Nearly two years ago, we began a 5-Year Strategic Plan to guide our efforts in building lasting food security across the Philadelphia region. Your support brings us closer to the solutions that will ensure people have the food they need to live healthy lives.

As we prepare to continue this work in the new year, we're looking back and celebrating all of the tremendous progress we've made in the first two years of this Strategic Plan:

We have expanded our network to bring together community members, organizations, and businesses across sectors to rally in the fight to end hunger. The tremendous success of our first ever Philly Brunch Off is a testament to the strength of our cross sector partnerships.

It can be confusing to navigate the SNAP benefits application process, and often those seeking SNAP benefits could also use other resources, like immediate food locally, which we also help with on our SNAP Hotline. We've cultivated 7 partnerships with trusted community organizations serving Spanish speaking immigrant communities, started a Spanish newsletter, added a Spanish Hotline voice message, and continue to translate materials in multiple languages.  

At the Coalition Against Hunger we directly support local anti-hunger programs like food pantries and soup kitchens, and we're creating ways to connect them to one another to strengthen the food network in Philadelphia. We have begun convening group tours of our partner facilities for knowledge, skill, and resource sharing, and we have added community fridges to our network.

We are currently conducting an advocacy campaign and are hearing from local individuals who have lived experience with SNAP (food stamps) both to inform our work at the Coalition Against Hunger and to share with legislators ahead of the reauthorization of the Farm Bill. Before we began this campaign, we also worked with partners to complete a statewide story collection project.

Food insecurity is a systemic issue that will be solved with systemic solutions. That's why we are focused on deeply understanding and addressing the root causes of food insecurity, one of which is racism. Our full team completed a month-long training to learn more about the roots of racism in our government and society, and to track our organization's progress along the anti-racist continuum.