Advocacy Works
Our mission is to advocate for policies that ensure individuals and families have access to nutritious food. Read about all the ways we work to advocate for our neighbors.
Creating a world that doesn’t need food banks requires advocating for change in public policy.
What is Advocacy?
Advocacy is the act of speaking up and taking action to support a cause or address a problem. It’s about using your voice to influence decisions that affect you and your community. Whether advocating for public policy changes or community improvements, the goal is to bring about positive change. Advocacy can take many forms, from raising awareness through social media to directly engaging with your elected officials. At its core, advocacy is about empowerment – giving people and communities the tools and support they need to create a better, more just society.
You don’t have to wait to start advocating!
What is public policy? How does it affect you and your community?
Public policy is how the government addresses public problems. It includes the laws, regulations, and practices that help solve our society’s biggest challenges.
Elected officials are the ones who decide all public law – how much taxes you are going to pay, education standards, public works, and even the speed limits on the roads. Each of you are represented by elected officials at the federal, state, and local level.
State policies only affect the people who live in that state.
Example: Workplace protections, public transportation
Federal policies affect everyone who live and work in the United States and its territories.
Examples: Children’s Health Insurance Program, Child Tax Credit
Making Your Concerns Heard
Connect with your local elected officials. Your representatives work for you and the people who live in your area. Learn about the people who represent your community and let them know what you concerns are. Reach out and make a difference!
What are you Advocating About?
Root causes of food insecurity
Food insecurity is often caused by multiple factors. Lack of affordable housing, access to healthcare, and livable wages are just a few examples of the linked problems. These challenges aren’t accidents; they’re often the result of policies that don’t prioritize the needs of our communities. To create lasting change and end food insecurity, we must work together to advocate for policies that address these root causes.
Affordable Housing
Healthcare
Economic Mobility
Healthcare costs are unpredictable and can seriously deplete finances. Poor health is often both a cause and a result of financial instability and food insecurity.
Recognizing the link between health and nutrition, we work towards policies that enhance access to both, understanding that improving healthcare access directly supports our mission to alleviate hunger.
Food security cannot be accomplished without financial stability. Most of the families we serve are working households, yet they still face major gaps between their income and basic need expenses – requiring difficult decisions and risky trade-offs.
To ensure stability and mobility, we advocate for policies that improve financial security both now and in the future such as the expanded Child Tax Credit.
LINK Houston and Rice Kinder Institute for Urban Research – Where Affordable Housing and Transportation Meet in Houston
United for Alice – Wage Tool
Affordable housing makes it possible for families to access work, school and pay for their other basic needs. Unfortunately, a large number of working families are spending 30% or more of their income on housing and areas such as Harris County are seeing high eviction rates.
Without safe, reasonably priced housing, families cannot maintain stability or reliably access healthy food. That is why we advocate for renter protections and policies that protect property ownership.
Texas Housers – Low Income Housing Information Service
Emergency food relief is a critical first response for families that are food insecure.
We advocate for increased funding, quality improvement and broader access to nutrition programs – extremely important to sustaining our operations and supporting the food system.
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Visit our Neighbor’s Stories to learn more about some of the people who receive assistance from Houston Food Bank.