Hackney Food Justice Alliance
Over the last few years, hunger has been rising in Hackney. We have seen how unaffordable housing, the rising cost of living, poorly paid insecure jobs as well as national changes to the welfare system and national funding cuts have led to more of our residents living in poverty.
We need to tackle these root causes and this is why, in 2018, we made a commitment to create the first poverty reduction and inclusive economy strategies for Hackney, to work towards making the borough a place where our residents thrive.
Hackney food poverty action plan
We also need to find practical ways to tackle food poverty and the devastating impacts that hunger has on residents. That’s why we have invested in a specific action plan which will bring together residents, community organisations and council services to end food poverty in the borough.
We want Hackney to be a place where every resident enjoys a healthy, sustainable, affordable and culturally appropriate diet, and where food brings people together through growing, cooking and eating.
This action plan has been developed by Hackney Food Justice Alliance (HFJA), with support from the Council. The Alliance is a coalition of more than 40 statutory services and community and voluntary organisations across the borough.
Founded in 2018 by residents from the Hackney Food Partnership, the alliance’s membership spans faith groups, public health services, community food projects and advice providers. We build on and boost this network’s existing work to help end hunger in Hackney.
We are immensely grateful for the support of all those who contributed to the development of this plan, as well as to our funders, Food Power (a partnership between Sustain: The Alliance for Better Food and Farming and Church Action on Poverty) through a grant from the Big Lottery, whose generous support enabled this to happen.
Evidence base
Hackney Food Network
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Food Justice Alliance and Council worked in partnership to respond to the rising needs of residents to access emergency food support. The Hackney Food Network was formed as a subgroup of the Alliance to enable frontline delivery response.