Advocating for Change
Bread for the World’s work in organizing communities and individuals to speak up about hunger and poverty gets results!
Advocacy is hard work, and sometimes the victories do not come right away. But Bread has been doing advocacy for decades and has the expertise, experience, and track record for bringing hope and opportunity to people in the U.S. and abroad.
Our first victory more than 40 years ago laid important groundwork that we’ve built on ever since. In 1975, the year after Bread was founded, Congress passed the Right to Food Resolution. It declared that everyone has a right to food, and it was the most sweeping statement on hunger Congress has ever made.
Some recent wins include:
2016
Congress passed the bipartisan Global Food Security Act in early July. This legislation authorizes U.S.-led, long-term solutions for small farmers so that they'll be able to feed their families and communities for years to come. Bread had marshalled all of its resources and advocacted before Congress for its passage for more than a year.
Also in early July, Congress passed the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act. Bread strongly supported this bipartisan legislation, which will codify important reforms to ensure that U.S. government agencies carrying out foreign assistance are focused on rigorous and consistent monitoring and evaluation of programs and on making comprehensive, timely, and comparable aid data publicly available. By reinforcing its existing commitments to transparency and evaluation through legislation, the U.S. government can better track, measure, and allocate scarce aid resources. Bread had been working on making U.S. foreign assistance more accountable for nearly a decade, and foreign-assistance reform was the focus of Bread’s 2008 and 2009 Offering of Letters campaigns.
2015
Key provisions of the earned income and child tax credits became permanent. This is a victory for low-income workers and will prevent 16 million people — including 8 million children — from falling into or deeper into poverty.
Congress passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which prevents most of the sequestration cuts for 2016 and 2017 from taking place.
Increase of $1.1 billion in poverty-focused development assistance.
$10 million increase in funding for global nutrition programs.
Halted passage of a provision in that would have taken away $75 million of food-aid funds and reduced the reach of food-aid programs by 2 million people annually.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act was extended for 10 more years. It expands U.S. technical assistance aimed at businesses that engage women and smallholder farmers.
2014
More funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and Head Start.
2012-2014
Proposed cuts to programs for low-income families were reduced from $3 trillion to less than $50 billion in cuts.
2012
Extended tax credits have helped 13 million low-income working families.
2000
Bread led the legislative coalition that won debt relief for poor countries.
Bread’s victories often have lasting effects and set policy and funding that benefit people for years.
Ongoing involvement in a variety of issues:
Children
Children are often hit hardest when it comes to hunger. Bread has always been committed to strengthening programs that provide children to the meals and nutrition they need. Over the years, we’ve helped secure better nutrition, increased access to meals, clearer nutrition guidelines, and increased funding for programs like WIC and those for school breakfasts and lunches and summer feeding.
SNAP
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called food stamps) is the primary way our government helps American families put food on the table when budgets are tight. Bread has successfully supported improvements and reforms to SNAP over the years. These changes allow the program to do exactly it was designed to do: be a safety net for families in times of need.
International
Bread has always held a concern about hunger both at home and abroad. Its advocacy on international hunger has helped developing countries adopt better farming practices. It has pushed our government to provide smarter foreign aid and emergency food. Our goal is for the U.S. to be a partner in helping other countries to become self-reliant. We do this by advocating for common sense programs with a proven track record so that U.S. tax dollars are spent wisely.
Tax Credits
When it comes to mechanisms that fight hunger, you might not think of the earned income tax credit (EITC) and the child tax credit (CTC). But these measures are proven to be the most successful at moving American families out of poverty. Supporting programs like these, which help families feed themselves, is an important part of working toward our mission to end hunger.
New issues
We’re constantly assessing where we can have the most impact with our advocacy. Some new issues we’ve started to address are immigration and mass incarceration as they relate to hunger and poverty. To find out more about our current issues, check out the Bread Blog and the Offering of Letters.
"In the contemporary United States, few can rival the voice and energy of Bread for the World…”
World Bank Report
Tools
from our Resource Library
For Education
U.S. Hunger and Poverty State Fact Sheets
These fact sheets provide a snapshot of hunger and poverty in the United States and in each state plus Washington, D.C.
Fact Sheet: Hunger and Poverty in Puerto Rico
Even before Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck Puerto Rico, hunger and food insecurity were much more common among Puerto Ricans than among their fellow U.S. citizens in the 50 states.
Before...
Fact Sheet: Fortified for Life. How the U.S. Government Supports Global Nutrition.
Good nutrition is a critical part of ensuring that all human beings can use their bodies and minds to live an active life and reach their full potential.
For Faith
Unity Declaration on Racism and Poverty
A diverse body of Christian leaders calls on the churches and Congress to focus on the integral connection.
Dear Members of Congress,
As the president and Congress are preparing their plans for this year, almost 100 church leaders—from all the families of U.S. Christianity—are...
In Times Like These … A Pan-African Christian Devotional for Public Policy Engagement
This devotional guide invites deepened relationship with and among Pan-African people and elected leaders in the mission to end hunger and poverty.
Sermon by David Beckmann at Duke University Chapel
Remarks delivered October 1, 2017 at Duke University Chapel in Chapel Hill in North Carolina.
Thank you for inviting me to preach here at Duke University Chapel. And I especially want to thank the Bread for the World members who have come this morning.
Bruce Puckett urged...
For Advocacy
U.S. Hunger and Poverty State Fact Sheets
These fact sheets provide a snapshot of hunger and poverty in the United States and in each state plus Washington, D.C.
Fact Sheet: Hunger by the Numbers
In 2017, 11.8 percent of households in the U.S.—40 million people—were food-insecure, meaning that they were unsure at some point during the year about how they would provide for their next meal.
Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2017
Unnecessarily long prison sentences, combined with the lack of rehabilitative programs for people in prison, exacerbate hunger, poverty, and existing inequalities.
Overly harsh mandatory minimum prison sentences have contributed to the rapid increase of our country’s prison population. The...