What We Learned at the 2026 Anti-Hunger Summit

Earlier this month, the Flagstaff Family Food Center hosted our third annual Northern Arizona Anti-Hunger Summit at Grace Church. Each year we bring together the people who work on hunger day in and day out – food bank employees, farmers, dietitians, health care providers, faith leaders, and decision-makers.

The summit has grown each year since 2024. That first summit led to the Northern Arizona Hunger Action Partnership, a coalition working together to address food insecurity, inspire action, and enhance community resiliency across northern Arizona through collective partnership. (If you want to keep up on the work of NAHAP, sign up for their newsletter HERE.)

Our keynote speaker, Rev. Eugene Cho, former CEO of Bread for the World, began by thanking the room.

“This is sacred work,” he said. Then he named some hard truths: the world grows enough food, and generous people respond to hunger, but that doesn’t change the conditions that create it. “We need the meal,” he said, “and we need to ask why the person needs the meal.”

For Rev. Cho, what ties food systems and anti-hunger efforts together is love. He noted that he wasn’t trying to be sentimental, and he described what that looks like in practice.

Love sees the whole person, he said, not just the need in front of us. It makes room at the table and refuses to sort people into “deserving” and “undeserving”. It pursues dignity, which means working with people instead of just for them. It builds relationships, because “love requires proximity,” and we can’t care about neighbors we never actually know. And love speaks up, because the people with the most resources have the easiest access to the rooms where decisions are made.

He closed with a charge I’m still thinking about: “Don’t underestimate the power of people who refuse to accept hunger as inevitable.”

Our panel brought insights from two experts in food and nutrition policy. Dr. Jessica Knurick, a nationally known nutrition scientist, researcher, and educator. Dr. Jessie Gruner, a respected leader in food systems and public health who has helped shape food policy and prevention efforts across Arizona through her work with Pinnacle Prevention.

Much of the panel discussion focused on HR1, the federal budget law passed last year that is making sweeping cuts to food assistance and other safety net programs.

Dr. Gruner described HR1 in terms of natural disasters – the law itself was an earthquake and the sharp drop in Arizona’s SNAP enrollment was the tsunami that followed. And those initial shockwaves ripple far beyond the families who lose benefits, she and Dr. Knurick noted.

Free or reduced meal eligibility in schools is closely tied to SNAP, so when kids fall off SNAP, school districts feel it. Fewer SNAP dollars also means decreased use of programs like Double Up Food Bucks (which doubles the value of SNAP benefits if they are used to purchase Arizona-grown fruits, vegetables, dried beans, and edible plants). This hurts small farmers and local retailers.

The situation is likely to get worse in the new year, with tens of thousands of people anticipated to drop off the Arizona Medicaid rolls as new work requirements and twice-a-year eligibility renewals go into effect. “If they’re having to spend more on health care, they have less available for food,” Dr. Knurick said. “That’s another policy to keep an eye on.”

Both panelists pushed back on the idea that a smaller SNAP caseload means less hunger.

Food banks are being flooded, Dr. Knurick noted, and she urged those in the room to sound the alarm. She stated that food banks “cannot overcome the incredible program that SNAP is for food security in this country.”

The panelists’ advice was to start local: food action plans, food security screenings in health care settings, small policy changes. This just the type of work we are trying to do together through the Northern Arizona Hunger Action Partnership.

Meanwhile, Rev. Cho offered advice for those who might be feeling discouraged or just tired as we work to bring more food security to northern Arizona. Take time to pause and acknowledge the small wins, and remind yourself you aren’t doing this alone.

Looking around the room, he said, he saw food banks, churches, nonprofits, public servants, health advocates, community organizers, and people who understood policy.

“Don’t underestimate what is in this room,” he said, “Don’t underestimate northern Arizona. Don’t underestimate local relationships, the power of relationships. Don’t underestimate collective action.”

For our three small bites, we wanted to give you a deeper dive into the work of our three Anti-Hunger Summit presenters.

1. Rev. Eugene Cho’s is the founder of One Day’s Wages, which works to alleviate extreme poverty worldwide by supporting local nonprofits. Learn more about it here.

2. Dr. Jessica Knurick is known for her clear, evidence-based communication to help people navigate nutrition information. Check out her website and hop on over to one of her social media channels to get her hot takes on nutrition, food myths, and US health care policy.

3. Dr. Jessie Gruner is the Director of Policy and Community Innovation at Pinnacle Prevention, whose mission is to cultivate a just food system through policy, planning and programs. Check out their website HERE.