Santa Clara University

Even in wealthy Santa Clara County, the number of hungry people is growing, with the problem becoming more widespread. How can Silicon Valley’s community partners take action to connect new and existing hungry families with nutritious food where they live, learn, work, and play? The stakes are high for our community, particularly with reauthorization of the Farm Bill.

These issues will be addressed at the fifth annual Santa Clara County Hunger Forum titled “It’s Complicated: Hunger in Our Community,” on Friday, September 28, on the Santa Clara University campus.

The Hunger Forum is organized by Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties and sponsored by Santa Clara University’s Food and Agribusiness Institute and Leavey School of Business. At the event, the dean of Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business, S. Andrew Starbird, will update the Hunger Index, which measures the gap between the need for food and the ability of government agencies and food-assistance organizations to provide it.

Other event speakers include:

*Keynote speaker Judi Larsen, program manager at the California Endowment, will talk about exciting changes that are happening with school-based feeding programs.

*Second Harvest Food Bank CEO Kathy Jackson will speak about the Food Bank’s recent expansion and new business model.

*USDA Western Regional Director Dennis Stewart will focus on ways to optimize federal nutrition programs.

*Santa Clara County Social Services Agency DEBS Director Jan Picolorich will share new technology innovations that are connecting people to CalFresh and other services.

*The Health Trust CEO Frederick Ferrer will talk about partnerships that have been forged to address the growing food needs of vulnerable populations.

*Dannielle Campos, senior vice president and national philanthropy program manager for the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, will focus on the Corporate Coalition to End Hunger.

*Sunnyvale Community Services Executive Director Marie Bernard will discuss ways her agency is increasing access to nutritious food for their clients.

*Santa Clara University students Courtney Robinson, Lisa McMonagle, and Mahbod Parvar will present findings from their Cost of a Healthy Meal study.

*Cindy McCown, senior director of Programs and Services at Second Harvest Food Bank, will talk about opportunities for taking action.



Media Contacts:
Deborah Lohse | SCU Media Relations | dlohse@scu.edu | 408-768-6898 cell
Caitlin Kerk | Second Harvest Food Bank | ckerk@shfb.org | 408-858-9208 cell