Arizona Hunger Policy Workgroup Awarded 2022 Vitalyst Foundation SPARK Grant
The Vitalyst Health Foundation announced on Friday that Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona (LAMA) and its Arizona Hunger Policy Workgroup partners was awarded a 2022 SPARK Grant. Every year, Vitalyst assesses opportunities to invest in the catalytic work of community organization. The $20,000 grant was one of eleven SPARK Grants awarded by Vitalyst this year.
The Arizona Hunger Policy Workgroup partners include Bread for the World, World Hunger Ecumenical Arizona Task-Force (WHEAT), Arizona Food Bank Network, Arizona Food Systems Network, Arizona Faith Network and Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona (LAMA).
Vitalyst, a foundation dedicated to improving well-being in Arizona by addressing root causes and broader issues that affect health, suggests that the project proposed should utilize a health equity lens to address two or more Elements of a Healthy Community to dream up a solution that is more effective, equitable, or sustainable than existing approaches.
The intention of the Spark Grants is to support collaborations in their journey to address systemic change. Key criteria for Spark Grants are: clearly identified problem by the community most impacted, defined system where the work would occur, majority of partners have engaged in conversation and are ready to work together, but there is not an identified solution. Spark Grants are planning grants — they are intended to fund the time for partners to figure out solutions, not to fund an already identified solution, pilot or research.
The Hunger Policy Workgroup’s winning grant application proposed to explore how hunger policy advocacy might be more effective and ultimately successful if all known and interested hunger advocates in Arizona collaborated on policy initiatives for the 2023 Arizona legislative session.
The concern the Workgroup identified is there are dozens of networks, state agencies, nonprofit organizations and faith communities that care about the nearly 1 million people in Arizona who face hunger every day, not to mention the many food banks, local food pantries and distribution centers around the state. Each has an interest in improving the lives of Arizonans experiencing food insecurity, and therefore each has a stake in the success of hunger policy initiatives in the state legislature. Each works the problem using their individual resources – some have policy experience and legislative relationships, others have statistics and records, still others have human resources, or networks, or access to funding, or history in the communities they serve. But no one has all of the tools and resources necessary to effect sustainable system change. Absent a focused, collaborative approach to hunger policy advocacy, legislators have demonstrated little interest or enthusiasm in meeting to discuss, let alone passing legislation to address the problem of hunger in Arizona.
The Workgroup’s proposal: All known and interested hunger advocates will be invited by the Hunger Policy Workgroup to participate in a full-day retreat in August 2022 at Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center in Carefree, Arizona. Every effort will be made to ensure all underserved communities in Arizona are represented, paying special attention to indigenous representation and food deserts. Guided by a respected facilitator familiar with the topic and skilled in group dynamics, the participants will collaborate on a plan for hunger policy advocacy for the 2023 legislative session. The tasks required to execute the plan will be shared among the group, and all participants will adopt and promote the plan in their respective networks. Presented with a focused, collaborative plan that is endorsed by every hunger advocacy organization in the state, we believe that legislators will be far more likely to consider and adopt the plan, and pass the resulting legislation.
The Workgroup envisions an ongoing commitment by the legislature to address the root causes of hunger in Arizona, be they poverty, job instability, food shortages and waste, poor infrastructure, climate change, nutrition quality, race and gender inequities, etc. The Workgroup seeks to build bridges with policy decision makers through creative partnerships, education on hunger facts and context, and advance messaging for candidates in the 2022 election. The Workgroup anticipates outcomes might be engaging conversation, investment, informed policy, and convening a Hunger and/or Basic Needs Caucus – a committee that hasn’t been active in the Arizona legislature since 2003.
Marcus Johnson, director of State Health Policy and Advocacy for Vitalyst, said the Board unanimously agreed to award Lutheran Advocacy Ministry of Arizona a Spark Grant to support the work of the Hunger Policy Workgroup, and is excited to be a partner in this important work.