About The Library
Welcome to the Hunger Free Communities Network’s online resource library! This ever growing database serves as a one-stop shop and home base for anti-hunger organizers featuring toolkits, case studies, research, online tools, community plans and other resources generated by the Alliance to End Hunger, our national partners and hunger free community coalitions across the country.
This is a user-driven tool, so feel free to rate resources and leave a comment! Also, please submit your own resources, so we can share your good ideas with others.
How To Search The Library
- Keyword Search: To run a keyword search, simply type the word(s) or phrase(s) you’re looking for into the box on the top right of the page (e.g. USDA, child hunger) and click “submit.”
- Category Search: To run a category search, use the drop-down menus to the right of the page under the heading “Resource Library Search” to select your desired search topic(s) and click “submit”. This search will yield more results if you limit your selections to one drop-down menu (e.g. “Content Type” or “Activity”). For an explanation of the categories, please click the orange “?” symbol next to the heading for each drop-down menu.
When the search results appear, click on the title of the resource for a more detailed description of that resource. There you’ll be able to directly access the resource.
Featured Resources
The Self-Assessment Workbook (SAW): The goal of the SAW is to assist a HFC coalition in determining for itself the critical elements for effective organizational management and network functioning and to identify those areas in need of strengthening or further development. The SAW is designed to enable organizational learning, foster team sharing, and encourage reflective self-assessment within an anti-hunger coalition. It can be used for strategic planning, evaluation and building group cohesion.
The Advocacy Playbook: The Advocacy Playbook is the Alliance to End Hunger’s signature advocacy toolkit and resource. It helps make the case for why advocacy a good idea and provides guidance on how your coalition or organization can help the cause.
Toolkit for Developing and Strengthening Hunger Free Community Coalitions: This provides a step-by-step guide for building coalitions, plus it gives best practices examples from the field, ideas for implementation, and practical tools. We hope it serves as a jumping off point for your local community’s efforts to find a solution to food insecurity.
Atlas of Rural and Small-Town America
By U.S. Department of Agriculture
The Atlas of Rural and Small-Town America assembles statistics on four broad categories of socioeconomic factors: People, jobs, agriculture, and county classifications.This atlas promotes the well-being of rural America through research and analysis to better understand the economic, demographic, environmental, and social forces affecting rural regions and communities. In collaboration with other USDA agencies, ERS...
Read MoreFood Desert Locator
By U.S. Department of Agriculture
The “Food Desert Locator” is an online tool that allows you to get a spatial overview of low-income neighborhoods with high concentrations of people who are far from a grocery store. Through this tool, you can map food deserts and view census tract-level statistics on population groups with low access to healthy food.
Read MoreFarmers Markets Search
By U.S. Department of Agriculture
The “Farmers Markets Search” is a tool that searches farmers markets throughout the United States. The search filters by location, market name, products available, and payments accepted. Detailed information regarding the farmers markets is also accessible through the search function.
Read MoreFood Environment Atlas
By U.S. Department of Agriculture
This map-based tool provides a comprehensive, county and state-level look at a community’s ability to access healthy food and its success in doing so. The Atlas assembles statistics on three broad categories of food environment factors: Food Choices—Indicators of the community’s access to and acquisition of healthy, affordable food, such as: access and proximity to...
Read MoreMap the Meal Gap
“Map the Meal Gap” is a tool that depicts hunger at the community level. Select your state from the interactive map, and start learning more about the residents struggling with hunger and the food banks that serve them. This study digs down to the county level, examining food insecurity rates, average meal cost, and income...
Read MoreSNAP Retailer Locator
By U.S. Department of Agriculture
The SNAP Retailer Locator is a user-friendly web based application that provides easy access to the location of the nearest SNAP approved stores. Enter any full address, city and state, or zip code and get a list of the 10, 25, or 50 closest SNAP retailers plotted on a map. Primarily designed to help SNAP...
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