other actions nutrition professionals can take related to food insecurity and hunger

• Continue to learn about food insecurity and its consequences on individuals, households and communities, and communicate this information to other professionals, legislators, policy makers, and community members to increase awareness about food insecurity and its effects on health and well-being.
• Develop a database and/or website of food and nutrition assistance organizations for providing information related to community food security assistance programs, food assistance client referrals, client history, food donation, and nutrition education may be useful.
• Develop innovative programs that provide nutrition education and build skills in order to improve the food security of individuals, households, and communities, including programs highlighting the benefits of local, seasonal, and sustainably-grown foods, focusing on the development of effective household management strategies and food preparation, and creating food-based projects that foster economic development.
• Conduct or collaborate on food insecurity and hunger-related research, including projects that map community processes, document the nutritional value of emergency foods, investigate the causes of food insecurity and its effects on health, nutritional status and wellbeing of special, at-risk population groups, and the impact of food system issues, such as seasonal variation in food availability, on food insecurity in the community.
• Participate in evaluating innovative, community-based programs designed to address food insecurity.
• Support legislative and regulatory processes that promote uniform, adequately funded food and nutrition assistance programs, nutrition education, and programs that support the economic self-sufficiency of individuals and families.
• Serve as advocates for the nutritionally vulnerable and those groups at increased risk for food insecurity.
• Assist in efforts to improve food access and acquisition by individuals and reduce edible food loss through food recovery and gleaning.
• Partner with local and state antihunger advocacy organizations.
• Serve on a local food policy council, which examines local food systems and provides recommendations for social and public policy changes.

Reproduced with permission: Position of the American Dietetic Association: Food Insecurity and Hunger in the United States. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2006; 106(3): 446-458. The entire position paper can be found at: http://www.eatright.org/About/Content.aspx?id=8361.

Activities specific to Washington State include:

• Consider participating in professional organizations that focus on food security issues (e.g., Washington State Food and Nutrition Council, the Children’s Alliance)
• Consult and/or refer to WithinReach – Family Food Hotline. Learn about nutrition/food resources in your community
• Explore community programs that support food, nutrition and cooking education for low income families (e.g., WIC, Snap ED (both Cooperative Extension and Health Department/Tribal-based programs), EFNEP, Farmer’s Market collaborative programs)
• Consider joining the ADA Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Practice Group