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Houston Food Bank Advocacy Center - Use Your Voice for Change
Why this matters
The Houston Food Bank Advocacy Center teaches people how to speak up for changes that help families have enough food. The advocacy team talks to government leaders, shares research and real stories, gets funding for programs, works with officials during disasters, and helps people vote. People can help by contacting elected officials, going to community meetings, joining campaigns, telling their stories, staying informed, and voting.
Overview
The Houston Food Bank Advocacy Center teaches people how to speak up for changes that help families have enough food. The program works on three big problems: people don't earn enough money, housing costs too much, and healthcare is hard to get. In Texas, 4.7 million families can't afford basic needs and 5 million people don't have health insurance. Families often have to choose between paying rent or buying food, seeing a doctor or buying groceries. The advocacy team talks to government leaders, shares research and real stories, gets funding for programs, works with officials during disasters, and helps people vote. People can help by contacting elected officials, going to community meetings, joining campaigns, telling their stories, staying informed, and voting. The program believes that by working together to fix these root causes, we can build a world that doesn't need food banks. They focus on getting people good-paying jobs, affordable homes, and healthcare when they need it.
HFB Advocacy Center PARTNER SPOTLIGHT LEARNING CENTER Sep 12 Written By THECHANGELAB Houston Food Bank Advocacy Program - Your Voice Matters Your Voice Matters: Speak Up for Change Join Houston Food Bank's team that talks to government leaders. We work to fix the reasons people don't have enough food. Together, we can build a world that doesn't need food banks.
We do this by speaking up for better pay, affordable homes, and healthcare for everyone. Take Action Now → "I want to work on laws that help families succeed. " — Katherine, Government Relations Team Lead 1 Why People Don't Have Enough Food Too many families can't buy enough healthy food.
Why? Because the system doesn't help working families. When times get hard, families can't make ends meet.
Families face impossible choices every day: Pay rent or buy food See a doctor or buy groceries Pay the electric bill or buy healthy meals These hard choices have bad results. People get sick. Kids miss opportunities.
Families need emergency help instead of being able to take care of themselves. Families and the groups that help them keep dealing with the same problems over and over. 7M Texas families can't afford basic needs 5M Texans don't have health insurance To fix this for good, we need to help people get: good-paying jobs, homes they can afford, and healthcare when they need it.
2 Three Big Problems We Can Fix Together Research shows three main reasons people don't have enough food: 💰 Not Enough Money People don't have enough food because they don't earn enough money. They can't pay for all their basic needs. $41,616 Gap between poverty line and what a family of 4 actually needs Our Neighbor's Voice "My job is not giving me enough hours.
I don't have enough money to pay for food. " What's happening: More than half of families who don't have enough food work full time. In Texas, pay hasn't gone up as much as everything costs.
20 per hour. Cooks make $13 per hour. Retail workers make $11 per hour.
That's barely enough to get by. 🏠 Housing Costs Too Much Having a safe home is important for everything. You need a home to keep a job, stay healthy, go to school, and buy good food.
But homes cost too much now. $28/hr What you need to earn to afford rent in Harris County Our Neighbor's Voice "90% of my money went to rent and bills. I was just trying to keep my head above water.
" The problem: Texas is one of the worst states for finding affordable housing. Since 1985, rent has gone up 325% more than people's pay. Even if an eviction case gets dismissed, it still shows up on your record.
This makes it hard to find a new place to live. 🏥 Healthcare Access When someone gets sick or has a medical emergency, it starts a chain reaction. Medical bills go up.
People miss work and lose money. 2x Texas has twice as many uninsured people as the rest of America Our Neighbor's Voice "With access to nutritious foods, I was able to focus more on my health and less on financial stress. " The cycle: Families who don't have enough food get sick more often.
They have more diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Texas has many people without health insurance and many people who can't afford enough food. 3 How Our Team Makes Change The Government Relations team talks to government leaders.
We share what we learn from our staff, partners, and the people we help. We work to change the big problems that cause hunger and poverty. 📣 Speak Up We build relationships with elected officials.
We tell them about the main problems: people don't earn enough money, housing costs too much, and healthcare is hard to get. 📚 Teach We share research and real stories from people in our community. We help leaders understand what families really need.
💵 Get Funding We look for money from the government to help our programs. This money helps us serve more families. 🤝 Work Together We team up with emergency management offices and elected officials.
This helps us respond when disasters happen. 🗳️ Help People Vote We help neighbors participate in democracy. We run voter programs to make sure everyone's voice is heard.
4 Use Your Voice: How You Can Help There are many ways you can speak up for change: Contact elected officials: Share your story. Tell them what you need. Talk about better pay, affordable housing, and healthcare.
Go to community meetings: Join public hearings and town halls. Speak at meetings where decisions get made. Join campaigns: Sign petitions.
Write letters. Help others learn about important issues. Tell your story: Help lawmakers understand how hunger affects real families.
Stay informed: Follow updates from Houston Food Bank. Learn about new issues. Vote: Take part in elections.
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