Hunger Activist Visits White House

Food access activist Kimberly Hart brought her voice to the White House and emerged with a national perspective on hunger — plus a little more hope.

Hart was in Washington D.C. Wednesday and Thursday because she had been selected by the hunger aid organization Feeding America to attend the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. The conference addressed strategies for ending food insecurity in the nation.

Hart is the founder of New Haven’s chapter of Witnesses to Hunger, a grassroots food access advocacy organization, and a member of the Food Policy Council. Fueled by her personal experience with food insecurity and homelessness, she has become a leading voice in New Haven on the issue of hunger.

At the White House, Hart heard political leaders and experts — including President Joe Biden — talk about national food policy, nutrition, and the ongoing effort to end hunger in this country. 

While she didn’t present at the conference itself, Hart had the opportunity to record her own story and life experience at a kiosk / recording booth provided for the event. 

She also met hunger advocates from across the country and learned about the barriers to food access that particular to different regions.

“This has been a life-changing event for me,” Hart told the Independent in a Wednesday evening phone interview. ​“I am so energized right now … My gratitude is off the charts.”

One key takeaway for Hart was how the nation’s farm system, and the higher cost of producing nutritious crops, affect access to healthy food across the country. 

“There are farmers out here in these United States who are food insecure. That blew my mind,” she said.

While she lamented that the conference didn’t feature speakers who have personally experienced hunger, Hart left the conference invigorated.

“Coming in, when I listened to the president talk about eradicating hunger by 2030, I scoffed,” she said. 

After learning about national efforts to combat food insecurity, she said, that goal seems less outlandish. 

“Do I think it’s gonna happen? No, I don’t. But do I think that something is gonna shift? Yes I do.”

DeLauro Highlights Tax Credit

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of New Haven, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, spoke at the conference. (You can watch her remarks in the above video.)

In her remarks, DeLauro revisited the role that an expanded child tax credit — which she championed 2021, but which has since not been renewed — can play in alleviating poverty and hunger.

“The question following the conference is: Where do we go from here? I believe we need to advance a number of policies, including extending the WIC eligibility for children until their sixth birthday or first day of kindergarten and expand WIC so that benefits do not lapse; raising the SNAP minimum benefit to at least $30 and expanding D‑SNAP for the territories; expanding free school meals to every child; supporting local food systems; improving front of package labeling; and expanding Food as Medicine opportunities,” she said.

“However, the policy I believe would be most effective in meeting the moment is the expanded, improved, and monthly Child Tax Credit that I helped secure in the American Rescue Plan. I am glad to see the White House call for making the expanded and improved Child Tax Credit permanent. These Child Tax Credit payments drove the largest decrease in the child poverty rate in history. Moreover, these monthly payments strongly reduced food insufficiency, leading to a 26 percent decline in food insufficiency among low-income households.”