Purpose: Develop and maintain an active, engaged and collaborative network of partners working together to strengthen local and regional food systems and assuring access for all Idahoans regardless of income.
Mission: The Idaho Hunger Relief Task Force envisions that in a state as abundant as Idaho hunger will not exist and works to put public and private resources into action statewide in order to eliminate hunger and provide food security for all Idahoans.
Projects/Activities:
● Host the Biennial Hunger and Food Security Summit.
● Cultivate Idaho Initiative - rural community food security.
● Conduct food security screenings in health clinic settings.
● Develop community food security assessments.
● Promote and support Senior meal programs.
● Strengthen local food systems through Food Stamp access.
Community Food Security
Broadly, Community Food Security (CFS) represents a subset of food security that is oriented around the community level rather than the regional, national, or global levels. Cohen and Burt (1989) argued that unlike hunger, which is experienced by individuals, food insecurity is experienced by communities; therefore, community food security more accurately embodies the broader system or landscape that leads to hunger and pinpoints the conditions needed to prevent hunger and other consequences like malnutrition. CFS also complements the broad scope of anti-hunger work by more explicitly accounting for the complex interplay of social, political, and economic forces that influence food production and acquisition (Bellows and Hamm, 2002).
The concepts of ‘Food Justice’ and ‘Food Sovereignty’ have overlap and relationship to Community Food Security. To learn more about Community Food Security in the U.S. visit John Hopkins Center for a Liveable Future and read the article on "Community Food Security in the United States: A Survey of the Scientific Literature", April 01, 2015 CLF Report.
For more information visit www.idahohunger.org