ABOUT US
OC Hunger Alliance unites cross-sector leaders to transform Orange County’s food system through equitable, sustainable solutions addressing hunger and poverty.
History
Founded in 2019 by leadership from Abound Food Care, Community Action Partnership of Orange County (CAPOC), and Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, the OC Hunger Alliance (OCHA) brings together the county’s two major food banks along with key cross-sector stakeholders from healthcare, social services, and the food systems.
The Model and the Structure
This collective model collaborative is dedicated to driving systems-level change and addressing both the immediate needs of food-insecure individuals and families as well as the underlying causes of hunger in Orange County.
OCHA consists of:
- 19 cross sector nonprofit, philanthropic, public, and faith-based partners
- An Executive Committee with 8 members
- 6 Working Groups: Access, Advocacy, Data, Equity, Food Systems, Public Relations
- 6 shared pillars: Client Choice, CalFresh Participation, Enhanced Services, Coordinated Logistics, Enhanced Procurement, and Food Recovery
What We Do
Food insecurity goes beyond hunger. To create long-term impact, OCHA brings together organizations and agencies concerned with hunger to work collaboratively and ensure people don’t ever reach the moment of need. Together, we:
- Design and implement systems that will recover, repurpose, and redistribute surplus food efficiently and equitably
- Remove barriers to accessing public benefits
- Use food recovery to create opportunities for low-income and underserved communities through access to critical resources like health care and workforce development programs at the point of distribution.
Our model is optimizing food industry infrastructure and integrating it with nonprofit networks to meet the urgent needs of our communities. As we reduce food waste and loss, we’re also streamlining the rescue of nutritious food and using data to identify key intervention points to support those impacted by food insecurity. We strive to understand hunger as a symptom of poverty and provide support before there is an emergent need.
We provide scalable solutions that will generate long-term, measurable outcomes: healthier communities, reduced methane emissions, and economic resilience.
