Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank
End Hunger Collaborative

Description:   Hunger and food insecurity costs PA nearly $3.5 billion per year. This investment will launch a “Hunger Champions” initiative to end hunger by:  making public officials aware of the scope of hunger issues facing Allegheny County; engaging the public, private, and nonprofit sectors; developing and implementing standardized criteria to determine who is “missing meals” in our community and connecting people who are currently missing meals with community resources and public nutrition programs.

The Program Serves a Population with Great Needs:  Currently, only about 15% of the eligible population is being served through the food pantry system in Allegheny County. The agency predicts that this initiative will ultimately increase access to quality food and nutrition options for more than 100,000 Allegheny County residents.    

The Program Achieves Measurable Results:  The agency is a certified affiliate of Feeding America, and has been responsible for food distribution throughout SW Pennsylvania for 29 years.  The organization has an active network of 380 community-based partners that assist in assessing community needs and reacting quickly to emerging issues in order to provide vital services. 

The Program Applies a Sound Approach:  Leaders from social service, government, healthcare, education, business, labor, and the faith-based community have come together to clarify the role that each sector must play in order to reduce or eliminate the number of missed meals in Allegheny County and are in the process of devising action plans to guarantee full access to all available public programs and educate low-income residents about the availability of food assistance programs. 

Alignment with Preferred Outcomes and Likelihood of Community Change:

• 36 Anti-Hunger Champions will be recruited, trained and deployed

Community Outcomes:
Eliminating hunger and easing food insecurity will have a positive regional economic impact while improving the wellness, productivity, and quality of life for low-income residents.  Hunger harms children, exacerbates the ill health conditions of seniors, and is a barrier to workforce productivity.  This effort will enhance the community’s knowledge about where meals are missed and why.  The agency and its champions will use this data to increase the efficiency of existing service delivery systems and inform policy leaders and future decisions about hunger-related legislation