Hunger Free America

We are Hunger Free America, a nonpartisan, national nonprofit organization dedicated to ending hunger in the United States. Since our founding in 1983 as the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, we have been at the forefront of the fight for economic, racial, and food justice. In 2016, we changed our name to Hunger Free America to better reflect the national scope of our work, while continuing our vital, on-the-ground efforts in our home city through our Hunger Free New York City division. Our mission is to build a robust, nonpartisan, grassroots movement to advocate for and implement the policies and programs necessary to ensure every single American has access to nutritious food. We believe that ending hunger is not just a moral imperative but a practical necessity that strengthens our nation's economy and social fabric. As we often say, 'Ending hunger lifts us all.'

Our approach is twofold, combining direct service with powerful advocacy, with each side of our work informing and strengthening the other. On the direct service front, we connect individuals and families to essential federal nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). We operate the USDA National Hunger Hotline, a critical resource that connects people in all 50 states to food resources in their communities. We also mobilize volunteers through our national platform, hungervolunteer.org, to support anti-hunger efforts nationwide. This frontline experience gives us invaluable, real-world insights that fuel our advocacy work. We leverage this knowledge to educate and influence policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels, pushing for practical, evidence-based solutions to eradicate hunger and its root causes. We conduct original research, publish impactful reports, and empower those with lived experience of food insecurity to share their stories and advocate for change.