Ideas and thoughts shared by Josh Wachs, chief strategy officer of Share Our Strength, during the briefing of the Monday, March 15, CauseLab at SXSW 2010

1. CAMPAIGN TO END CHILDHOOD HUNGER

2. The Crisis:
Childhood Hunger
 17 million children in the US
—that’s nearly one in four—
struggle with hunger.
 Undernourished children suffer
from:
 Impaired cognitive development
 Long-term emotional & health problems
 Decreased educational attainment
 Decreased productivity
2

3. TEACHER SURVEY RESULTS
Too Many Kids are Coming To
School Too Hungry to Learn
62% of teachers say they see
children who regularly come to
school hungry each week
because they are not getting
enough to eat at home.
3
“Teachers are our intelligence network and first responders” --George Stephanopoulos
*survey reached 740 K-8 public school teachers nationwide
in October 2009

4. The Problem:
Access
There is enough food in
America to feed all children, yet:
 10 million eligible kids don’t
get free or reduced price
school breakfast.
 Only 16% of kids who ate a
free or reduced-price school
lunch during the school year
also participated in summer
meal programs.
There is huge gap between kids who are eligible for programs
4 and those who receive them.

5. Why Do Kids Go Hungry?
EDUCATION/
STIGMA
AWARENESS
ACCESS
FACILITIES/
TRANSPORTATION
RED TAPE
POVERTY
5

6. H unger in U.S. at The Time is Now
a 14-Ye ar High
Political Climate/
President Obama’s
Report: More Mandate
Americans
Going Hungry Heightened
Awareness
6
6

7. What this will take: campaign approach
Election day = November 3, 2015.
Victory = Ending Childhood Hunger.
Raise the resources to win.
Message, message, message.
It takes an army.
Don’t forget your base
7

8. By 2015: A Fully Integrated Approach
LEARN
LIVE • Nutritious, high-quality meals during
• Food Stamps school and after (school breakfast and
• Food pantries and shelters lunch, afterschool snacks and meals)
• Food for pregnant women, infants and • Nutrition education
preschool kids (WIC) • Cooking classes
• Fresh-food markets and stores • Advocacy
• Nutrition education
• Cooking classes
PLAY
• Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
• Nutritious, high-quality meals when
• Temporary Assistance to Needy
school is not in session (afterschool
Families (TANF)
snacks and meals, summer meals)
• Advocacy
• Fresh-food markets and stores
• Advocacy
8

9. The Share Our Strength Approach
to public and private programs
ENSURE ACCESS
that provide food to children and their families
of existing programs that connect children to
INCREASE UTILIZATION
providers and sources of healthy food
about available programs, healthy food choices
RAISE PUBLIC AWARENESS
and how to get the most from limited resources
9

10. Campaign Elements
PUBLIC
STATE-BASED AWARENESS.
PARTNERSHIPS OUTREACH
& ADVOCACY
COMMUNITY NUTRITION
INVESTMENT EDUCATION-
GRANTS TIED TO OPERATION
STRATEGY FRONTLINE
10

11. WHAT DOES CHILDHOOD
HUNGER LOOK LIKE?
You’re an 8-year-old
girl who has to get on
the bus by 6 a.m. in
order to get to school
on time
11

12. WHAT DOES CHILDHOOD
HUNGER LOOK LIKE?
There’s no time to eat
breakfast. And even if
there was food in the
house, there’s nobody
around to cook it.
12

13. WHAT DOES CHILDHOOD
HUNGER LOOK LIKE?
When you arrive at
school, you walk by the
cafeteria where the “free
breakfast kids” are just
finishing up. Your
stomach twinges but
you don’t think of joining
them. It’s embarrassing
when everyone knows
your family is poor.
13

14. WHAT DOES CHILDHOOD
HUNGER LOOK LIKE?
When it’s finally time
to eat, you’re so
hungry that you fill up
your tray with pizza,
cookies, chips and
soda.
14

15. WHAT DOES CHILDHOOD
HUNGER LOOK LIKE?
After school, you’re due
back at home to take care
of your little brothers and
sisters.
You wait for your mom
and eat another piece of
candy to stop your
stomach from growling.
You hope your mom’s got
money left over from her
check to bring home
dinner.
15

16. WHAT DOES CHILDHOOD
HUNGER LOOK LIKE?
Otherwise…you go
to bed hungry another
night.
16

17. WHAT’S DIFFERENT
IN 2015?
You still wake up early
to catch the bus, but
on the way to your
classroom you grab a
breakfast packed with
fruit, milk and cereal
from the cafeteria.
17

18. WHAT’S DIFFERENT
IN 2015?
The entire class eats in
the beginning of first
period, so this kind of
free breakfast is
nothing to be
embarrassed about.
18

19. WHAT’S DIFFERENT
IN 2015?
Your free school lunch
includes healthy,
delicious options and
you look forward to it
every day.
19

20. WHAT’S DIFFERENT
IN 2015?
With your stomach full
of nutritious food, you
can concentrate on
what the teacher is
saying.
20

21. WHAT’S DIFFERENT
IN 2015?
After school, you
attend an afterschool
program at the Boys
and Girls Club where
you get a healthy
snack before playing
basketball with your
friends.
21

22. WHAT’S DIFFERENT
IN 2015?
At home, you find a
fridge full of fruits and
vegetables from the
farmers’ market. You
and your mom learned
how to make affordable,
healthy meals through
an Operation Frontline
nutrition education class
and you think cooking is
pretty cool.
22

23. WHAT’S DIFFERENT
IN 2015?
On Fridays, your
teacher sends you
home with a backpack
full of healthy snacks to
share with your
brothers and sisters
over the long weekend
when meals are
sometimes scarce.
23

24. WHAT’S DIFFERENT
IN 2015?
During the summer
months when school is
out, you spend your
days learning and
playing at your
neighborhood summer
program where you
receive healthy snacks
and meals every day.
24

25. WHAT’S DIFFERENT
IN 2015?
Hunger is something
you never have to
worry about.
So you can spend your
day doing what you do
best – being a kid.
25

26. Only 2,059 days to go until November 3, 2015
26
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