Oregon Food Bank believes that no one should be hungry ... especially children. In order to build on efforts to address the root causes and health impacts of childhood hunger, the Childhood Hunger Coalition (CHC) is now an Oregon Food Bank program. The new relationship formalizes years of close collaboration between the two entities.
“The Childhood Hunger Coalition is excited to build on its strong partnership with Oregon Food Bank," says Molly Haynes, CHC chair and manager of community health initiatives at Kaiser Permanente. "As an OFB program, the coalition will be able to expand its work."
The Childhood Hunger Coalition (CHC), an interdisciplinary collaborative of health care providers and anti-hunger advocates, emerged from a workshop entitled, “The Medical and Social Impacts of Childhood Hunger,” held at Oregon Food Bank in 2004. The workshop educated participants about the link between childhood hunger and health outcomes and explored barriers and opportunities to engaging health professionals to identify and address child hunger. Workshop organizers developed the Childhood Hunger Coalition as a means of carrying forward the workshop’s goals.
The coalition is guided by a steering committee including representatives from OHSU, OSU Extension Service, Kaiser Permanente, Oregon WIC, Partners for a Hunger Free Oregon and Oregon Food Bank.
After developing and distributing toolkits to educate health care providers on identifying childhood hunger, CHC is now focused on working with a clinic on the feasibility of screening for childhood hunger.
Learn more about the Childhood Hunger Coalition at
www.childhoodhunger.org
