About AFC

Who We Are

The Alaska Food Coalition - the AFC - is a statewide group of 81 non-profit, faith-based and state agencies working everyday to help feed hungry Alaskans in communities like Fairbanks, Anchorage, Kenai, Soldotna, Nome, Dillingham, Bethel, Juneau, Kodiak, and many more. Who are current AFC members around the state?

What We Do

Alaska has a hunger problem. Every day thousands of Alaskan men, women, families, and children wake up hungry and go to bed hungry. Our job is helping to make sure that does not happen. That is why the members of the AFC have joined together with the help of our partner, the state Department of Health and Social Services, to strengthen and coordinate public and private food and nutrition assistance programs in the state.

The State of Alaska's Legacy—a Gracious Helping Hand

The state has funded the AFC since its inception, $67,000 this fiscal year, which been used to:

• Build Capacity to Combat Hunger in Alaskan Communities through our Grant Program
• Develop Innovative and Effective Projects to meet Alaska's Hunger Needs
• Educate Policy Makers about Alaska's very real Hunger Problem
• Purchase Food and distribute it to Hungry Alaskans throughout the state
• Distribute Food to Hungry Communities
• Meet yearly as a group to Network and Brainstorm Solutions to Alaskan Hunger
• Discover and eliminate barriers to feeding hungry Alaskans.

Our Goals for FY 2011

With this year's funding we have set these goals:

• Continue research and create white paper on the Impact of 170e3 in rural Alaska to share with both state and federal policy makers.
• Coordinate with rural Alaska Coalition Members, Food Bank of Alaska and SOA Rural Outreach Department Staff to create an outreach plan for anti-hunger work rural Alaska communities.
• Continue advocating for state fund for school meals.  Research and distribute information on how other states deliver universal school meals to help educate our policy makers on feeding children who do not qualify for free and reduced meals and appear to not have any other options to access school meals. 
• Increase outreach for support of school meal funding to additional school board members, Alaska National Education Association, Alaska Association of School Administrators, Alaska Parent Teacher Association, Alaska School Activities Association, School Nurses Association, Early Childhood Education Advocates and other advocacy organizations.
• Distribute mini-grants to food programs throughout the state to improve their capacity to distribute to hungry Alaskans. 
• Maintain the Alaska Food coalition network through teleconferences and annual meetings.  Strengthen the coalition by coordinating with agencies on an individual basis and offering tangible services to connect them to the coalition and its goals and objectives.
• Offer organizational development opportunities to members that include but not limited to, information on how their organization can get more food to more people, raise more money, be organizationally effective and make a difference in the lives of their clients by advocating for change in the local, state and national level.
• The Food Stamp Outreach program administration, currently a Food Bank of Alaska project will move to being administered by the Alaska Food Coalition Manager. Currently, 50% of the federal funding for this program is through the Alaska Food Coalition.  This will allow for additional statewide outreach utilizing AFC members.

Find out more about the Alaska Food Coalition budget.