Hunger Free Colorado entered 2024 with a seemingly straightforward legislative agenda. Then, the session quickly transformed into an urgent call to action to support Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA) when we learned the program was facing a budget shortfall. The funding gap affects program components that were set to go into effect in the 2024-25 school year, including funding and technical assistance grants for schools to purchase and prepare local food and wage increases for food service professionals.
News of the shortfall ignited advocates throughout the state, prompting Hunger Free Colorado to quickly mobilize and strategize next steps. Recently, our organizing and policy teams have been collaborating with organizational partners and community members to execute small lobby days at the state capitol. These lobbying efforts serve as an opportunity for constituents to connect with legislators to explain how HSMA has positively impacted their lives and communities and to demonstrate how every facet of the program is necessary in creating more sustainable and equitable food systems.
But quickly mobilizing advocates from across the state to engage in effective face-to-face conversations with representatives is no easy task. The small but mighty organizing team, consisting of Erika Cervantes and Nicholas Marquez, employs a transformative organizing approach that centers community needs and prioritizes adaptability to meet community members where they are at—from all physical, cultural, and communal standpoints.
Access to governmental spaces, such as the state capitol, have been historically inaccessible for many due to transportation, information, and language barriers, and on top of that, the intimidating bureaucratic atmosphere and procedures can be deterring. Cervantes and Marquez refuse to let these obstacles keep constituents from executing their democratic right to speak with their elected officials. In practice, this has involved scheduling lobby days at accommodating times, confirming access to transportation, distributing comprehensive toolkits, guiding individuals on how to engage in effective communication when given limited time with legislators, and guaranteeing that interpreters and interpretation devices are readily available for those who do not speak English as their primary language.
The importance of interpreters and interpretation devices cannot be understated given that a majority of the advocates at HSMA lobby days are Spanish speaking. A
s an organization committed to language justice, Hunger Free Colorado is dedicated to ensuring that language barriers do not obstruct interactions between constituents and representatives and that everyone can speak from the language of their heart. Cervantes says that this, along with other accommodation practices, has allowed representatives to hear from constituents that might otherwise be scared to speak out of fear they might not be truly heard or understood.
In fact, the necessary adaptability to varying individual and community circumstances and needs is mirrored throughout the HSMA program itself and remains one of its most championed features. While the program upholds the universal principle that all children eat for free, decisions around implementation, local procurement of healthy foods, meal choices, and scratch-cooking vary significantly across districts. Subsequently, the impact of funding shortfalls can also differ considerably. This further highlights the value of engaging a diverse array of constituents to demonstrate to legislators the extent of the program’s layers and depth, as well as the scope of benefits that come with fully funding the program.
Working alongside groups such as the Safe and Abundant Nutrition Alliance (SANA), Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition (CSPC), and Edgewater School Meals Parent Committee, Hunger Free Colorado has conducted two lobby days and engaged numerous representatives in brief, informative conversations. Each discussion culminates with a pivotal, direct question: “Can we count on your support?” and yes, Cervantes and Marquez are keeping count.