Food Equity
Food equity means everyone in Hawaiʻi has access to healthy, affordable, and culturally meaningful food. It means Hawaiʻi’s farmers have access to land, just wages, and sustainable practices. Food equity demands community control over food systems so that it is the people that shape policies that affect their food sources. We work to advance food equity in Hawaiʻi through collaboration, advocacy and research. Together, we can build an inclusive food system that honors cultural values, supports fair pricing and land access, and promotes health and sustainability.
2025 Legislative Priorities
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SB43 (Dela Cruz): Beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, requires the Department of Education to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students enrolled in department schools. Appropriates funds.
HB757 (Matayoshi): Beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, requires the Department of Education to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students enrolled in department schools. Appropriates funds.
Research shows that access to nutritious meals at school significantly improves student attendance, academic performance and health. Many of Hawai‘i’s students don’t qualify for free school meals, yet their families struggle to put food on the table. This leaves a large number of students without access to the nutrition they need to succeed. UFSM fills that gap. Providing free meals to all keiki also eliminates the risk of social stigma experienced when meals are denied due to negative account balances.
Keeping struggling individuals properly fed is already considered a growing challenge, locally, even as the threat of federal funding cuts leave an uncertain future for SNAP and, consequently, food banks as well.