Organizations That Are Tackling Hunger and Food Insecurity in Boston, Massachusetts

The organization I will be discussing that addresses my issue on hunger. And food insecurity is called the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. The MLRI is a non-profit state organization. That focuses on a range of topics that have to do with providing social justice. “MLRI’s Advocacy Frameworks recognize our roots as an anti-poverty organization. And underscore the interrelatedness of poverty reduction, access to justice, and racial equity as the foundations of a just society” (Mass Law Reform Institute). The MLRI cover a number of issues surrounding social justice but pay close attention to providing statewide advocacy to ensure law, policies, and practices are being dealt with accordingly. The MLRI is “considered one of the nation’s premier statewide poverty law and policy centers” (Mass Law Reform Institute). This organization deals with many services that work closely with the subject of social justice.

The problem I will be focused on in my paper is the issue of hunger and food insecurity. The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute contributes to solving this problem. By collaborating with the federal supplemental association program (SNAP). MLRI’s advocacy focuses on “expanding access to food and nutrition programs, leading and coordinating legislative, administrative and community-based responses to eliminate administrative barriers to SNAP program participation, devising policy strategies to address and mitigate hunger and food insecurity for vulnerable populations, i.e., low-income children, older adults, people with disabilities, collaborating on advocacy initiatives with food banks and food pantries, health care organizations, social service providers, advocates for older adults, policymakers, faith groups, and community based organizations through leadership of the 400-member Food/SNAP Coalition” (Mass Law Reform Institute). According to Feeding America, the issue of food and hunger insecurity affects 40 million people in America.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food insecurity as a “lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life” (Understanding Hunger and Food Insecurity). They also mention that it is important to know that “hunger and food insecurity are the closest relations, but distinct, concepts” (Understanding Hunger and Food Insecurity). According to the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, hunger and food insecurity present an array of harmful consequences on people. From the lack of healthy development of children to forcing families with lack of resources or limited incomes to choose between what they eat, housing, and medications. MRLI’s “nationally-recognized Food SNAP Advocacy Project uses legal and policy advocacy to alleviate food insecurity and hunger in Massachusetts by increasing SNAP participation and benefits amounts” (Mass Law Reform Institute).

Hunger and food insecurity can be understood as oppression because the issue raises a nationwide public health dilemma. It affects more people who are of minority groups of ethnic races than white people, and this shows that there is a disadvantage inherently to people of color. In order to combat this issue, we have to dismantle racism in the food system as a whole. Racism is defined as the “systematic mistreatment of people based on their ethnicity or skin color-affects all aspects of our society, including our food system” (Holt-Gimenez and Harper). In our reading from class, Bell discussed oppression in “Theoretical Foundations” as having an effect on society without us even realizing. “We are socialized to accept a system of oppression as normal” Also, “The system of social oppression co-opts the social categories used to describe the differences among and between social groups” (Hardiman et al., 28). The reading also mentions that we have social identities that are disadvantaged by some forms of oppression and privilege by others (pg. 29). This connection to the issue of the food system being broken, in that it shows that people of the minority are at a disadvantage when it comes to having food security.

There is a resistance to transform in the issue of today’s capitalist food system. Statistics show that poverty results in high levels of food insecurity for people of color. “Of the 50 million food insecure people in the US 10.6% are white, 26.1% are Black, 23.7% are Latino, and 23% are Native American” (Holt-Gimenez and Harper). The only way to “fix” the issue surrounding food security is to ensure equity of access to healthy good, resources, and fair wage jobs. Our society is oppressed in the sense that when we talk about hunger and food insecurity, race isn’t even a factor being brought up, but it is something that is greatly affected by. Another thing that connects to the readings from class is the idea of “internalized racism” from conceptual frameworks. Interalized racism refers to people being able to achieve their fullest potential and enables the negative messages which, in turn, reinforces the oppressive systems. The five faces of oppression written by Iris Young, also discuss oppression in which contexts they are in. For food and hunger insecurity, that would fall into the marginalized category of oppression because this section is where groups of people are confined to (Young). It holds people in a small group and limits what they are capable of doing.

In combating the issue of food and hunger insecurity I chose a local organization called The Greater Boston Food Bank. In Massachusetts, hunger is a problem for 652,760 people and 167,450 of them are children. (The Greater Boston Food Bank). One in ten people is struggling with hunger while one in eight children are suffering. The Greater Boston Food Bank was founded with a mission to end hunger they are the largest hunger-relief organization in New England, and they are a member of Feeding America, which is another non-governmental organization for food insecurity but at a national level. This group has a goal of providing at least one meal a day to those in need. The impact that the Greater Boston Food Bank has made on ending hunger is huge. The ways this organization helps to create a hunger-free state is done by donations, volunteers, and advocates. The results show that their initiative is doing what it is set out to do because numbers don’t lie.

The impact that GBFB has made is that they served 190 cities and towns in Eastern Massachusetts. In their fiscal year of 2017, they raised $16.7M, 24M healthy meals, with the funds raised to help purchase fresh and healthy food for distribution, it was equivalent to 50.65M meals, 60.8M lbs. distributed, and 79% met GBFB’s nutrition standards. The success of this organization is beneficial to our society for the issue regarding hunger and food insecurity is amazing. They have 533 member agencies, 72 distribution program sites to ensure that vulnerable populations in underserved communities have access to nutritious food, and they have 5 cross docks where local agencies can pick up their food deliveries. Every month, 140,000 residents of Eastern Massachusetts eat something healthy from GBFB. (The Greater Boston Food Bank). The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute works with the SNAP program as well which provide temporary help for people struggling with this issue. The SNAP program is beneficial, but the best outcomes reside in the organizations that are not governmental I believe.

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