The Oregon Food Bank advocates for 

Posted Nov. 29, 2022

By Nardin Ishak

Opinions Editor

The Oregon Food Bank, located at Portland, OR 97211, has advocated their ambitious #EmergeStronger Legislative Agenda to support and make a real difference in the lives of more than 430,000 immigrant and refugee Oregonians.

Prior to the pandemic, one in 11 Oregonians faced food insecurity, a dramatic increase was seen in just over a year and one in five Oregonians face hunger today. During the five short weeks of the legislative session, more than 1,000 members of the Oregon Food Bank supporter community joined partners and allies to advocate for change and address the root causes of hunger. The entirety of the 2022 legislative agenda was passed to enhance racial justice, immigrant rights, economic and food security, stable homes for all, access to childcare and more.

“As we continue our efforts to emerge stronger from this phase of the pandemic, we know it’s not enough to simply return to normal,” said Oregon Food Bank Public Policy Manager, Matt Newel-Ching. “Normal wasn’t working for too many of us.”

Some of these bills focused on equal opportunities to thrive (HB 4002, HB 5202), stable homes for Oregonians (SB 5202, SB 1536), safe communities for all (SB 1510, SB 1543), and critical investments in emergency food assistance network (HB 5202, HB 4157, SB 1538, HB 4005, HB4117)

In addition to the Legislative Agenda, The Oregon Food Bank has been working on a project to build a leadership pipeline of youth food justice leaders who understand the intersectionalities of social, racial, economic, and ecological justice. The Youth Food Justice Leaders Pilot 2022-23 will provide the opportunity for youth to engage in food pantry service, peer to peer and community facing cooking demonstrations, Get-Out-the-Vote work, Ending Hunger Power Nights, and other local and state community organizing through in-person and online engagements.

“We know that we will not solve hunger with food,” said Metro Programs Community Organizer Quynh Nguyen. “To end hunger we need to address its root causes: poverty, oppression, state violence, marginalization, and racism.”