Earlier this month, the Mayors Alliance to End Childhood Hunger gathered to officially transition its leadership, reflect on the past year, and build momentum for the year ahead.
More than 45 member mayors and dozens of staff from mayoral offices and other partnering organizations braved the snow and cold in mid-January to celebrate the group’s second anniversary. We were able to thank our outgoing Chair, former Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome (Baton Rouge, LA), for her exceptional year of service and to welcome our new Chair, Mayor Mattie Parker (Fort Worth, TX), and incoming Vice-Chair, Mayor Paige Cognetti, (Scranton, PA).
Mayor Parker shared her priorities for the upcoming year, which include elevating the group with peer mayoral organizations, elected officials, and media to solidify the Mayors Alliance as a critical partner in ending childhood hunger. The Alliance is excited to continue to focus on diversifying our member mayors, ensuring continued engagement of different city sizes, demographics, geographies, and political ideologies.
In her remarks, Mayor Cognetti shared her top three priorities, rooted in the Mayors Alliance’s vital role in state and federal advocacy. These issues are nationwide participation in the Summer EBT program, protection of SNAP benefits in the Farm Bill, and permanent extension of the enhanced Child Tax Credit in the upcoming tax package.
The featured best practices from three mayors who made commitments to the White House Challenge to End Hunger – Dan Rickenmann (Columbia, SC), Michael Vargas (Perris, CA), and Dominick Pangallo (Salem, MA).
Mayor Rickenmann participated in a fireside chat with one of the Mayors Alliance’s sponsors, Instacart, to reflect on one year of the Grocery Access Program in Columbia, SC, the company’s first partnership with city government, exemplifying how the private and public sector can work together to address food insecurity. The Mayor reflected that the program has allowed residents who live in food deserts or low food access areas to use Instacart’s online grocery delivery to access the food and essentials they need at a reduced cost.
The program provides more than 100 residents with a complimentary Instacart+ membership and a small monthly stipend intended for fees. The initial outcomes of the program demonstrate that it is making a difference in the lives of individuals and families, allowing them to more easily access a wider range of the food and essentials they need and driving more business to local retailers.
If you are interested in pursuing a similar public-private partnership to address food deserts in your community, please contact us at mayors@strength.org and we can facilitate an introduction to Instacart.
Mayor Vargas, Perris, CA, shared the following updates on his community’s Hunger Task Force, the establishment of three new programs: pack-a-smile food giveaway, fueling fun at special events, and seeds to success school challenge.
Mayor Pangallo provides updated on his city’s Food Action Plan, including:
*Increasing access to Salem Summer Eats sites to caregivers so families can join their children in receiving free meals during the summer months
*Creating a Farm to School lesson plan for classrooms and school gardens, providing professional development for teachers, and offering field trips to local farms for elementary school students.
*Enhancing the Salem Food Policy Council’s outreach to all community members by creating a multi-lingual communications campaign to ensure that residents know what resources are available to them, and where to register for programs such as SNAP and WIC.
The event also featured remarks from the Mayors Alliance’s sponsor, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar. Dollar Tree and Family Dollar’s, Jennifer Silberman spoke about their service to thousands of communities across the country in helping them get the essentials they need to support their households. Their stores are often in areas where other stores choose not to locate, providing a convenient, close-to-home option where customers can shop for the products they need.
