Equity, diversity, and inclusion are critical to Feeding America. Ultimately, we believe we can only achieve our vision, mission, and goals with a demonstrated commitment, through words and actions, to equity diversity and inclusion.
We seek to deepen our understanding of and perspective on the challenges facing those we serve, many of which are rooted in long-standing patterns of social inequities, exclusions, and divisions.
When we attract and retain diverse talent and foster an environment where the unique skills, capabilities, viewpoints and dissenting opinions of all employees are valued, we enhance empathy, creativity and ultimately innovation.
Our commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion (updated September 2, 2020)
In June 2020, Feeding America made the following commitments to the Black community, and all communities most impacted by food insecurity including rural and indigenous communities. We will continue to share updates on our steady, thoughtful progress towards centering equity in all that we do.
- Increase our investment in communities of color, who we know are disproportionately affected by poverty and hunger.⠀
- Progress: Distributed $X in grant funding to food bank members for programs that support people of color and other communities affected by hunger.
- Progress: Created a Racial Equity Dashboard to help food bank members identify the communities most affected by hunger in their areas.
- Listen to and amplify underrepresented voices and advocate for government policies that can make a positive impact on the lives of people facing hunger.⠀
- Progress: Invest in voter engagement so our neighbors who use food banks can make their voice heard at the ballot box.
- Escalate our work to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion throughout our organization.
- Progress: Expanded our Executive Team to include ex-officio positions from staff leadership to bring additional perspectives.
- Progress: Established a council of 11 Employee Resource Groups to shape the culture within the organization.
- Understand we do not have all the answers and will partner with experts in this area to advance our growth.⠀
- Progress: Partnered with external consultants to provide ongoing equity and inclusion training and support to leadership and staff.
- Diversify our staff and board to include more women, members of the black community, other people of color and people with lived experience of hunger.⠀
- Progress: Adding two equity-focused positions to our staff: Visiting Equity Fellow for Research and a Manager of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- Expand our efforts to bring members of underrepresented communities together and provide a platform to co-create solutions.
