FOUNDATIONAL ROOTS Our
As the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty recognized its 15th anniversary this year, it remains true to its founding belief that no one sector can end hunger alone. This year provided meaningful opportunities for the Baylor Collaborative to center its activities on the organization’s foundational commitment to strengthening communities in their efforts to cultivate scalable solutions to end hunger. The Baylor Collaborativeknowsthatbyharnessingthecollectiveimpactof non-profit agencies, schools, faith communities, governments, and businesses, we draw closer to the goal of ending hunger acrossourstate,ournation,andourworld.
This Year-End Spotlight focuses on the Baylor Collaborative’s work equipping communities – from local to global – to use theirsharedpowerandresourcestoendhunger.Frombuilding research tools that help local communities access and understand hunger data to launching training opportunities for community members to lead collaboration and change, the BaylorCollaborative’sapproachtothisworkrestsonthenotion thatweallplayavitalroleinendinghungerforourneighbors.
MakingHungerDataAccessibleforCommunities
LAUNCHINGTHESCHOOLMEALSDASHBOARD
This year, the Baylor Collaborative launched its first online, interactive data dashboard the School Meals Dashboard. Asthefirstofmanydatadashboardsplannedtobereleased overthenextfewyears,theSchoolMealsDashboard allows individuals to access school meal data for all 254 Texas counties. This free, user-friendly tool is designed to help individualsandorganizationsbetterunderstandhowhunger and food insecurity impact their communities across Texas With these tools, community leaders will be able to make informed, data-driven decisions about the work needed to endhunger
School meals are proven to be one of the best tools to reduce childhood hunger, and this data will be key to identifying opportunities for expansion – ultimately feeding morechildrenacrossTexas
UNDERSTANDINGCOMMUNITYLANDSCAPES
One of the first steps to understanding how to end hunger in a community, a state, or a nation
understanding the strengths, resources, and gaps in the current food system In 2024, the Baylor Collaborative released landscape analysesandreportsanalyzing:
thelandscapeofcommunitydataandresourcesinJasperCounty,BrazoriaCounty,andWillacyCounty,Texas opportunities for connection of food-oriented community-based organizations and Medicaid Managed Care OrganizationsacrossTexasinpartnershipwithEpiscopalHealthFoundation acomprehensivelandscapeofthepolicies,geography,climate,andhungerworkinGuatemala
BaylorCollaborativeDirector,JohnPudermeetswithafamilyfromAldineISD duringasummermealkickoffevent
BaylorCollaborativeExecutiveDirector,DrJeremyEverettsitsonapanelduringBreadfortheWorld’s2024AdvocacySummitinWashington,DC
EquippingCommunitiesforCollaborationandChange
HARNESSINGCOLLECTIVEIMPACTTOENDHUNGER
Since 2009, Baylor Collaborative experts have worked with communities all over Texas and across the United States to train and equip community leaders to build HungerFreeCommunityCoalitions –bringing together community leaders, governmentofficials,non-profitandfaithcommunityrepresentatives,andbusinessesinvestedinendinghungertoscale uptheirindividualimpactthroughcollaborativeefforts.Thisyear,theBaylorCollaborativelaunchedthebetaversionofits newHungerFreeCommunitiesCertificatecourse,providingtrainingandtechnicalassistancetoleaderspassionateabout harnessingtheircommunityresourcestoendhunger
Utilizing Baylor University’s online education platform, participants who complete the 42-hour course earn microcredentials authorized by Baylor University Additionally, Baylor Collaborative experts provide personalized technical assistance to community leaders, helping them leverage their collective impact to meet the unique needs of their communitiesthroughHungerFreeCommunityCoalitions
BUILDINGRELATIONSHIPSANDSUPPORTINGTHEWORK
Understanding and supporting the food security-centered work happening across communities is core to the Baylor Collaborative’smission Overthecourseoftheyear,theBaylorCollaborativefosteredrelationshipsandprovidedtraining opportunitiesforsomeofourmostcriticalhungerheroes:thosewhofeedchildren.TheBaylorCollaborativeteamhelped child nutrition providers learn how to maximize nutrition programs and implement innovative models to reach more children.Thisyear,membersoftheBaylorCollaborativewereprivilegedtopresentandspeakwithaudiencesacrossTexas andtheU.S.abouthungersolutions,includingatthe:
TexasLibraryAssociationConference
FoodResearchandActionCenter(FRAC)NationalAnti-HungerPolicyConference
National Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Sponsors Association’s Rural Non-Congregate Summer Food ServicePolicyUpdate
TexasDepartmentofAgriculture’sannualMegaCon(aconferenceforschoolnutritionprofessionals)
UmojaSupplyChainSolution’sMid-SouthHungerConference NationalRuralGrocerySummit andwith16ofthe20TexasEducationServiceCenters(ESCs)
PartneringtoCultivateScalable SolutionstoEndHunger
Collaborationbetweenthepublicandprivatesectorsiskeytoscaling meaningfulsolutionstoendhunger.SomeoftheBaylorCollaborative’s statewidepublic-privatecollaborationsthisyearincluded:
Texas Department of Agriculture – The Baylor Collaborative teamedupwiththeTexasDepartmentofAgriculturetoincrease outreachandawarenessoffreesummermealsavailableto children
AlaskaDepartmentofEducationandEarlyDevelopmentandthe FoodBankofAlaska–TheBaylorCollaborativeworkedalongside theStateofAlaskaandtheFoodBankofAlaskatoassistinthe implementation of Meals-to-You Alaska, serving over 580,000 mealsto5,300childreninsomeofAlaska’smostruralcommunities.
BaylorCollaborativestaffalongsideadelegationfromKansasfollowing aHungerFreeCoalitiontraining
Hunger Free Kansas – The Baylor Collaborative conducted training sessions with a delegation from Kansas, guiding them through the process of establishing a Hunger Free Coalition To date, this Hunger Free Kansas coalition has established a core team of strategic partners including universities, advocacy organizations, private businesses, philanthropicfoundations,andcharitablenonprofitstoopendiscussiononendinghunger
580,000
5,300
BuildingtheNextGenerationofHungerLeaders
TheBaylorCollaborativealsoworkswithstudents,faculty,staff,andcampusorganizationscommittedtolearningabout andendinghungerTheenergyandpassionofBaylorstudentsareunmatched,andthisyear,undergraduateandgraduate studentsfromvariousdisciplinescontributedtotheworkoftheBaylorCollaborativethrough:
Graduateinternships in partnership with Baylor’s Garland School of Social Work and Truett Seminary; and undergraduateinternshipsinpartnershipwiththeUniversity’scriminaljusticeminor Graduateandundergraduatestudentemploymentacrossdepartmentsandmajors–includingpublichealth,political science,andbusiness
GraduateclassesinprogramevaluationinpartnershipwiththeGarlandSchoolofSocialWorkandundergraduate classesinfoodinsecurityandthecarceralsystemwithBaylor’sOfficeofEngagedLearning
Thisyear,theBaylorCollaborativeorganizeditsfirstmeetingoftheStudentFoodSecurityCouncil,consistingofgraduate andundergraduatestudentscommittedtodestigmatizingandhumanizingtheexperienceofcollegestudentfood insecuritythroughconversationandcampuscollaborations.
ThroughitslongstandingpartnershipwithAmeriCorpsVISTAtheBaylorCollaborativeprovidesopportunitiestoconnect VISTAmemberswithnon-profitsinTexasandotherstates,offeringayearofservicetosupporttherespectivecommunity’s anti-hungerwork AtthebeginningoftheyearformerAmeriCorpsVISTAmember,KatrinaHuffman,receivedthe AmeriCorpsLegacyofServiceAwardattheAnnualGovernor’sVolunteerAwardsforherworkbuildinganonline,clientchoicefoodpantrywiththeMcCullochCountyHungerCoalitioninBrady,Texas.
Meals Served
Children Fed
AlaskaMeals-to-You
BaylorPresidentLindaLivingstone,GraceNorman,andTruettSeminaryprofessorsand studentsvisittheWorldFoodProgrammeinRomeItaly
Scenes
FormerBaylorBearandcurrentHoustonTexanssafety,JalenPitreandDrCraigGundersen attheBaylorProfessionalsinHoustoneventontheroleofbusinessinendinghunger
Cultivating scalable solutions to end hunger