Our 2024 Policy Agenda highlights the role that government — at every level — can play in reducing hunger and poverty in our region.
Although we distributed enough food for more than 58 million meals in Fiscal Year 2023, the food bank cannot address hunger alone. Governments play a critical role in reducing hunger and poverty at the broadest scale, and we’re seeking the support of policymakers to enact changes that advance these goals.
Our policy agenda has been informed by hundreds of conversations with elected leaders, academic researchers, and community members, as well as the insights of our clients and partner nonprofits. We have put forth requests, speaking to ways in which governmental leaders, across all jurisdictions, can take steps to alleviate hunger and poverty in the year ahead. Our requests are mindful of the structural and fiscal limitations policymakers face, but they also challenge leaders to ensure underserved and marginalized communities are not left behind — or left without a seat at the table. Together, we can holistically support the needs of the most vulnerable individuals in our communities.
Our service area covers all of the District of Columbia, as well as communities in Maryland and Virginia, and we have produced separate 2024 policy agendas for each state-level jurisdiction.
Our key policy priorities include approaches that would:
- Strengthen programs like SNAP;
- Improve access to nutritious meals at school;
- Increase connections between farmers/growers and the emergency food distribution network;
- Improve the efficacy of The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP); and
- Promote new, innovative programs like Summer EBT
We also are engaged in conversations with our colleagues at Feeding America and other national partners to produce a similar agenda for federal policymakers in early 2024.
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State
The food bank operates across three unique state-level jurisdictions: the state of Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Our policy priorities for each jurisdiction are below.
