Dallas, TX, Aug. 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) received a $100,000 equitable food access grant from Starbucks to help increase access to nutritious food among households with individuals who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) residing in communities experiencing high food insecurity rates. NTFB will use this grant to engage local communities to better understand the barriers to accessing food and will support new or expand existing interventions that can help overcome these obstacles.
“As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, 1 in 6 people in North Texas may face hunger,” says Trisha Cunningham, President and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank. “We are proud to work with Starbucks toward our shared goals of addressing the root causes of hunger. With this grant, we’ll be able to continue to identify and address racial disparities in our communities and provide food for our neighbors in need.”
Due to the rapidly accelerated growth due to COVID-19, in Fiscal Year 2021 (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021), the Food Bank met and exceeded the goals set for their ten-year strategic plan, which was originally scheduled to be completed in 2025. Consequently, a refresh of their Strategic Plan was necessary to take them through 2025. This refresh was recently completed and approved by NTFB’s Board of Directors. Equitable food distribution is now a larger priority for NTFB moving forward, with a goal continued increase to food access across their 13-county service area. NTFB’s strategy to ensure equitable food distribution includes evaluating current distribution efforts with a racial lens in rural, suburban, and urban communities.
Because focusing on BIPOC communities is somewhat new to the Food Bank, they will target their entire service area, combined with a special focus on racial equity. Using a recently developed Hunger Index, they will identify areas of high need and overlay it with demographic information to identify BIPOC communities with high food insecurity rates. Key measures will be demographic and geographic equity.
The goal is to close the meal gap in each county with the gap decreasing each year through FY25. The Food Bank’s priorities will be ensuring children, seniors and families have access to nutritious meals; and we will have a strong focus on communities with large BIPOC populations and high food insecurity rates. These are just a few of the components of fighting hunger the NTFB will be able to accomplish thanks to the support from Starbucks.
“For the last 50 years and still today, Starbucks believes it is our role and responsibility to help strengthen the communities we serve, and in partnership with Feeding America, we are tackling hunger with a focus on equity,” said Camille Hymes, Vice President of Community Impact at Starbucks. “The equitable food access grants are a unique opportunity to combine efforts with our Community Stores across the country, which are specifically designed to support historically under-resourced communities through local partnerships and economic opportunity, to increase access to nutritious meals for those that need it most.”
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About the North Texas Food Bank & Starbucks:
The North Texas Food Bank, a member of the Feeding America® network, is one of 16 food banks to receive this funding from Starbucks. NTFB was identified based on the location of a Starbucks Community Store which are stores that are committed to economic development and opportunity in historically under-resourced communities. Since 2016, Starbucks has helped to provide more than 27 million meals* to people facing hunger through its FoodShare program in partnership with Feeding America. The company has also invested $2.69 million in mobile pantry programs across the country since 2019.
To learn more about how you can join the fight to end hunger, visit ntfb.org
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