[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 111 (Tuesday, July 11, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1410]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


             INTRODUCTION OF THE COMMUNITY FOOD SECURITY ACT

                                 ______


                           HON. E de la GARZA

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 11, 1995
  Mr. de la GARZA. Mr. Speaker, I am today with many of my colleagues 
introducing the Community Food Security Act of 1995. This bill will 
give the Secretary of Agriculture the authority to award one-time 
grants to organizations developing innovative community-based projects 
to address both food access and economic development issues in local 
communities. At a time when Federal nutrition resources are being 
stretched to the breaking point, local long term solutions to hunger 
concerns must be encouraged. Projects that address hunger needs while 
also providing job training and economic development at the local level 
deserve our enthusiastic support.
  Efforts to deal with hunger in the United States have for the most 
part relied on a combination of Government food and nutrition programs 
such as food stamps, WIC, meals for the elderly, and privately funded 
charitable feeding programs such as food pantries and soup kitchens. 
Although these programs have gone a long way to reduce hunger and 
malnutrition in this country, there is still a need to provide 
innovative ways to address the overall availability of low-cost, 
nutritious food in low-income communities. There is a little direct 
relationship between food assistance and nutrition programs, and local 
farmers. Traditional nutrition programs have not provided opportunities 
for recipients to participate in the process of providing at least some 
of their food, nor have they offered economic opportunities or job 
training that could assist at least some recipients to move beyond the 
economic conditions that necessitate reliance on food assistance 
programs. There is a need to develop innovative approaches to providing 
food to low-income families, particularly approaches that foster local 
solutions and that deliver multiple benefits to communities.
  The concept of community food security is a comprehensive strategy to 
feeding hungry people, one that incorporates the participation of the 
community and encourages a greater role for the entire food system, 
including local agriculture. This strategy can result in many benefits 
to a low-income community while providing food for poor families. An 
example is a food bank that sponsors a farm wherein hundreds of 
households purchase shares that provide them with fresh farm products; 
the farm also supplies fresh produce to hundreds of pantries and meals 
programs that feed hungry families. Another example would be a homeless 
shelter that provides culinary skills training to clients and works 
with social service agencies to find them regular employment in the 
food industry. In a recent subcommittee hearing we learned of a 
nonprofit group, the America the Beautiful Fund, that distributes seeds 
donated by seed companies to projects in all 50 States; these seeds 
have produced tons of food for low-income families. These worthy 
projects should be encouraged, and can be replicated with the help of 
the grants this bill will provide.
  The Community Food Security Act authorizes the Secretary of 
Agriculture to make grants to organizations to establish community food 
security projects. The bill requires that each organization receiving 
such a grant provide at least a 50-percent match. The term of the grant 
may be for no more than 3 years. These requirements are to ensure 
strong community support for each project, so that when the Federal 
grant terminates the project will continue.Preference will be given to 
projects designed to develop linkages between two or more sectors of 
the food system; to support the development of entrepreneurial 
solutions to local food problems; to develop innovative linkages 
between the for-profit and nonprofit food sectors; or to encourage 
long-term planning activities and multi-system interagency approaches.
  I am hopeful that this legislation can be made a part of the 
nutrition title of the 1995 farm bill, and I am especially pleased that 
Mr. Emerson, chairman of the Subcommittee on Department Operations, 
Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture is cosponsoring this legislation with 
me.



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