Bread for the World

Public Education: 2020 Offering of Letters: Bread for the World's 2020 Offering of Letters: Better Nutrition, Better Tomorrow campaign was launched February 2020 with both a global and domestic legislative ask for global nutrition in 2020. The campaign equipped Bread members and the public to urge their members of Congress to 1) increase funding for the summer electronic benefit transfer (EBT) program to a total of $50 million, which would expand access for more children to nutritious food during the summer months and 2) pass binding legislation that (To be continued in Schedule O)Public Education: strengthens U.S. leadership on global nutrition and increase funding for global nutrition programs. During Hispanic Heritage Month, Bread for the World launched "Finding Hope, Ending Hunger on Both Sides of the Border: A Bilingual Latino Devotional". It was written by and for Latinos/as and seeks to inspire and empower individuals and churches to address the structural causes and negative consequences of hunger and poverty through faith and advocacy.

Public Policy: Bread for the World's work in recent years has been focused on the goal of helping to make hunger and poverty a higher U.S. priority - toward the long-term goal of ending hunger by 2030. Secured Broad Bipartisan Support for Global Nutrition. After two years of persistent advocacy, Bread for the World members helped secured broad bipartisan support for U.S. leadership to end maternal and (To be continued in Schedule O)Public Policy: child malnutrition. Beginning in 2019, Bread for the World drafted two Global Nutrition resolutions (H.Res.189 and S.Res.260) with congressional leaders. The resolutions recognize the importance of continued U.S. leadership in improving global maternal and child nutrition. The resolutions were introduced in the House and Senate in March and June of 2019, respectively. Bread members participated in 586 lobby visits with 356 members of Congress and sent 83,384 letters to their legislators on the issue. These efforts resulted in Bread for the World members and partners recruiting a total of 195 members of Congress from both parties as cosponsors for the resolutions. In a clear signal of bipartisan support, The Senate Global Nutrition Resolution (S.Res.260) was approved unanimously by the full Senate in January 2020 and passed with 41 cosponsors. And in December 2020 after continued urging by Bread of the World members, the House Global Nutrition Resolution (H.Res.189) passed with 154 cosponsors. The passage of these resolutions commits our nation to lead the fight against global maternal and child malnutrition. Expanded and Extended Availability of School Meals Replacement. When schools were shuttered because of the pandemic, the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer Program (P-EBT) helped provide food to an estimated 30 million U.S. children. Congress passed the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Program (P-EBT) as part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The program provided food benefits to eligible school-aged children from March through September 2020. As schools continues to remain closed into the fall, Bread for the World members urged members of Congress to extend this program to make sure children who were missing school breakfasts and lunches because of school closures would not go hungry. In September 2020, Congress extended the Pandemic-EBT through September 30, 2021. Bread members played a unique leadership role in a critical moment to ensure the extension and its expansion to Puerto Rico.Ensured Hunger was Addressed in COVID-19 Relief Bills. In March 2020, Bread for the World joined coalition efforts to urge Congress to pass sweeping pandemic response legislation. The CARES Act gave immediate cash assistance to low- and middle-income households and expanded unemployment insurance. The bill also boosted funding for global disease detection and prevention and humanitarian aid. In April and May 2020, Bread members were successful in their advocacy for key priorities in the House of Representatives' HEROES ACT, which included a 15 percent increase in Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and $10 billion in emergency supplemental resources to ensure the U.S. continues to lead global response. Bread and its coalition partners worked hard on the Senate side to encourage them to take up the HEROES ACT and include international assistance funding in a final package. Bread worked in coalition to get 13 Republican and 13 Democratic Senators to sign a letter supporting robust funding for international assistance and secured commitments from a large bipartisan group to support our domestic priorities. Unfortunately, the Senate did not pass a comprehensive COVID-19 response package. In the final weeks of December 2020, Bread for the World and its coalition partners were successful in urging Congress to increase SNAP benefits by 15 percent through June 2021 in the FY 2021 Omnibus Appropriations package and COVID-19 relief bill. This increase resulted in an estimated $27 more in SNAP benefits per person, per month. Forty percent of the increase will go to households with income below 50 percent of the federal poverty level and nearly two-thirds to households with children.Helped Provide Immediate Access to SNAP for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals in California. Bread for the World members and state partners in California advocated for Assembly Bill 3073, which allows eligible individuals in California to pre-enroll in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) while still incarcerated so they can immediately access food assistance for themselves and their families upon their release.

Outreach and Advocacy: Grassroots Organizing. Bread for the World staff adopted new methods to work during COVID-19. They began with one-on-one outreach to our 225 core leaders. Bread also held a national webinar about COVID-19 that reached more than 500 people and regional group check-in spaces that reached 125 more. These less-formal sessions welcomed new members, provided a space for advocates to touch base with other, and encouraged advocacy as a pastoral response during crisis. (To be continued in Schedule O)Outreach and Advocacy: In February, more than 350 people attended our webinars (5 regional and 5 state-based in Indiana, California, Ohio, North Carolina, and Florida) to launch the 2020 Offering of Letters. In the third quarter we held regional webinars in all six of our target states and regions. Four hundred and twenty-five people registered. Each webinar builds on the previous one and moves beyond information-sharing to laying the groundwork for a regional advocacy community.2020 Virtual Advocacy Summit. More than 575 people participated in the two-day virtual events. 1,500 people responded to our action emails sending more than 4,500 online letters to Congress urging them to support a COVID-19 recovery package that provides significant relief for struggling U.S. families and individuals, including boosting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) maximum benefits by 15 percent.Pan African Young Adult Network leaders hosted a webinar series over the summer to discuss elections and the census, reimagining the criminal justice system, and food and water justice in Pan African communities. More than 100 women from around the globe gathered virtually on November 19-20 for the Sankofa: Pan African Women of Faith Advocacy Conference Retreat. Participants were urged to empower one another through stories, advocate in a time of great need, and envision a more equitable future. Elections. Bread for the World and its Circle of Protection partners secured eight presidential candidate video statements about what they would do, if elected, to address hunger and poverty. Bread's digital outreach connected 750,000 people to the videos. Due to the efforts of many anti-hunger and anti-poverty organizations, as well as the swelling crisis brought on by the pandemic, a question about poverty was asked in the final presidential debate.