On December 8, 2021, the Center for Public Justice hosted a webinar featuring Jeremy Everett, founder and executive director of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, and 2021 Hatfield Prize Recipients Seth Billingsley and Daniel Bennett Ph.D. (John Brown University) for a conversation on the impact COVID-19 has had on food insecurity and what the path forward looks like as we continue working to end hunger in the U.S.
In this webinar, the panel discussed current models, from Baylor Collaborative’s Meals-To-You program to federal legislation like SNAP, and emphasized a need for partnerships between civil society institutions and support from the federal government to ultimately improve food security for millions of people in the U.S.
Highlights
35 million people experienced food insecurity in 2019, and the number of families experiencing food insecurity doubled since the pandemic.
The panel identified several reasons for this stark increase in food insecurity: the close relationship between poverty and food insecurity, the lack of preventative support that would help families before they experience food insecurity, income volatility, and the impacts of structural racism.
Jeremy Everett explained that “the only way we can end hunger is through collaboration.” The panel discussed the importance and effectiveness of collaboration between faith and community organizations, private businesses, and government in ending food insecurity in the U.S.
Learn More About the Speakers
Jeremy Everett is the founder and executive director of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty. The Collaborative integrates research and practice through projects such as: the Texas Hunger Initiative, the Research Fellows program, the Global Hunger and Migration project, and the Hunger Data Lab among others.
Prior to launching the Collaborative, in 2009 Everett founded and served as the executive director of the Texas Hunger Initiative (THI), a capacity-building, anti-hunger project within Baylor University. THI partners with federal and state agencies, and numerous faith- and community-based organizations to develop and implement strategies to alleviate hunger through research, policy analysis, education, and community organizing.
Jeremy earned a bachelor’s degree from Samford University and a Master of Divinity from Baylor University. Jeremy is a Next Generation Fellow of the University of Texas LBJ School’s Strauss Center for International Security and Law, a Senior Fellow with World Hunger Relief, Inc., and was appointed by U.S. Congress to serve on the National Commission on Hunger.
Jeremy is the author of I Was Hungry: Cultivating Common Ground to End an American Crisis, a contributing author in Food and Poverty: Food Insecurity and Food Sovereignty Among America’s Poor (Vanderbilt University Press) and The End of Hunger: How Science, Religion, and Politics Can Work Together to Make Possible (InterVarsity Press).
Jeremy is married to Amy Miley Everett. They have three sons: Lucas, Sam, and Wyatt.
Seth Billingsley graduated from John Brown University in 2021 with a Bachelor’s of Business Administration in international business and a Bachelor’s of Arts in political science. He completed his research for The Hatfield Prize during his senior year. Seth served as the Co-Chair of his university’s American Enterprise Institute Executive Council as well as the Chair for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute student board at his school. Billingsley’s undergraduate research and experiences centered on a variety of topics including education policy, macroeconomics, and the intersection of faith and politics. He now works as Environment Texas’ Conservation Associate in Austin, Texas. Seth is passionate about climate change and has worked for over a decade to rehabilitate injured and orphaned birds of prey.
Daniel Bennett, Ph.D., is an associate professor of political science at John Brown University, where he teaches American politics, constitutional law, political behavior, research methods, and more. His research generally focuses on the intersection of politics, law, and religion in the United States; his current research examines the politicization of religious freedom and the influence of group attitudes on support for constitutional protections. In addition to his academic publications he has written for popular outlets like Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, and Religion and Politics. He also serves as assistant director at the Center for Faith and Flourishing, and has served as both president and vice-president for Christians in Political Science. He and his wife live in Siloam Springs, AR with their three children.
Moderated by Katie Thompson, the Program Director and Editor of Shared Justice, the Center for Public Justice's initiative for twenty and thirty somethings who are passionate about exploring the intersection of faith, justice, and politics. In 2015 Thompson co-authored Unleashing Opportunity: Why Escaping Poverty Requires a Shared Vision of Justice with Michael Gerson and Stephanie Summers. She also serves on behalf of CPJ as a steering committee member of Faith for Just Lending, a coalition dedicated to ending predatory payday lending.
Thompson graduated from Gordon College with a degree in communication arts and a minor in political science. She is currently pursuing a Master’s of Public Policy at George Washington University. Originally from New Jersey, she now lives in Washington, DC.
Address Food Insecurity in Your Community
Inspired by what you’ve watched? Consider starting a Political Discipleship group to address food insecurity in your community. The Center for Public Justice’s Political Discipleship is a guide for active Christian citizenship, designed to empower people with skills and tools to shape policy and address inequality and injustice in their communities. To learn more about starting a group, visit our website or contact katie.thompson@cpjustice.org.
The Hatfield Prize is made possible through the generosity of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. We thank them for their support, but acknowledge that the findings and conclusions presented in these reports are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of these foundations.