Catalysts for Change: Ingredients for Success · Rep. Jim McGovern on the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health
“Catalysts for Change” features one-on-one interviews with innovators, thought leaders, and policymakers on the biggest issues impacting America’s neighborhoods.
On September 28, for the first time in 50 years, the White House held a Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. This year’s conference comes as millions of families across the country struggle to access high-quality calories. In 2021 alone, 13.5 million households were food insecure, and in June of 2022, more than 24 million Americans reported they sometimes or often did not have enough to eat during the week. Why do so many families struggle with food insecurity? And, why, in the past 50 years, have we seen such a giant increase in chronic diseases like obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer?
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be speaking with food leaders of different types to understand America’s relationship with food and the resulting impact on all of us, and particularly our most vulnerable communities, in a special series called “Catalysts for Change: Ingredients for Success.”
In this first episode, Jill is joined by Representative Jim McGovern, who represents District 2 in Massachusetts and serves as Co-Chair of the House Hunger Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, to talk about the recent White House conference and the role of government in solving food access and health issues that have largely stayed the same or worsened since the first conference on food was held in 1969.
To learn more about the recent conference and the work Representative McGovern is doing, check out the links below: