Food insecurity is a symptom of poverty. To help solve hunger, we advance nutrition assistance programs that support children and families, strengthen the social safety net, and correct the racial and social inequities that perpetuate hunger. Investments in food security must be secured alongside affordable housing, living wages, equitable access to health care, and robust education opportunities so that all our neighbors can live and thrive.
You can affect change. Add your voice to our grassroots advocacy community today.
Each year, Food Lifeline sets out to work with legislative champions in Olympia and Washington DC on policies to solve hunger problems, protect successful safety net programs, and…
We joined hunger advocates from across the state February 10 for Hunger Action Day in Olympia.
It proved to be an eventful day. We…
Urgent Action
With the recent $200 billion in cuts to SNAP and $1 trillion in Medicaid reductions over the next decade in the GOP budget bill, we are reminded that public policy remains one of the most powerful forces shaping hunger and health outcomes today. It’s time to strengthen our safety net—and to do so by asking the wealthiest among us to pay their fair share. We urge legislators to champion bold, progressive solutions that protect our communities and build a more equitable future.
Learn more and take action!
“By joining our movement to end hunger, your support helps strengthen our voice in Olympia and Washington DC when lawmakers are considering important hunger and poverty issues.”
– Aaron Czyzewski, Director of Advocacy & Public Policy
We support increasing funding for state nutrition assistance, hunger relief programs, and food banking capacity.
We support policies and investments to encourage and support food donation practices in Washington, including efforts to achieve the state’s goal of a 50% reduction in wasted food by the year 2030.
We support policies and investments to align food security strategies across state agencies.
We support measures to balance Washington’s regressive tax code while providing more revenue for poverty reduction and community investments.
Consistent, equitable access to nutritious food depends on state, regional, and local food systems producing food that is sustainable, abundant, and responsive to community needs. This requires an effective, more aligned food policy environment for government, business, and agricultural interests, and the workforces supporting them. One that is also responsive to climate-resilient food production, investment in local and BIPOC growers, and values-based food purchasing that strengthens local economies.
Food Lifeline will consider measures that improve food systems, food justice, and climate resiliency. With emphasis on measures that ensure access to culturally relevant, highly desired, and nutritious foods, reflecting the dignity and preferences of diverse communities.
Government nutrition assistance programs are a critical line of defense against hunger, yet current efforts do not always avert food insecurity alone or keep up with changing needs. Because of their scope and broad impact, they must be a top priority for additional funding and innovation. This includes policy solutions and investments that sustain nonprofit and community-based capacity to deliver hunger relief and food justice work.
Food Lifeline will prioritize measures that seek to fund and improve equity, access, adequacy, and participation across state and federal nutrition assistance resources.
Consistent access to affordable, nutritious, and desired foods improves individual health, lowers healthcare costs, and strengthens communities. Food is essential to overall wellbeing and a critical complement to healthcare.
Food Lifeline will support policies that integrate food and health — expanding access to nutritious foods in community, educational, workplace, and healthcare settings, and addressing hunger as a public health priority.
Hunger is a direct symptom of poverty. Poverty results from inequitable distribution of resources — unaffordable housing and healthcare, under-employment, and too few living- wage jobs. Ending hunger requires dismantling these structural inequities and advancing narrative strategies that elevate lived experience, reduce stigma, and shift public opinion and policy.
Food Lifeline will advance policies that strengthen household stability, expand affordable housing, ensure access to living- wage employment, and secure essential needs.
Tax policy is one of the most powerful tools for advancing economic and racial justice. Washington’s current tax system is among the most regressive in the U.S., meaning low- income households pay a much higher share of their income in taxes than wealthy households. This inequity deepens poverty & food insecurity, widens racial disparities, and undermines community wellbeing. At the same time, tax policy determines the level of resources available for public investment in healthcare, housing, education, and food access. A more fair and balanced tax code creates the revenue needed to sustain programs that end hunger and strengthen communities.
Food Lifeline will champion a fair and equitable tax system that reduces disparities, shifts more responsibility to those with the greatest means, and generates sufficient funding for investments in the health and resilience of all communities.
Hunger disproportionally impacts people who experience systemic racial and social injustice. These strong social determinants of hunger indicate clear opportunities to advance policies that remedy the inequitable and unjust systems.
Food Lifeline will consider measures which focus on racial equity & social justice for children, adults, and seniors — especially families of color, immigrant communities, and under-resourced neighborhoods. We will support measures that reduce fear of immigration enforcement in food access spaces, expand safety-net eligibility regardless of immigration status, and remove barriers to equitable participation in food and anti-poverty programs.
The Community Justice Alliance is made up of community members who have lived experience and could be the most impacted by our work. Their experiences and perspectives are powerful tools for building, disrupting, and clarifying a community’s understanding of its root causes and scope.
The invaluable expertise of these individuals adds strength and resiliency to poverty-reduction work and clarifies key priority issues to build an advocacy platform that engages policymakers to change the things that are the root causes of hunger and food insecurity.
On January 23, Food Lifeline convened a press conference at the Washington State Capitol, joining forces with State Representatives Kristine Reeves, Darya Farivar, and Beth…
We’ve noticed a lot of myths going around about SNAP lately. These myths have harmful consequences, perpetuating a narrative based on inaccuracies, and distracting from…