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Build versus Bring: Exploring New Options

for Food BanksThe Food Bank of Northern Nevada, Inc.

Cherie Jamason, President & CEO

cjamason@fbnn.org / 775-331-3663

• Food banks today are

– Feeding more people than ever before

– Purchasing more supplemental food

– Mobilizing more resources

– Employing more people and owning more “stuff”

– Raising more money

– Spending more to operate

After 35 Years in Business and Five Years of Recession

• In a word…. NO• What does that mean? Many things…

– The method we have chosen may not work – The mission/goal may not be correct – Hard work may not be enough anymore– Our options may need to evolve– All of the above

Have We Ended Hunger?

What Does the World Look Like?

• Chronic high need due to:– Under-employment and chronic low employment – Aging population, more seniors with fewer retirement

resources– Disabled veterans– Middle class stagnation – wages not rising with cost of living,

reductions in employer paid benefits – people are falling further and further behind

– Young people graduating from college with no or few job prospects

– Under-educated families working several jobs and still unable to pay for basic needs

– Job availability has contracted due to technological advances, leaner operations, knowledge work vs. manufacturing

– In a nutshell, a growing under-resourced population****

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What Does OUR World Look Like?

• In Nevada, as a result:– 22.1% of children are in poverty

(144,440)– 1 in 4 (28%) live in homes that cannot

reliably provide 3 meals per day– One in (5-6) in Nevada must rely on SNAP for basic

nutrition– Unemployment is still at 9.5%, with 10 counties at 10%

or more as of June– People’s lives are not working, and that is why they

need help. And not just help with food.

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If you do what you've always

done, you'll get what you've

always gotten

Henry Ford

Tony Robbins

Mark Twain

Albert Einstein

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The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in

having new eyes. –Marcel Proust

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Hunger Relief through Food Distribution

IMMEDIATE HUNGER RELIEF

1988: 417,000 meals

2013: 9.7 million meals

Partner Agencies

Children:• Summer & after-school

meals• Back-Pack weekend food

bags• School PantriesSeniors:• Commodities (CSFP)

Underserved Demographics

Urban:• Mobile PantryRural:• Mobile Pantry• CSFP• Summer Food• Back-Pack

Underserved Geographies

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Hunger Relief through Outreach & Advocacy

Households Approved for Benefits:FY’08: 1,500FY’13: 7,137

$11.4M in benefits4,303,875 meals

MEDIUM-TERM SOLUTIONS

SNAP / Food Stamps

• Farm Bill• SNAP Interview &

Administrative Options• School Meal Performance• State Food Security Plan

Advocacy

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Ending Hunger by Building Self-Sufficiency and Community Sustainability

Nutrition Education

• Food Smarts (children)

• Smart Shopper (parents)

• Nutrition on Wheels

Community-Based Projects – Examples:• EBT at Farmers’

Markets• Community Gardens• Farm-to-School• Cottage Food Business

Incubator

Food Systems Development

• Getting Ahead Workshops for clients

• Systemic Change through Bridges Community Engagement

Bridges Out of Poverty

LONG-TERM SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS

Hunger Relief through Food Distribution

1988: 417,000 meals

2013:9.7 million

meals

Partner Agencies

Children:• Summer & after-school meals• Back-Pack weekend food bags• School Pantries

Seniors - Commodities (CSFP)

Underserved Demographics

Urban & Rural:• Mobile Pantry• CSFP• Summer Food• Back-Pack

Underserved Geographies

Hunger Relief through Outreach & Advocacy

• Farm Bill• SNAP Interview & Administrative

Options• School Meal Performance• State Food Security Plan

Households Approved for Benefits:FY’08: 1,500FY’13: 7,137

$11.4M in benefits4,303,875 meals

SNAP / Food Stamps Advocacy

Ending Hunger by Building Self-Sufficiency and Community Sustainability

Nutrition Education Bridges Out of Poverty Food Systems

• Food Smarts • Smart Shopper• Nutrition on Wheels

• Farm-to-School• Food Policy/Councils• Community Gardens

• Getting Ahead Workshops• Systemic Change - Bridges

Community Engagement

Immediate Relief

Medium-Term

Long-Term, Sustainable Solutions

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How Did We Get Here/There?

• By evolving our thinking as a result of…– Data/information (hunger studies, local data, Nevada’s

abysmal rankings on just about everything good)

– Deepening our understanding about our clients

– Identifying barriers in our community (lack of affordable housing and transportation systems, high cost of child care, etc.)

– Clarity about impact of our role – we changed our mental model

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Mental Models of Food Banking

• 1970’s – FI/FO– no direct service – “ending waste…”• 1990’s – Food in/out + perhaps Kids Café • 2000’s – FI/FO plus Kids Café, community kitchens,

mobile pantries….• 2005 onward – FB’s have added grocery rescue, SNAP &

EITC outreach, nutrition education, community gardens, community partnerships, immunization clinics, diabetes screening, benefit banks, workforce programs, etc… Addressing Hunger part of mission statements…

• Food banks have evolved to meet the needs of our communities, in a way that fits our own organizations.

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Mental Models

• Are internal pictures of how the world works

• Exist below awareness• Are theories-in-use, often unexamined• Determine how we act• Can help or interfere with learning

Source: The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, (1994), by Peter Senge.

For a dialogue to occur, we must suspend our mental models.

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What if Our Mental Models Were…

• We are powerful community leaders• We address hunger and its root causes• We partner to help clients achieve

stability and self-sufficiency• We support improvement of economic

mobility• We believe the best solution to hunger

is a job that pays a living wage• We engage our community in solutions

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Root Cause - Housing Trends

State-level findings (2009): In 30 states, more than two full-time minimum wage

jobs are required to afford the two-bedroom FMR. In 34 states, an extremely low-income (ELI)

household cannot afford to spend more than $500 per month on rent and utilities.

In 11 states, a household must work at least two full-time jobs at the minimum wage to afford the two-bedroom FMR in the state’s combined nonmetropolitan areas.Source: “Out of Reach 2009,” National Low Income Housing Coalition, Keith E. Wardrip, senior research analyst; Danilo

Pelletiere, research director; Sheila Crowley, president. www.nlihc.org

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The math of poverty doesn’t work

• And about 35% of their after-tax income is spent on food.

• More than 60% spend more than ½ of their income on housing.

For 43.6 million Americans…

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The Wage Question

If you did everything your caseworker told you to do—got a job and kept it for a year, never missing a day of work—how much closer (if at all) would you be to being out of poverty and living a sustainable life at the end of that year than you were at the beginning?

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Bridges Out of PovertyA 360° Approach to Systemic Change,

Community Sustainability

• Education for individuals/families in poverty to build resources for sustainability

• Education for those who serve, employ, touch underserved individuals

• Community Strategies for Systemic Change

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Changing the Conversation

• If current activities are not “ending hunger,” how do we help people become more sustainable?

• How can we:– help our community become more

sustainable across economic sectors?– support improvement of economic mobility?– shift from “bring” to “build?”

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Application of the Economic Class “Lens”

Copyright J. Pfarr Consulting. Reproduced with permission

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• Financial• Emotional• Mental• Spiritual• Physical

Poverty is the Extent to which an Individual Does without Resources

• Support Systems• Relationships/Role Models• Knowledge of Hidden

Rules• Coping Strategies

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Mental Models

• Are internal pictures of how the world works

• Exist below awareness• Are theories-in-use, often unexamined• Determine how we act• Can help or interfere with learning

Source: The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, (1994), by Peter Senge.

For a dialogue to occur, we must suspend our mental models.

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Developed by Phil DeVol (2006)

Mental Model for Poverty

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“The need to act overwhelmsany willingness people have to learn.”

Source: The Art of the Long View by Peter Schwartz.

“The healthier you are psychologically, or the less you may seem to need to change, the

more you can change.”

Source: Management of the Absurd, (1996), by Richard Farson.

Tyranny of the Moment

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AbstractP L A N S

Procedural steps on the path forward

Mental Model for Theories of Change

ConcreteWhat Life is

Like Now

New Life Goals

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Mental Model of Middle Class

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What happens inside the institutional and community bubbles?

“Concrete”“Abstract”

What it’s like now

• Solve the same problem again and again

• Short-termism• Deliver immediate results• With short-term funding

• Remain stuck in the tyranny of the moment

• When the bubble bursts, try to recover with the same old solutions

Copyright © 2006 aha! Process, Inc. www.ahaprocess.com

P L A N S

New Mental Model/New Outcome

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• Community Position/Credibility

• Community Leadership

• History of Accountability

• Minimal Turf and Culture of Collaboration

• On the Ground Strategy – Two Paths• Internal – Food Bank & Partner Agencies• External – Community Engagement• We can bring people to the table

Why Food Banks?

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What’s Next?

Read: Bridges to a Sustainable Community by Dr. Philip DeVol (available on Amazon)

Come: Free 6 hour Day 1 training in Reno Available in Other Communities Also

Listen: Bridges Out of Poverty – An Overview

Host: Bridges Community Presentation

Engage: Your board and staff - Talk about what’s possible!!

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If we don’t take a long-term view, then we won’t make long-term

change.

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“Innovators are often not the principal agents of change;

early adapters are.”

–Michael Fairbanks

A Few Parting Thoughts…A Few Parting Thoughts…