MAZON Statements

August 19, 2025 – As part of its longtime and ongoing efforts to build and strengthen anti-hunger advocacy in the United States, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger today announced more than $3 million in multi-year grants to 39 anti-hunger organizations across the country.

“This is a true inflection point in the fight to end hunger, and state-based advocates are key to fighting back against the cruel and reckless attempts to shrink and weaken food assistance in this country,” said Mia Hubbard, MAZON’s Executive Vice President. “By supporting anti-hunger advocacy in key communities, we are able to expand MAZON’s reach and deepen our impact through these vital partnerships. Today’s investments reflect our confidence in these organizations’ ability to create lasting change in their communities. Our partners are on the front lines of the policy fight against hunger, and we are proud to help ensure they can maintain their critical work in this pivotal moment.”

For over 40 years, MAZON has supported anti-hunger advocacy at the federal, state, and local level, and for the last eight years, it has prioritized investments in states and territories with the highest rates of food insecurity. Today, MAZON’s partnership grants are centered around a simple theory of change: to reduce food insecurity, there must be a robust, trained, and organized group of advocates working to fight hunger and respond to the growing needs in their communities.

“MAZON’s funding for our anti-hunger work in Alabama has been critical to our continued advocacy efforts and has led to numerous successes,” said Laura Lester, Chief Executive Officer of Feeding Alabama. “The funds helped bring Summer EBT to Alabama for the first time, and secured funding for it to continue into 2026. Working collaboratively with other anti-hunger advocates, we were able to fight off negative state SNAP legislation and successfully advocated for expanded breakfast in the classroom. We have also continued to strengthen our partnerships with multiple state agencies that administer crucial nutrition programs.”

Today’s announcement follows the recent enactment of the Republican budget cuts that included the most significant and damaging restructuring of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in history. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new law will strip food assistance from at least 2.7 million people over the next decade. State and local governments will imminently be forced to absorb unprecedented program costs; some states might abandon the program altogether, potentially leaving millions more without food assistance. While advocates and policymakers alike are awaiting guidance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) about implementation of the destructive changes to SNAP and other basic needs programs, MAZON and its partners are keenly aware of more threats on the horizon.

“MAZON is an engaged and supportive partner committed to funding direct anti-hunger and anti-poverty advocacy — an all-too-rare combination in today’s funding landscape,” said Lynette Fields, Executive Director of Poverty Solutions Group. “Their support is critical in helping us build a grassroots movement that elevates the voices of those with lived experience navigating the challenges of meeting basic needs and accessing public benefits. We believe that those closest to the struggle must be part of the solution and heard by our decision-makers.”

Building on its history of seeding, supporting, and strengthening the anti-hunger advocacy movement in communities across the U.S., MAZON’s “Emerging Advocacy Fund” is an innovative grantmaking model that builds foundations for public policy change in communities with particularly high rates of food insecurity. In recent years, much of this state-based advocacy has been employing defensive tactics to protect and preserve food assistance. Now, this will likely shift to mitigating the harm of the deep and devastating cuts to SNAP and other basic needs programs.

“With the passage of H.R. 1 and Mississippi passing legislation to eliminate state income tax by 2030, the need for legal organizations to focus on advocacy and policy change surrounding public benefits and food security is tantamount,” said Charity Bruce Sweet, Director of the Economic Justice Campaign at Mississippi Center for Justice. “Our continued partnership with MAZON allows us to focus squarely on the most vulnerable Mississippians as we continue to advocate for logical, straightforward policies to fight hunger.”

MAZON also announced new and renewed partnership grants for organizations working to improve food security and food sovereignty among Indigenous communities across the U.S. as well as those addressing hunger and poverty in Israel. Additionally, MAZON’s “Quick Reaction Fund” grants are designed to enable and empower rapid-response initiatives that may emerge at a moment’s notice and require bold and urgent responses.

Current “Emerging Advocacy Fund” grantee partners are:

• Alabama Arise
• Alaska Federation of Natives
• Alaska Food Policy Council
• Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
• Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance
• Center for Rural Affairs
• Centro para la Nueva Economía 
• Children’s Action Alliance
• Espacios Abiertos
• Feeding Alabama
• Feeding Indiana’s Hungry
• Feeding Kentucky
• Florida Impact
• Florida Policy Institute
• Georgia Budget & Policy Institute
• Hawai’i Appleseed
• Hawai’i Children’s Action Network
• Hawai’i Foodbank
• Hawai’i Public Health Institute
• Hunger Free Oklahoma
• Indiana Justice Project
• Indy Hunger Network
• Instituto del Desarrollo de la Juventud
• Invest in Louisiana
• Kansas Action for Children
• Kansas Appleseed
• Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
• Latino Community Fund
• Mississippi Center for Justice
• Nebraska Appleseed
• North Carolina Budget & Tax Center
• Oklahoma Policy Institute
• OpenSky Policy Institute
• Poverty Solutions Group
• Regional Food Bank of Northeast Florida
• Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma
• Tennessee Justice Center
• Voices for Georgia’s Children
• William Morris Institute for Justice

Current Indigenous Community Partners are:

• Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative
• Makoce Agriculture Development 
• Native Agriculture Financial Services
• Native Food and Nutrition Resource Alliance

Current Israel Partners are:

• Adva Center
• ASSAF – Aid Organization for Refugees
• Association for Civil Rights in Israel
• Itach-Ma’aki – Women Lawyers for Social Justice
• Latet
• Leket Israel
• Life & Environment
• Negev Coexistence Forum
• Nevet
• Rabbis for Human Rights
• Sidreh
• Sikkuy-Aufoq
• Solidarity (Solidariut L’omanut Activism V’zhuyot Adam)
• The Israeli Forum for Sustainable Nutrition
• The Jerusalem Food Rescuers (Muslala Art Trax)
• Tzedek Centers
• The Natural Step (TNS)
• 121 Engine for Social Change

To learn more about MAZON’s central role in building and investing in anti-hunger advocacy in the U.S. and Israel, visit mazon.org/grants. 

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Inspired by Jewish values and ideals, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger is a national advocacy organization working to end hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds in the United States and Israel. For more information on MAZON, please visit mazon.org.