GRACE @ White House Conference on Hunger, Health, and Nutrition
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Last week our policy associate Yesenia Jimenez was in Washington DC at the White House Conference on Hunger and Health. The next weekend she was back in LA celebrating her birthday with family. Just a few days before her birthday, Yesenia sat two rows away from the President of the United States.
What. A. Week.
#WHConfHungerHealth brought together people from the advocacy, business, political, and influencer communities. Everyone shared the goals of ending hunger and improving the health of Americans.
Many policies that have gotten us to where we are today, with so much poverty and hunger in our country, are driven by racism, sexism, and classism. There has been value in keeping people just barely surviving instead of thriving with more than their basic needs met. For example, our agricultural workers who grow and pick the food that arrives on the most elite tables in America, were intentionally left out of the fair labor laws of the 1930s because of racism. Inequality in labor practices still persists almost 100 years later, making it hard for the people who grow our food to afford food themselves. Let alone high quality food that truly nourishes.
We’re so grateful we had Yesenia at the White House to represent End Child Poverty CA and California. CA was mentioned as a model for so many successful programs.
There is a huge groundswell of momentum for programs that WORK to end poverty and hunger: the Child Tax Credit and universal school meals. Champions in Congress are moved to fight for these tools that support our families’ basic rights.
We imagine a future where all of our children are valued and free. Where their families are secure and nourished. Where we live in abundance, rather than scarcity.
Onward!