Mission & Background

The mission of the National Hunger Clearinghouse (NHC) is to facilitate the exchange of information, resources, and ideas among organizations fighting hunger and poverty. NHC believes solutions to hunger and poverty can be found at the grassroots level; it believes communities have the ability to provide for themselves if equipped with the proper resources. NHC also recognizes the importance and potential of community-based organizations fighting to end hunger and poverty, and it seeks to broaden their impact by providing a central forum for communication and exchange.

The Emergency Food System & Community Food Security
When most Americans think of local efforts to relieve hunger, they usually think of emergency food providers (EFPs) such as food pantries and soup kitchens. These EFPs, which collectively constitute a nationwide emergency feeding system and anti-hunger movement, are absolutely critical, as they are often a person's last defense against hunger. However, it is important to understand that they only provide a quick fix to a recurring problem. That is, they do not address the underlying issues that create dependency on emergency food. Therefore, it is important that EFPs see themselves as part of the broader community food security movement. This movement promotes right to a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice. It views food insecurity, or the condition of not knowing where one's next meal is coming from, as a product of the entire food system--from the farms where food is grown to the homes where it is eaten--and it works for change at each level of that system.

World Hunger Year, the National Hunger Clearinghouse, & Building the Bridge
WHY recognizes the symbiotic relationship between the nation's anti-hunger and community food security movements. It understands that a long-term vision of community food security will never be realized if people's immediate needs are not being met, yet it also understands that emergency assistance alone will never end hunger and poverty. WHY, therefore, works to build a bridge between the two movements. It champions the work of EFPs while simultaneously challenging them to implement measures that move people beyond dependence on emergency food, measures which ultimately promote community food security.

In accordance with this bridge-building mission, NHC serves as a gateway for EFPs and other community-based organizations unfamiliar with the food security concept. By providing a central forum for communication, NHC exposes these organizations to the ideas and works of the food security movement, thereby facilitating a transition from food charity to food justice.