Anti-Hunger Policy Priorities

Policy Priorities to Make Hunger History

Our approach to ending hunger together is three-pronged: to reduce hunger by getting more of the right food where it’s needed, to prevent hunger through policies that target it at its roots, and to track our progress along the way through data and new tools to measure hunger in Minnesota.  

Policy advocacy is an integral part of this model—this is why, working closely with our anti-hunger allies throughout the state, we will be seeking additional resources for the emergency food network and enhancements to critical hunger-reducing programs like SNAP in the upcoming legislative session.

Yet even while we work to make food more accessible, nutritious, and culturally relevant—including by investing directly in communities disproportionately impacted by food insecurity—we also want to reverse the trendline of need. 

Reduce Hunger Policy Priorities

Demand for emergency food assistance is skyrocketing while state and federal support has fallen far short of the actual need. There are enough resources—and enough food—available to meet this moment; we need your voice to ensure that lawmakers make support for our neighbors experiencing hunger a priority. 

Prevent Hunger Policy Priorities

Even while we work to reduce hunger today, we know that emergency food assistance cannot prevent people from experiencing hunger tomorrow. That is why we need to go further upstream and tackle the root causes of hunger if we want to end it altogether. Second Harvest Heartland recently launched the Nourish MN coalition alongside four other nonprofits working to make childcare, housing, and food more affordable and expand access to transit—because we know hunger rates will decrease over time as a result.