GBFB to Participate in White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health

About the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health

For the first time in over 50 years, the White House is holding a National Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, with the goal of ending hunger and increasing healthy eating and physical activity by 2030. The last conference of this nature, held in 1969, was historic in its impact, catalyzing national support and creating U.S. food policy framework in place today, including the expansion and coordination of the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, what was then called the Food Stamp program (now SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and establishing the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

The five pillars below define the scope of this year’s conference and are meant to help identify actions that can be taken by all parts of society — including the federal, local, state, territory, and Tribal governments, nonprofit and community groups, and private companies.

White House Conference Pillars

• Improve food access and affordability
• Integrate nutrition and health
• Empower all consumers to make and have access to healthy choices
• Support physical activity for all
• Enhance nutrition and food security research

How GBFB is Participating

The White House has encouraged organizations working to address these challenges to hold partner-led convenings to hear from their communities and submit comments that will inform the strategy of the September conference. Elevating the needs of our Eastern Massachusetts community is more important now than ever with the aftershock of the COVID-19 pandemic compounded with recent costs of food, fuel and other basic needs worsening food insecurity and with important legislation on the horizon (Child Nutrition Reauthorization under current review and 2023 Farm Bill).

In June and July, GBFB hosted two virtual roundtable discussions called “Elevating Voices” to hear feedback, experiences, and anti-hunger policy recommendations from our partner agencies and clients with lived expertise of food insecurity across Eastern Massachusetts. In addition to engaging our community through these sessions, we offered opportunities for clients and agency partners to share feedback through video testimony and an online form in Spanish and English. Many valuable insights were shared, and in partnership with Feeding America, participants received grocery cards as compensation.

“The five pillars of this year’s conference are meant to help identify actions that can be taken by all parts of society – including the federal, local, state, territory, and Tribal governments, nonprofit and community groups, and private companies.”

Read GBFB’s formal comments to the White House here. We also shared this feedback with Feeding America and with our Massachusetts members of Congress on behalf of the Eastern Massachusetts community.

Beyond hosting our own convenings, GBFB participated in listening sessions and convenings to learn about challenges impacting other communities, and to share feedback from our agency partners and clients. Sessions we attended were hosted by:

• The Chicago Council on Global Affairs; Food Systems for the Future; The Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition; World Central Kitchen (Task Force Convening for the White House Conference)
• Feeding America
• Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and Project Bread
• Congressman Jim McGovern, Mass Law Reform Institute, Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester, Equitable Spaces, and UMass Worcester Prevention Research Center
• Children’s HealthWatch at Boston Medical Center and the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC)

Learn more about the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health here.