Supervisors Act to Address Food Insecurity with Creation of Food Equity Roundtable

LOS ANGELES — The LA County Board of Supervisors Feb. 10, approved a motion authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn and co-authored by Supervisor Sheila Kuehl to address food insecurity in LA County through the creation of a Food Equity Roundtable.

Though food insecurity has been a growing problem within LA County for decades – with regular assessments conducted since 2002 showing that at least 20% of low-income households experience food insecurity in any given year – the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the scale of the problem. Now, at least 1 in 4 households in LA County struggles with food insecurity.

In June 2020, Hahn authored a motion with Kuehl to address this problem by instructing the county’s Chief Sustainability Office or CSO to bring together county, city, non-profit, and philanthropic partners to develop a plan with cross-sector coordination that would combat – and ultimately end – food insecurity in LA County.

In response to Hahn’s motion, the CSO partnered with the California Community Foundation and the Annenberg Foundation to form a working group that reviewed best practices, assessed the county’s food insecurity situation, and gathered stakeholder input to make recommendations on how best to address the issue.

The resulting report back recommended that the county establish a two-year LA County Food Equity Roundtable that includes a diverse mix of public-private stakeholders. The roundtable would be co-led by the county and its philanthropic partners, that would meet regularly to advance a mission of ending food insecurity by building capacity for LA County’s food distribution programs, promoting and strengthening access to food programs like Calfresh and Special Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children and advancing food justice overall.

Today’s motion directs the CEO’s Chief Sustainability Office to adopt the report’s recommendations and create the Food Equity Roundtable. The Roundtable will be tasked with giving semi-annual updates to the Board of Supervisors with policy recommendations, grant opportunities, and data on food needs and resources (including an examination of food inequities across the County) – all with the goal of ending food insecurity in LA County.

Hahn and Kuehl’s motion also instructs the County’s Chief Executive Office and Chief Sustainability Office to explore the willingness of the county’s philanthropic partners to provide funding to support the Roundtable’s initial two-year incubation period —  and longer if the Roundtable is recommended to continue.