My Data-Driven Wish Come True

Four years ago when I began my position as the inaugural Chief Operating Officer (COO) at FRN, I was delighted. I came to the organization shortly after I completed my Results Count fellowship with The Annie E. Casey Foundation.  My fellowship experience equipped me to use data to bring a cohesive vision across the programmatic, communications, and operational function areas I oversee. To learn how this work started, evolved, and how it influences our daily operations and future planning, please watch our mapping webinar, How FRN’s Data is Driving Impact. 

Through combining and analyzing six different data sets, here is what I learned about FRN’s work and how we can increase our impact:

• Community colleges are the key to our growth. It is more often community colleges, rather than four-year institutions, that are geographically located in the areas with both the most surplus food as well as the most people experiencing hunger. To help expand into community colleges, we have launched a new grant program to bring our food recovery model to neighborhoods across the U.S. Click here to learn more and apply.

• FRN must implement our programs in the areas of the most need. We believe each state presents an opportunity to reduce food waste, feed people, and fight climate change. By mobilizing 200+ college student-led chapters to recover perishable food that would otherwise go to waste from their campuses and communities and donating it to local nonprofits who feed people experiencing hunger, we have created one of the largest college student-led networks fighting food waste and hunger in the U.S. With our ability to quickly replicate in any area where a four-year higher institution is present, we created a list of all 50 states and the specific area we would start a chapter, within each state, in order to feed more people of the most need, faster. 

The areas listed below were prioritized using a variety of factors including, but not limited to: number of higher education institutions in a given area who generate surplus food (NCES, EPA), greatest need as defined by the difference between the median wage (U.S. Census) and living wage (MIT), number of people experiencing food insecurity (Feeding America), SNAP, food insecurity, and poverty rates (U.S. Census), presence of higher education institutions (NCES), and areas where the population is predominantly people of color (U.S. Census).

States listed below are in alphabetical order.

If you are interested in hosting a Lunch and Learn for your organization to see your individual area, please contact programs@foodrecoverynetwork.org.

Student Debt Cancellation matters to everyone. Here's Why.

On February 28th, the People’s Rally for Student Debt Cancellation will take place in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the same day the Court will begin hearing oral arguments regarding President Biden’s historic student debt cancellation program. Regardless of if you have student debt, you should support this policy because it has a positive economic impact for all Americans.

According to the Education Data Initiative (EDI), student debt greatly impacts the U.S. economy because consumer spending is directly linked to personal finance. EDI states, “Each time a consumer’s student debt-to-income ratio increases by 1%, their consumption declines by as much as 3.7%.” This debt then translates to less participation in the levers which drive the economy. A 2021 National Association of REALTORS study found that often buyers must choose between “investing in their retirement, purchasing a home, getting married, starting a family or general savings.” The same study found that those suffering from housing insecurity often also face food insecurity. 

As the cost to attend college becomes more expensive, growing at an annual rate of 7.78%, and the ability to buy a home has been compromised due to the increasing debt of students, the number of students and individuals suffering from food insecurity is a staggering 34 million people, 34% of which are college students.This number can be as high as 71% of “nontraditional” students, meaning students who may be enrolled part time, work full time while in school, be caretakers of dependents, etc.

Historically, going to college has meant better prospects for long-term earning potential, including marginalized groups and as a whole. Mostly, this is still true, with four-year degree holders earning on average $1M more over the course of their career than those with a high school diploma only. However, the student loan burden and earning potential is not distributed equally. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that over 90% of African-American and 72% of Latinx students leave college with student loan debt, compared to 66% of their white counterparts, and 51% of Asian-American students. This debt, combined with the racial wage gap, continues to put students of color at a disadvantage when building a life following graduation.

That is why to help close the racial wealth cap and support the economic security for millions of people, we support the Biden Administration proposal of forgiveness of student loans. We are encouraging all of our 4,000 students, alumni, business leaders and community partners to join Food Recovery Network (FRN) at the rally on February 28th. Regardless of if you have student debt, you are impacted by those who do. 22% of those with student debt put off starting a small business, or buying a home, or having a family - all actions which drive economic growth. Put differently, if the 26 million borrowers who qualify for relief actually receive it, you will benefit from that relief as well because more money will be put into the economy at a time when it is much needed. 

Forgiving student debt is a substantial contribution our government can make today to improve the lives of the 42M people with student debt. This action would disproportionately benefit students of color, who carry more debt, but also benefit the middle class because it would begin the “long process of restoring access, solidity and racial equity to the middle class”, the exact promise a college education was originally meant to deliver. Owning a home, saving for retirement, starting a family, would all be more within reach for those who otherwise are putting off those major economic decisions because of student debt.

Poverty is a policy choice. Forgiving student debt is the economic choice.

Katie Jones is the Chief Operating Officer of FRN.

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Sources: 

1. https://actionnetwork.org/forms/join-us-at-the-supreme-court?source=naacp

2. https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-economic-impact

3. https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/student-loan-debt-holding-back-majority-of-millennials-from-homeownership

4. https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/affordable-housing-concerns-and-food-insecurity-linked-nar-report-finds

5. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/personal-finance/college-students-food-insecurity/

6. https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america

7. https://www.feedingamerica.org/research/college-hunger-research

8. https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/the-student-debt-burden-and-its-impact-on-racial-justice-borrowers-and-the-economy/

9. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-106041#:~:text=Overall%2C%20women%20earned%20about%20%24.,every%20dollar%20White%20men%20earned

10. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/18/what-a-deeper-than-expected-recession-means-for-your-money.html

11. https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/votervital/who-owes-all-that-student-debt-and-whod-benefit-if-it-were-forgiven/

12. https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22297809/student-loan-debt-cancel-forgiveness-middle-class

Why “bosses” should show up

It took about 30 months into my tenure as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of FRN, but on September 9, 2022 I reached a significant milestone as an FRN staffer: I participated in my first food recovery.

I am told by others who are more experienced in food recovery than me that my first recovery was impressive. Stephen and I recovered and donated over 1,200 pounds of food from the DaVita Dialysis Conference held at the Gaylord Hotel outside of Washington, D.C. This is the equivalent of almost 1,000 meals which will go to the men, women and children served by Central Union Mission. That is also nearly a one-to-one ratio of the food Central Union Mission needed to support one week of their program. Put differently, food that was otherwise going to be thrown away, less than 20 miles away, now helped feed an entire community, for an entire week. 

Once we delivered the food (and filled up their freezer), Central Union Mission’s Head Chef Rick immediately asked if we could come back next week, because he knew all of this food would be gone within the week. I was so happy he asked me that question, because that is exactly the type of questions I, as well as our entire network, should be asking ourselves. How can we provide consistent access to food to help our nonprofit partners have more sustainable (i.e. less funding spent on purchasing food, less food waste) practices? As the COO, it is a question I have thought a lot about since I started at FRN and the experience of recovering food gave me greater appreciation for the urgency of answering it. 

If I had not been there, this question would have likely never been passed back to me. In part because Chef Rick might have been half joking, in part because so often our nonprofit partners ask for what they need and are frequently told “no”. But it struck me that FRN has a unique opportunity to solve this question, at least for this particular partner, because they took the time to ask for what they needed. And I don’t want to be the kind of partner that doesn’t try.

Over the next year, we will be working with our network of 4,000 college students, dining service professionals, business owners, and alumni to understand what consistent access to food could look like for communities across the U.S. and how FRN could leverage our network in a different way to address this pressing need.

I am so glad I showed up, for both the food recovery and partnership beyond it. 

Atlanta Gleaning Pilot #1 Results: 15,000 pounds in 3 weeks

As promised in my last blog, and consistent with FRN’s commitment to transparency in our learning, I wanted to share the surprising results of our Atlanta Local Gleaning Pilot #1. As a refresher, FRN will be running three local gleaning pilots throughout the summer and fall to help us best determine, how can we move the most fresh produce, to feed the people in the most need, fastest?

Pilot #1 primarily consisted of paying local small farmers directly for the labor to glean surplus produce and transport it to Atlanta hunger-fighting partners in the areas with the most need (as determined by the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Resilience). Our hypothesis was that across the twelve weeks of summer (June-August), we could move about 10,000 pounds of food. What we found was striking.

We moved 15,000 pounds of food in three weeks. 

Here is what we learned: 

Learning #1: It takes time to find the right partners to accomplish our goal. Our outreach to local farmers began in earnest in January 2021 and we thought it would take about 2-3 months to find a farming partner. We finally found our farming partner, 5 A’s Veggies & Produce of Waynesboro, GA, in May, about double the time we anticipated. 

Learning #2: While we found many hunger-fighting nonprofits willing to take the surplus food, they were not necessarily in the areas of the highest need. Nonprofit partners we prioritized, which were located in the areas of the highest need for access to more fresh produce (according to Feeding America), were often staffed by volunteers and did not necessarily have the infrastructure (i.e. staff to receive food on an “off day”, refrigeration, ability to move the particular volume of food within a given day, etc.) to amend itself to a pilot program.

Learning #3: A community partner is essential. When we shared our challenge of finding a nonprofit partner within the areas of the greatest need with both our partners the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Resilience and EPA Southeast Office, we had three new nonprofit recipients identified within 72 hours. This would not have been possible without those closest to the community being able to contact community leaders whom FRN would otherwise not have known. 

Want to know more about our farming partner? Or our nonprofit partners on the ground in Atlanta? Check back for more in a few weeks and we will keep you posted on the results of Pilots #2 and #3.

What are we trying to accomplish in Atlanta?

As we reflected on our unique contribution to closing racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S., we prioritized expanding our model within 10 states which have both an abundance of surplus food (according to the EPA) and more than 20% of the population experiencing hunger (according to Feeding America). Within those 10 states, we sought to pilot programs, outside of our traditional chapter model, in areas which would help us learn how we could feed more people faster. That brings us to Atlanta, Georgia.

By partnering with the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Resilience and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) our students, volunteers and alumni at Georgia State University and Emory College are participating in three pilots to help us evaluate, how can we move the most fresh produce, to feed the people in the most need, fastest?

The three pilots are:

(1) paying local small farmers directly for the labor to glean surplus produce and transport it to Atlanta hunger-fighting partners in the areas with the most need (as determined by the Mayor’s Office of Resilience);

(2) training students from Georgia State University and Emory College to glean surplus food from farms and assist the farmer in finding alternative marketplaces to sell produce at a reduced cost; and

(3) students and alumni will glean from local community gardens and urban farms and donate the produce to a local community nonprofit serving community members experiencing hunger. 

These pilots will run throughout this summer and into the fall. Please be sure to check back here as we report on our progress. It is our hope that through this pilot, we can replicate the most successful strategies in other parts of the country so we can continue to ensure food is not wasted.