC and Northern Virginia.
On Sunday, the official Day to Serve, Christel Hair, the CAFB’s chief development officer, and I were joined by Mayor Gray and 400 volunteers who packed and sorted food at the LDS Church on 16th St., NW in Washington, DC.

Many other events took place throughout the region on that same day. Feed the Need, an event conducted by Shannon Toronto at an LDS Church in Arlington, VA, raised over $8,000 for the CAFB and another LDS Church in Silver Spring, MD held a virtual food drive organized by Debra Bingham that raised $7,000 for the food bank. Food drives were held in Virginia for our Lorton facility at an LDS Church in North Arlington and one in Kingstowne.

Many people were responsible for this successful, multifaceted event, but I would like to give special recognition to Debbie M. Harrison, senior vice president, government affairs of Marriott International, Inc.; Laurie Turner and Anne Golightly, both with public affairs at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the DC metro area; and Leslie Van Horn, Executive Director, Federation of Virginia Food Banks.

The Day to Serve was an amazing outpouring of support for those struggling with hunger. We thank everyone who joined us and look forward to repeating a Day to Serve next year.

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This past year, the food bank hosted over 18,000 volunteers who spent 84,000 hours sorting and packing bags of food for our 700 partner agencies that shop at the food bank. These invaluable volunteers provided services valued at over $2.2 million.

Acquiring a van for a formal shuttle service would enable the food bank to provide convenient and comfortable transportation for our volunteers who rely on the Metro to reach our facility.

Please, if anyone has any information on a potential vehicle that could serve as the food bank’s official shuttle, or would like to donate funds to purchase one, please contact Father Eugene Brake at 301-848-9709.

In advance, thank you for providing us with any leads on acquiring a permanent shuttle to make the connection between the metro and our new home.

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