Speaker Craig Coughlin (second from right) at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Photo Credit: Office of the 19th Legislative District

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19th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT/WASHINGTON D.C. – Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-19th Dist.), who has made hunger one of his signature issues in the state Legislature, is leading a New Jersey delegation to the White House  on Sept. 28, for the Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health.

“Over the last five years, knowing that it is our moral obligation to tackle hunger, I’ve worked to make food security one of our top legislative priorities in New Jersey,” said Coughlin. “As a result, our state has been able to develop a comprehensive policy approach.”

Carlos Rodriguez, the president and CEO of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, and Mark Dinglasan, who heads the state’s Office of the Food Security Advocate, are joining Coughlin in D.C.

State lawmakers have adopted more than 30 anti-hunger bills since 2018. This year, the state tripled its appropriation to address food security issues to $85 million.

“From boosting funding to creating the nation’s first ever Food Security Advocate and strategically improving the reach and impact of critical safety net programs like SNAP and school meals, we have become a model,” the Assembly Speaker said.

“[I’m looking] forward to the opportunity to highlight these achievements in my conversations at the conference and, likewise, to come back with more ideas and a framework that can inform us as we move forward in this fight,” he added.

It’s been more than 50 years since the first and only White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health was held in 1969. That pivotal event helped galvanize actions that included the creation of life changing programs like school lunches, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and changes to how we label foods.

The 2022 White House Conference catalyzes the public and private sectors around a coordinated strategy to accelerate progress and drive transformative change in the U.S. to end hunger, improve nutrition and physical activity, and close the disparities surrounding them.

Members of Congress from across the political spectrum have called for convening a White House Conference, including U.S. Representatives James P. McGovern and the late Jackie Walorski and U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Mike Braun.