MA Nonprofits Receive $6,500 Grants to Expand Local Hunger Outreach

EAST BOSTON, Mass. – Food insecurity rose drastically during the pandemic and has yet to decline to pre-pandemic rates as 1 in 6 households and 1 in 5 households with children across the Commonwealth struggle with having enough to eat, disproportionately impacting BIPOC families. Community-based organizations have been a critical and steadfast resource, providing a wide variety of food access points for residents. To further local hunger relief efforts across the Commonwealth and strengthen engagement and outreach efforts around food access, nine nonprofits received a $6,500 project-based grant from Project Bread in September 2022.

Project Bread’s 2022 Pathways to Change grant recipients include: Thrive Support & Advocacy, Dismas House of Massachusetts, The Food Project, Rhonda M. Fazio, TDM Church, Quincy Community Action Programs, Mill City Grows, Fitchburg Housing Authority and Empower Children for Success.

Pathways to Change grants are unrestricted funds from Project Bread, a statewide anti-hunger organization. Since 2021, Project Bread has granted over $680,000 to nonprofits to support communities hit hardest by COVID-19 and ongoing economic challenges, including Brockton, East Boston, Everett, Fitchburg, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lynn, Lowell, Malden, Mattapan, New Bedford Quincy, Randolph and Worcester. This fall, Project Bread launched the Pathways to Change grant, distributing an additional $58,500 to these nine nonprofits in the same communities to recognize and support their work to address food insecurity through community.

With this project-based funding, Project Bread aims to support the creation of spaces for community conversations and engagement around food access that will strengthen relationships between individuals and food programs, support collaboration, and achieve positive social change. The funds can be used to pay for community facilitators, art supplies, compensation for participants, and other activity-related expenses.

“Connecting people with sustainable solutions not only brings immediate relief, it also provides agency and empowers people in the long term. We know that solutions must come from the people closest to the problem,” says Adriana Mendes-Sheldon, Director of Community Partnerships at Project Bread. “We continue to learn from and invest in our community partners because of their strength in creating local, sustainable solutions. Supporting our community partners, like our Pathways to Change grantees, is one of our key strategies for ending hunger statewide.”

Since before the pandemic, Project Bread has been leading Massachusetts’ response to an ongoing hunger crisis that affects thousands of residents statewide, such as supporting school and community meal sites and running the Commonwealth’s only statewide hotline that connects residents with a range of food resources, from SNAP assistance to information on food pantry hours and locations. The nonprofit works closely with legislators and other elected officials as well as in partnership with government agencies, including the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Transitional Assistance, to increase access to and participation in federal nutrition programs, such as SNAP and free school meals.

People experiencing food insecurity should call Project Bread’s toll-free FoodSource Hotline (1-800-645-8333), which provides confidential assistance to connect with food resources, including SNAP benefits, in 180 languages and for the hearing impaired. For more information, visit: www.projectbread.org/get-help.

About Project Bread

Project Bread is the leading statewide anti-hunger organization in Massachusetts. Beginning in 1969 with the first Walk for Hunger, the nonprofit focuses on driving systemic change to ensure people of all ages have reliable access to healthy food. Project Bread works collaboratively across sectors to create innovative solutions to end hunger and improve lives across the Commonwealth. For more information, visit: www.projectbread.org.

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