Ending Hunger By 2030

We envision a Maine free from hunger. That is 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.

We have defined the end of 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.

Explore our programs by reading about Ending Hunger by 2030 plan or learning about the Maine Ending Hunger Corps VISTA program.


Ending Hunger by 2030 Plan

Ending Hunger Corps VISTA

Ending Hunger by 2030 Roadmap

In 2019, Maine’s 129th Legislature and Gov. Janet T. Mills committed the State to end hunger by 2030 and charged the Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry with developing a plan to get us there. “Everyone at the Table: Maine’s Roadmap to End Hunger by 2030” is that plan. Over 28 months of work, more than 200 Maine people participated in developing the roadmap. These people included legislators, nonprofit and business leaders, educators, researchers, economists, policy experts, and concerned Maine residents. Importantly, it included Mainers with lived and living experience of hunger who bravely shared intimate portraits of hunger as it’s faced each day and who shined a bright light on the solutions that can end this ongoing yet preventable emergency. The result is a roadmap rooted in:

  • evidence-based solutions to hunger,
  • the unique nature of the problem in Maine, and
  • the priorities of Maine people.

Current levels of hunger and food insecurity—as high as 16.4% of the population in recent years—extract an enormous human toll. Each day thousands of our kids show up to school too hungry to learn, thousands of our workers are too economically insecure to thrive, and thousands of our neighbors are contending with entirely preventable ill health. This also translates into an economic toll Maine can ill afford. Today we spend or lose in excess of $1 billion annually when we treat the symptom of hunger when estimates suggest we could spend half that by eliminating hunger’s causes.

Other important documents:

LD 1159 was the 2019 legislation that created Maine’s initiative to end hunger. Ending Hunger in Maine, a.k.a. the Interim Report, did much of the original research and provided the template for Everyone at the Table. In 2021, the organization Resources for Organizing and Social Change convened a group of stakeholders with lived experience of food insecurity to provide feedback on the Interim Report. The result was Impacted Community Recommendations & Review (PDF). And 2022’s LD 174 is the current legislation seeking to advance the work of ending hunger in Maine.

Featured Link

The statewide plan to end hunger and increase access to affordable, nutritious food for all Mainers on Maine Calling - Listen to a special episode of Maine Calling about Maine’s plan to end hunger. Learn about the plan, "Everyone at the Table," why it’s important, and how to get involved; including, Maine’s Ending Hunger Corps public service opportunities.