Solutions Blog

Historic legislative wins for Partner to End Hunger

Winter time, State Capital Building, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

The state legislative session was a huge success for our Partners to End Hunger priorities!  

We had 2 bills that were “fast tracked” and passed in March. First, Hunger Solutions worked with legislators to successfully pass a bill to provide $5 million in emergency funding to food shelves across the state. The bill passed unanimously in the House and on a 60-7 vote in the Senate.  This funding comes at a vital time for food shelves. Food shelf visits increased by more than 2 million visits from 2021 to 2022, causing strain on food shelves statewide when food prices were at an all-time high. 

In partnership with the Hunger Free Schools coalition, we also passed universal school meals in March. This was a huge and historic win for all involved and over a decade in the making. Minnesota became the fourth state in the country to pass free school meals for all, with many more states working to do the same.  Starting this fall, all schools participating in the National School Lunch Program (the vast majority of public and private schools) will provide breakfast and lunch to all children at no cost to them—meaning no more stigma or students going hunger in Minnesota schools.   

By the end of the session in May, we were able to secure several more priorities: 

  • Funding to ensure food security for Minnesotans in need including: 
    • $3 million per year increase in funding for the Minnesota Food Shelf Program 
    • $7 million in one-time capital grants to expand and improve food shelf facilities 
    • $2 million per year in funding to support tribal food sovereignty 
    • $500,000 per year in base funding for SNAP Outreach 
  • Increased funding for the Market Bucks program to $500,000 per year and expanded eligibility to direct-farmer sales and CSAs.  
  • Several investments in local food access/ agriculture including: 
    • $300K for the LEAFF Program 
    • $1M per year for the Good Food Access Program  
    • $1M per year for Farm to School  
    • $1.95 per year for Farm to Food Shelf 
    • $2M per year for Urban Agriculture 
  • $540K per year for Metro Meals on Wheels to provide home-delivered meals to veterans  
  • $2.6M in capital investments for Keystone Community Services and $2.5M for SACA food shelf 
  • Passed a nation-leading Minnesota Child Tax Credit 

Hunger Solutions is grateful to all of our advocacy partners for helping us secure these historic investments to make sure everyone is able to put food on the table!

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