The White House on Tuesday announced $1.7 billion in commitments nationwide as part of a call to action to help end hunger in the United States by 2030 and promote healthy living.
According to the government, 17 million households could not get enough food in 2022. In about 6.8 million of those households, a member sometimes had to skip meals or make other changes because there weren’t enough money and resources for food.
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will be joined by celebrity chef Jose Andrews, basketball player Elena Delle Donne, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and other administration officials to announce the $1.7 billion commitments with an event at the White House Tuesday afternoon.
Fourteen sports leagues and players associations, along with healthy systems, insurers, nonprofits, local elected officials and other organizations are all participating in the effort to help fight hunger and improve nutrition. In total, more than 140 commitments have been made by the public and private sectors.
The announcement builds on $8 billion in commitments announced in September 2022 at the Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health.
According to the government, 17 million households could not get enough food in 2022. In approximately 6.8 million of those households, a member sometimes had to go without meals or skip meals because there were not enough money and resources for food.
Doug Emhoff announces $1.7 billion in new commitments as part of the Challenge to End Hunger and Promote Healthy Living by 2030 with an event at the White House on Tuesday
Sixteen cities across the country are among those who have stepped up as part of the challenge to launch a task force and/or create an action plan to fight hunger and reduce diet-related diseases.
Other efforts include healthcare companies like Ascension, which have made commitments focused on identifying health equity disparities and working to increase access to fresh, affordable produce, or insurers like Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, which one-on-one nutritional coaching and nutritional coaching. its bimonthly pilot for delivering healthy food.
At the same time, the organization Food Forward plans to recover and distribute 290 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste to people facing food insecurity. By increasing their recovery by £20 million annually by 2026, the organization will deliver an estimated 1.6 billion additional portions of fresh fruit and vegetables to historically disadvantaged communities.
And the iconic Harlem Globetrotters are also getting involved in a public awareness campaign about the important connection between good nutrition and healthy activity. They have committed through a two-year partnership with KABOOM!, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing play spaces for children in underserved communities.
Harlem Globetrotters are among more than 140 organizations, companies and governments that have pledged $1.7 billion in the fight to end hunger and diet-related diseases in the U.S.
President Biden speaks at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health on September 28, 2022.
The Biden administration first outlined its plan to end hunger and diet-related diseases in the United States by 2030 at a conference in Washington in September 2022. The conference outlined actions that businesses, local governments and other organizations can take to help achieve that goal. .
Included in the initially announced $8 billion commitments was more than $2.5 billion from start-up companies focused on finding solutions to food insecurity. Another $4 billion came from philanthropic efforts to increase access to nutritious food and promote health.
As part of this effort, the government has developed its own national strategy to tackle hunger and diet-related diseases. Some of the steps it has taken include the FDA working to develop a front-of-pack labeling system to help consumers understand nutritional information. It also expanded access to school breakfast and lunch for students in an additional 3,000 school districts in high-need areas and outlined other initiatives.