Voices for Georgia’s Children partnered with the Georgia Food Bank Association to engage state agencies featuring Q&A on lessons learned and next steps to addressing food access for families across the state. Over 430,000 households with children in Georgia do not know where their next meal will come from—an approximate 8% increase in food insecurity from March 2020.

State Advocacy

The Georgia General Assembly periodically reviews and renews important sales tax exemptions that enable Georgia’s food banks to distribute an additional 41 million meals each year. To make this possible, the Georgia Food Bank Association works with the General Assembly to ensure that:

• Food banks are exempt from taxes on bulk purchases of food
• Grocery stores and other retailers who donate food to the food banks are not penalized with a use tax

Federal Advocacy

We work with our national partner at Feeding America to advocate for maintaining and strengthening the federal nutrition program, which are important lifelines for children and families in Georgia and across our country when they fall on tough times.

• A child who cannot always rely on dinner at home is assured breakfast and lunch at school because of the School Nutrition Programs.
• A working mother who is struggling to make ends meet knows she can get help to feed her family through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
• American-grown food is distributed to Georgia’s food banks through the TEFAP program (The Emergency Food Assistance Program).

These programs are also an important part of the local economy. But our federal programs are only as strong as the support they receive on Capitol Hill. Learn how we protect these programs through our work with Feeding America on the Farm Bill, the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act, and Budget and Appropriations here.