San Diego Hunger Coalition Presents Innovative Hunger Solutions to USDA

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San Diego Hunger Coalition Presents Innovative Hunger Solutions to USDA

In January, the San Diego Hunger Coalition hosted a roundtable discussion  between the region’s hunger-relief community and a delegation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), including Deputy Under Secretary Stacy Dean and Food & Nutrition Services (FNS) Administrator Cindy Long. 

One of the main goals of the meeting was to showcase some of the innovative solutions to nutrition insecurity and hunger being deployed in our region by the Hunger Coalition and partner organizations, including:

During the roundtable, USDA heard from a host of hunger-relief organizations in San Diego, including the Hunger Coalition, San Diego Food Bank, Feeding San Diego, SBCS, Oceanside Unified School District, Sweetwater Union High School District, and San Ysidro Health. Rep. Sara Jacobs and Rep. Scott Peters also attended the event.

During the meeting and afterward, the federal delegation praised the innovative solutions that organizations in San Diego are spearheading.

“The creativity that is present at the community level here in San Diego to serve those in need, we heard so much about the collaboration, and the constant innovation and evaluation,” said Cindy Long.

Despite the critical and groundbreaking work that San Diego Hunger Coalition and its partners do each day throughout our region, there are still many barriers to addressing nutrition insecurity throughout the county and nationincluding the recent ending of emergency pandemic-era CalFresh aid.

Because of the continued need to address hunger through systemic change, , San Diego Hunger Coalition President & CEO Anahid Brakke recently submitted a letter to USDA Deputy Under Secretary Dean with a list of challenges that could be resolved with help from the federal government.

These challenges and solutions to address hunger include:

  • School Meals: Although universal school meals are an incredible achievement, there are some growing pains. Solutions include extending the deadline for schools to apply to Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), adjusting specific metrics in CEP to allow for more school districts to get funding for these universal meals and creating a streamlined and centralized data system for all child hunger programs.

  • P-EBT/Summer EBT: Pandemic EBT and Summer EBT programs have long run into data issues, and it’s critical that a centralized and simplified system be created. Additionally, there are funding barriers to overcome, including training for translation services so that these resources can be provided to the people who need them the most.

  • CalFresh/SNAP: SDHC advocates for a requirement that States have robust language access so that households with limited English proficiency can benefit from CalFresh. SDHC also believes it’s critical that enrollment is prioritized alongside fraud prevention, and that the federal government reverses course on its ban on SNAP recruitment via various media outlets.

We strongly urge the USDA to implement these critical policy solutions, which wouldn’t just benefit people experiencing nutrition insecurity in San Diego. Applied effectively and strategically, they would help close the meal gap across the country.