Terry McAuliffe Releases Food Security Plan to Ensure Virginians Have Access to Regular Nutritious Meals

“For too many Virginia families, food insecurity affects all aspects of life, including the education of our children. That’s why I made sure to include nutrition as part of my bold plan to ensure every Virginia child has access to an equitable, world-class education,” said Terry McAuliffe. “Today, I am announcing another plank of my COVID recovery plan to address food insecurity. This recovery can’t be about just getting back to where we were before. We’ve got to build a post-COVID economy in Virginia that leads the nation and lifts up all Virginians so they can grow, achieve and thrive. That starts with ensuring no Virginian goes hungry.”

As Virginia’s next governor, Terry will work tirelessly to ensure that Virginians have access to regular, nutritious meals. By working to increase participation in federal nutrition programs, Terry will get nutritious meals to thousands more children in the Commonwealth. He will increase access to local foods through a comprehensive “Virginia Food for Virginia Families” agenda that will connect some of the world’s highest quality agricultural products to more families in need in the Commonwealth. Terry will also establish an interagency Food Security Council to address these issues holistically and in a data-driven manner. By adopting and building upon the recommendations of the ‘Roadmap to End Hunger’ released this fall by Governor Northam and the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, Terry’s plan will get healthy food into the hands of people who need it while addressing the long-term equity issues that have made communities of color significantly more likely to struggle with food insecurity.

Terry’s plan builds upon the efforts he and Dorothy McAuliffe led as Virginia’s 72nd Governor and First Lady, which included serving nearly 13 million more school meals per year. As Virginia’s first lady, Dorothy McAuliffe developed a public-private partnership with the No Kid Hungry campaign and worked directly with school leadership and local community organizations to implement innovative program delivery models. As Chair of the Commonwealth Council on Bridging the Nutritional Divide, Dorothy engaged stakeholders across the Virginia food system to seek solutions to eliminate childhood hunger, develop local agriculture, and empower community efforts. She also led the charge to pass Virginia’s food crop donation tax credit and worked with the American Heart Association to launch the ‘Closer to My Grocer Campaign,’ a cross-sector coalition in support of state financing for grocery retail development in Virginia’s food deserts.

Since launching his campaign less than two weeks ago, Terry has released big, bold plans to strengthen Virginia’s education system by dramatically increasing teacher pay and addressing inequities in education, and to help secure Virginia’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and create a more equitable future. As governor, Terry will take bold and decisive action to create jobs, protect workers, invest in mental health services, and rebuild Virginia’s thriving network of small businesses, particularly Black and Brown-owned businesses.