For too long, immigrants have been excluded from food assistance programs. Now is the time to prioritize access for our immigrant neighbors.

Our vision

We envision an Oregon where all people have access to food no matter where they were born or their immigration status. In this vision, Oregon establishes a community-designed program to ensure food security that is funded by the state; and builds the pathway for Oregon to be responsive to other immigrant and refugee community needs.

We envision an Oregon, and a country, with an equitable immigration system that ensures immigration status does not perpetuate poverty and limit access to our safety net. We see a future where state-funded food assistance for immigrant Oregonians is a first step to all services being available and accessible to everyone.

To enact our vision Hunger Free Oregon is implementing a multi-year initiative focused on immigrant food access.

Read the Food Insecurity and Program Access report

Our approach

In 2022, we are focused on gathering information from the community to define the needs of affected immigrants and identify a solution that Hunger-Free Oregon can take to Oregon decision makers.

Hunger-Free Oregon is in coalition with other like-minded organizations, increasing the support and person-power to make these changes a reality. This coalition spent the first year of this campaign hosting community listening sessions, planning grassroots community organizing, developing leaders in our community, and developing legislative strategy to take our solutions to decision makers in 2023.

Campaign values

Hunger-Free Oregon, as a result of the Food for All Oregonians initiative, will:

Build deep partnerships with immigrant-led advocacy and serving organizations.
Champion immigrant and refugee community leadership, with the goal of engaging, organizing and building power together.
Co-design legislation that expands food access to immigrants, creates a framework of support for immigrant and refugee communities, and results in real, concrete improvements in immigrants’ lives.
Work with Oregon’s immigrant community to shape and evolve this initiative over time; and as a result, Oregon’s movement for immigrant justice is stronger, and ready to push for the next iteration of change that will further center BIPOC immigrant and refugee communities