The Future is F.R.E.S.H.
The Central Texas Food Bank (CTFB) serves as the region’s leader in ensuring our neighbors have equitable access to healthy food while also strengthening the food system to build sustainable, thriving communities. Our programs and priorities reflect the diverse people, assets, and economic drivers across our 21-county service area. The CTFB advocacy agenda focuses on maximizing impact for our neighbors, partners, and the stakeholders who shape the food system. We pursue a responsive policy agenda across a rapidly changing food system, including:
- Food: Increasing access to healthy food and supporting innovative ways of procuring and distributing it.
- Research: Applying research and best practices to policy solutions and investments.
- Economic stability: Advancing workforce training and programming that strengthen family stability.
- Sustainable systems: Supporting sustainable food system practices that ensure long-term, equitable access for all Central Texans.
- Health: Improving health outcomes for our neighbors.
Through this lens, the Food Bank provides leadership on policies, legislation, and community investments that address the root causes of hunger and poverty and improve the lives of Central Texans.
Federal Priorities
Our federal advocacy focuses on strengthening programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture so that both food banks and the people we serve receive support through funding and legislation.
- Support passage of a strong Farm Bill that enhances nutrition programs and reduces unnecessary barriers for those seeking assistance.
- Ensure robust funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to stabilize food bank operations during supply chain disruptions and inflation.
- Encourage Congress to improve and expand child nutrition programs, ensuring broad access to nutritious meals for children in urban and rural communities.
- Advocate for policies that fully fund and strengthen the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
- Increase support for veterans and military families to eliminate food insecurity among those who serve and have served.
State Priorities
- Increase funding for the Surplus Agricultural Products Grant to support Texas farmers and strengthen connections to food banks, providing fresh produce to the people we serve.
- Encourage the Texas Department of Agriculture and Texas Health and Human Services Commission to adopt strategic administrative and eligibility policies that improve access to nutrition programs.
- Support legislation that strengthens workforce development and job skills training in sectors that impact the food system, including culinary education, farming, warehousing, and logistics.
- Support legislation that enhances access to nutritious food by updating the SNAP vehicle asset test, improving SNAP eligibility for adult learners in secondary and technical education, and assisting people exiting the criminal justice system with re-entry supports.
Local Priorities
Using data, elevating neighbor voices, convening stakeholders, and implementing innovative programs, CTFB will focus locally on:
- Educating local officials about how the Food Bank impacts communities across our service area.
- Advancing public-private partnerships that enable innovative food procurement and distribution methods.
- Building strategic partnerships to enhance Food Is Medicine initiatives that improve health outcomes.
- Developing collaborative workforce training and job skills programming that address root causes of hunger.
- Working with rural communities to identify community-building solutions for food access challenges.
How You Can Get Involved
Ways the community can support our advocacy efforts:
