Amplifying Community Power through Education, Narrative Change and Organizing

Rooted + Rising is amplifying the leadership of those most impacted by hunger to advance a movement centering racial, gender and economic justice for food justice. Through racial justice education, narrative change and statewide field organizing, our networks and community will rally with new force to end hunger’s root causes, once and for all.

RACIAL JUSTICE FOR FOOD JUSTICE

Established in 2022-2023, Oregon Food Bank’s Equity & Racial Justice Education Team provides training, consultation and resources to use equity principles as practical tools in food assistance, driving systemic change at organizational, regional and national levels. With more than 50 years of combined experience in equity and social justice, they build capacity through curriculum development and training in equity and racial justice for food justice. Staff time and resources are dedicated to sharing Oregon Food Bank’s story as a case study, equity tools, consultation and technical assistance. Our story is not just about hunger, but also about how to solve hunger, with equity work as the necessary foundation on which those solutions are built.

Intensive Equity Institute trainings are offered to Oregon Food Bank’s local network of partners and Feeding America’s national network of member food banks. Trainings include five interactive, six-hour sessions and are available in English and Spanish. Each session is dedicated to a specific theme that builds upon the others, culminating in a discussion and practice for putting equity principles into action in the context of food banking. To learn more, sign up to receive email updates on the latest equity resources and training opportunities for anti-hunger advocates here in the Pacific Northwest and across the country.

NARRATIVE CHANGE

Spreading a new, true story of hunger is vital to create the systemic, transformative change we need. In our region, we will fundamentally shift the common understanding of food insecurity, its root causes and the actions needed to end hunger for good. Our sustained public education campaign — informed by public opinion research and message testing — will shift public perception, shape opinion and mobilize communities to act.

We are operating with lessons from successful, community-led progressive movements. Narrative focused solely on specific political wins misses movement building opportunities and comes at broader societal cost. We take an alternative approach — systemic change must reach hearts and minds. And sharing stories (supported by researched messages) from community leaders working to end hunger can bridge identity and experience gaps with empathy to shift public understanding. These personal stories are critical to field organizing initiatives.

Surveys, focus groups and public opinion polling influence researched messaging to create narrative change through authentic storytelling from leaders with lived experience of systemic inequity and hunger – those designing and implementing solutions to hunger in campaigns like Food for All Oregonians.

STATEWIDE FIELD ORGANIZING

Through Rooted + Rising, we have doubled our capacity for statewide field organizing. This means building up communities in every corner of our region to develop and galvanize leadership among those of us experiencing hunger and poverty, working within and alongside our robust food distribution infrastructure.

Learn more about how we're powering food justice through statewide organizing.

Community organizing and civic engagement drives policy shifts and systems change on statewide campaigns. These campaigns emerge from Oregon Food Bank’s Policy Leadership Council. A first among food banks nationwide, the Policy Leadership Council holds all decision-making power for Oregon Food Bank’s policy agenda and develops our longer-term systems-change platform. And with this expanded strength in 2022-2023, we implemented the most significant statewide campaign in Oregon Food Bank’s history – Food for All Oregonians – in coalition with immigrant rights partners.

Food for All Oregonians addresses unjust gaps in state food assistance policies that exclude huge portions of our communities based on immigration status and other arbitrary factors – roughly 62,000 individuals in Oregon. Our unique approach shortens the distance between community members most impacted and elected officials, ensuring our representative government’s accountability to the community.

Together we have built power to achieve Food for All Oregonians by:

• Convening 125+ organizations for our statewide coalition.
• Mobilizing 4,500+ actions (emails, pledges, testimony) supporting Food for All Oregonians.
• Organizing 100+ attendees for our Advocacy Day.
• Supporting 300+ advocates to attend town halls and community forums with electeds in Ontario, Tillamook, Portland, Beaverton, Salem, Roseburg and online.
• Training 100+ leaders to provide oral testimony to legislators.
• Facilitating 1,600+ Oregonians to call legislators to urge passing of Food for All Oregonians.
  

We are profoundly disappointed that Democratic leadership did not prioritize Food for All Oregonians (SB 610) in Oregon’s 2023 legislative session. However, we know the arc of our fight bends toward justice. We have built undeniable power. And we will not stop advancing our cause until we’ve won Food for All Oregonians.

Join us to learn more about how you can support education, narrative change and organizing efforts to end hunger for good.

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