Giving Compass' Take:

• The Houston Food Bank provides food scholarships through its Food for Change program that helps clients through nonprofit partnerships that offer other supportive services. 

• How does food insecurity create or exacerbate other needs for families? 

• Learn about other types of food scholarships that help students in need. 

Six years ago, while planning future programs, Brian Greene, the president and CEO of the Houston Food Bank, looked at the 10-year food insecurity rate in the area and noticed something: it hadn’t lowered, despite years of increased food distribution.

This falls in line with what we know about household food insecurity: its causes are far more complex than access to food and can include housing costs, employment status, earnings, financial health, and household composition, among other factors.

As the charitable food sector (which includes food pantries and free meal programs) has evolved, more food banks are integrating supportive services with food programs to better meet families’ needs and support their efforts to build self-sufficiency.

The Houston Food Bank’s Food for Change program is reflective of these efforts. Food for Change provides “food scholarships” to clients in partner programs to alleviate the budget stress and trade-offs families typically make when they invest in their future.

Food banks have chosen to partner with nonprofits with expertise in each of these areas to provide a suite of services to the families they serve. With limited funding, increasing donor demands, and increasingly difficult issues to tackle, meaningful partnerships help nonprofits reach more people and connect them to programs that meet a broader swath of their needs.

Food for Change would not be possible without partner agencies to implement education, employment, housing, and financial well-being programs. Nicole Lander, the chief impact officer at the Houston Food Bank, says the food bank leans on its partners to inform program metrics and collaborate on data collection efforts to understand program impacts.

Read the full article about food scholarships by Kassandra Martinchek at Urban Institute.