Food For Free began in 1981 in Cambridge, Mass. as volunteer-driven, community-based effort to address a need—too many people struggling to put food on their tables—and an opportunity—the potential of saving food going to waste. Food For Free’s Food Rescue Program serves a diverse group of more than 100 partners. The organization has added an array of initiatives to complement food rescue, including a home delivery program, a transportation partnership with local food pantries, and programs for schools and families. We worked with Food For Free over the course of 2017 on a new strategic plan to guide them in consolidating their growth and identifying how food security and antipoverty efforts can be most effective.

The process resulted in Food for Free choosing to use education systems as a point of entry to fight food insecurity in greater Boston. This approach builds on programs and partnerships that Food for Free already has in place, and it positions the organization to affect both student and family food insecurity. Food for Free will focus its program growth on education through these strategies:

• Extension of K-12 programs in Cambridge and surrounding communities: Food for Free will deepen its footprint in Cambridge K-12 schools, while researching needs and opportunities in nearby school districts to consider and prioritize for future expansion
• Pilot and expansion of programs in public colleges: Food for Free will pilot a model for addressing food insecurity for college students that can be expanded to other public colleges and universities
• Providing thought leadership on school-based hunger relief: Food for Free will position itself as an innovator and leader in addressing food insecurity through education systems.

Specifically, Food for Free will grow its School Markets and Backpack program in K-12 schools, and it will pilot and expand Family Meals distribution in public colleges and universities. Food for Free will position itself as a thought leader through developing the body of evidence for its program outcomes, building a coalition of organizations operating backpack programs, and exploring university research collaborations. Food for Free will continue to respond to address food security issues in settings outside of schools, directly and through its existing partnerships.