Building power to end Hunger: statewide organizing network

Across Oregon, communities are coming together to end hunger at its roots. Oregon Food Bank’s statewide organizing and advocacy network is building collective power to advance the solutions we need, led by people with lived experience of hunger.

Our work brings together people from across the state with different backgrounds, but a shared belief that everyone deserves access to the food and resources we need to thrive.

Rising need and mounting challenges for Oregon families

Hunger is on the rise in Oregon, with visits to the Oregon Food Bank network increasing more than 50% in the last two years. Harmful federal policies make it even harder for families to put food on the table. In 2025, Congress passed H.R. 1, which included the biggest cuts to SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) in history, impacting hundreds of thousands of Oregonians and increasing demand on food banks across the state.

“We're in a state where food is abundant, but we are now in situations where folks are going to food pantries and having to be turned away,” said Moira Bowman, Oregon Food Bank’s director of Organizing and Advocacy.

Everyone should have access to food, no matter where we live or where we were born. But immigrants and refugees in Oregon experience disproportionate rates of poverty and hunger because of discriminatory policies and exclusion from food assistance and other vital resources.

“Right now, there's a lot of fear in folks who look like me,” said Cristina. “And the fear is coming from this administration's demonizing attacks on immigrant communities. You see it in some of my favorite restaurants, where it's been quiet because of the fear of folks leaving their homes and being exposed to being taken away from their families. I'm in a place where I am just trying to keep my family safe.”

Together, our communities are showing up to take care of each other and advocate for policies and systems that ensure everyone can live free from fear and free from hunger.

Recent policy wins for food and immigrant justice

With the support of Rooted + Rising, our $80 million campaign to create a future free from hunger, Oregon Food Bank has expanded our organizing network to equip thousands of everyday people to take action together and advocate for solutions to hunger. Our community organizers bring together communities across the state, bridging rural and urban communities and removing barriers to participation for people experiencing hunger and its root causes. We have five regional leadership squads building power from Ontario to Tillamook, and we’re adding two more in central and southwest Oregon communities this year.

Our community-led state coalition for food justice and immigrant justice is called Food for All Oregonians. “A lot of the work that we've been doing around Food for All Oregonians and ensuring that everybody has access to food regardless of where they are born has given the opportunity to talk to a lot of folks around the state,” said Evelyn, Oregon Food Bank bilingual statewide organizing manager. “Some of the areas I focus on are Tillamook, the Gorge, Ontario, Southern Oregon, Medford and Eugene. It takes really intentional conversations and ensuring that folks who are impacted are at the forefront of the plans that we are building."

Through our year-round engagement strategies, we’re shortening the distance between communities experiencing hunger and decision-makers in Salem. We organize meetings with community members and legislators in their local districts - and bring hundreds of community members across the state to Salem each year.

Thousands of people respond to our calls to action every year to contact lawmakers, including 1,100 people during the 2026 short session alone. We share resources with smaller organizations so they can bring their expertise and community members to the decision-making process, too.

Here are just a few examples of the policy wins this work has helped make possible:

• Putting cash in the pockets of low-income Oregonians

  • Increased the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit by 5 percentage points. For a family of three earning $25,000/year, that’s an extra $340 (2026)

  • Secured participation in the federal Summer EBT program, benefiting 294,000 children and families with an extra $40 per month for groceries during the summer months (2024)

• Supporting immigrant communities excluded from the safety net

  • $2 million for direct financial assistance for refugees, asylees and humanitarian immigrants who lost SNAP benefits due to H.R. 1 (2026)

  • Policies in the Immigrant Justice Package that support children whose parents have been detained, keep Oregon families together, protect hospital patients, ensure parents know when ICE is on school grounds, and more (2026)

We’re thankful to all our partners and community leaders who advocated for these victories and more. With a strong statewide base, we will continue advancing the solutions our communities need until all Oregonians have the food we need to thrive.

A vision for a future free from hunger

“I imagine a future where all of our communities are at the table,” said Cristina. “I imagine a future where we have a true multi-racial democracy that works for all people. I imagine a future in which no person goes hungry because we've addressed the issues that drive hunger.”

It takes all of us to make this vision a reality.

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