Eric Mitchell, President, Alliance to End Hunger
Heading into 2024, we anticipated a year of significant challenges. Inflation remained a persistent issue both in the United States and globally, the ongoing global food crisis showed little improvement, and families across the country continued to struggle to secure consistent, nutritious meals. Adding to this, the upcoming presidential election promised to bring legislative gridlock to Congress, regardless of its outcome. Despite these hurdles, the Alliance to End Hunger and our partners remained steadfast, advocating for effective policies and programs to combat food and nutrition insecurity.
The past few months have painted a stark picture of hunger and malnutrition across the globe. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 (SOFI) report reveals that the world is significantly off track in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of eliminating hunger and malnutrition by 2030. Humanitarian crises in Gaza, famine conditions in Sudan, escalating violence and political unrest in Haiti, renewed uncertainties in Syria, and numerous other conflicts are further exacerbating global food security challenges, already strained by the impacts of climate change.
The United States is not exempt from these struggles. The latest Household Food Security in the United States report highlights a worsening hunger crisis. Factors such as race, ethnicity, and income continue to influence whether families have enough to eat, with children bearing an unconscionable share of this burden.
The Alliance and our coalition of over 100 members have responded strongly and encouragingly to challenges throughout the year. Early on, we were able to ensure that the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) was sufficiently funded to meet growing demand and successfully fought back efforts to restrict the purchasing power of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). As we close the year, the Farm Bill will be extended until September 30, 2025, affording us a continued opportunity to advocate for our priorities.
Across the country, the Alliance’s Hunger Free Community Network made strides to address hunger in numerous ways. We awarded nearly $50,000 in grants to help local coalitions implement innovative ideas and programs to address hunger and malnutrition in their communities. Our National Hunger Free Communities Summit showcased best practices and approaches to unique and daunting challenges, and we started regional convenings in Washington, DC and Chicago to bring conversations and action down to an even more local context – with plans to host further gatherings in Birmingham, AL and Seattle in 2025.
The Alliance has been even more active in global issues as well. In Des Moines, IA, we joined Opportunity International, IFAD, Corteva Agriscience, and Bread for the World to highlight the importance of climate adaptation for farmers around the world in order to build resilience of communities and food systems. We also joined Edesia Nutrition and Meds & Food for Kids to underscore the critical role ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) can play in addressing childhood stunting and wasting. Child nutrition was also front-and-center at the Global Child Nutrition Forum, where I was honored to facilitate the development of a communiqué focused on advocating for school meals around the world.
All of these activities complimented the ongoing advocacy efforts our team continues to lead in Washington. Our staff and advocacy subcommittees worked tirelessly to build relationships and champions within Congress and the Administration through what has been an admittedly frustrating governing 
environment. The Alliance and our members held dozens of meetings with congressional leaders and staff, and hosted briefings throughout the year highlighting key policies and programs. Pushing for a Farm Bill that ensures domestic and global food and nutrition are central pillars has been a priority, as has been fighting for a budget that supports the needs of hungry people at home and abroad. We again bolstered our advocacy team with the addition of Karen Ehrens as U.S. Policy Manager, who brings a wealth of nutrition and health experience to our efforts.
It has been an incredibly busy year, and we expect an equally demanding 2025. I’m not going to sugarcoat it – we are facing a year in which we will be playing defense for a lot of programs that we care about. But this is why our coalition, our partnerships, and our Alliance are so important. Our collective voice is louder, and our accomplishments are more impactful when we work together. I am looking forward to collaborating with you in the coming months, and I know that together we will continue to make meaningful progress towards ending hunger everywhere.
