Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana | National Commission on Hunger Delivers Report to Congress with Recommendations to Solve Domestic Hunger

The appointment of Texas Hunger Initiative (THI) Executive Director Jeremy Everett to the National Commission on Hunger in 2014 represented a significant opportunity to influence domestic policy and advance the work of THI. The Commission’s effort recently culminated with its report to Congress and the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture entitled Freedom from
Hunger: An Achievable Goal for the United States of America. Featuring 20 recommendations, the 86-page publication is a blueprint for solving the problem of domestic hunger.

The Commission’s purpose is to determine how best to strengthen public-private partnerships and increase the efficiency of USDA programs while containing costs. Representing diverse regions, economic sectors and political affiliations, the bipartisan group of 10 appointees overcame many differences to reach consensus on each recommendation.

“There were some challenges because we had five Republican
appointees and five Democratic appointees,” Everett said. “People
had a lot of experience that they were bringing to the table.”

The group’s strategy for moving forward entailed strict
adherence to the scope of its assignment and a commitment to
pursue only data-supported recommendations. Informing their
proceedings were ample data on domestic food insecurity, provided
by a research firm contracted to facilitate the Commission.

In time, the appointees’ shared experiences on the Commission
proved to be the real catalysts of productivity. Through
nationwide site visits and field hearings showcasing the stories of
food-insecure people, their work gained traction.

“Ultimately, we started to travel together, and that’s where the
great stuff happened,” Everett said. He estimates the Commission
heard testimony on domestic food insecurity from 180 public and
invited guests from across the country.

Heartrending stories of need emerged. An expert from Texas
A&M shared the story of a mother from the Colonias of South
Texas who kept a bag of chicken bones in the refrigerator to
spare her hungry children from seeing it empty. Similar stories
from Native American tribal lands illuminated the plight of that
traditionally underserved population. Also notable was the extent
of food insecurity among Veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces.

“Poverty and hunger in the United States is a big problem.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a Muslim or Christian, a Democrat
or Republican because the problem is bigger than the federal
government or state agencies or the church. And we need all these
different perspectives in order to be able to address it effectively,”
Everett said.

Site visits included THI’s headquarters at Baylor and its
field offices in Texas and New Mexico to explore the successful
public-private partnerships cultivated by the organization. THI’s
influence is evident in the Commission’s recommendations for
improving access to childhood nutrition programs, particularly in
rural areas.

“Everybody kind of had their little area of expertise. So ours
was public-private partnerships and working on child hunger
programs,” Everett said. Other voices on the Commission
included a pediatrician from Boston University’s Children’s
Medical Center, a former Commissioner of Health and Human
Services in New York, the founder of the nonprofit Share Our
Strength and the president of a corporation with extensive
holdings in the grocery industry.

The Commission’s synthesis of experience and expertise,
stories and statistics, aspirations and assessment yielded significant
results. The Commission’s report puts forth an array of real-world
solutions that consider domestic hunger’s causes, its vulnerable
populations and existing programs to counter the epidemic.

It’s a recipe for success already referenced in a White House
conference and by Congress, including Paul Ryan’s anti-poverty
task force. In the coming months, Everett will discuss the
Commission’s vision with various congressional representatives in
Washington D.C. and throughout Texas, advancing the mission to
which THI has been dedicated for the last seven years.

“The Commission gave us a microphone and amplifier,” Everett
said. “The report continues to validate that there’s hunger in the
country and it’s a big problem. It validates our work and the need for our work."