Americorps VISTA
About Ending Hunger by 2030 and EHC VISTA
In 2019 Maine’s Legislature passed a bill to end hunger in the State by 2030 and tasked the Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry (DACF) with creating a plan to achieve that goal. As a result, the DACF created the Roadmap to Ending Hunger by 2030 envisioning, “a Maine where everyone has the economic resources to secure consistent, easy access to enough healthy, culturally appropriate food for an active and healthy life”.
The plan defines ending hunger as: “two consecutive years where no Mainers meet the USDA definition of experiencing very low food security, and just 4% of Mainers meet the USDA definition of experiencing low food security”.
As part of the efforts to meet that historic goal, the DACF funded the Ending Hunger Corps VISTA program to help build the capacity of organizations that were already doing critical work towards ending hunger in their communities. Through this program, members serve one-year, full-time terms working to build the organization’s scale, impact, sustainability, and resources through tasks such as fundraising, community outreach, program development, and research.
EHC VISTAs at ADCG
Pratt Olson
During Pratt's year of service she conducted outreach to local food pantries to connect community members with the services of ADCG and Foothills Foodworks. She was also a major part of increasing the use of SNAP/EBT at our farmers' market and helping our events reach even more of the community.
2021-2022 VISTA member