The Boston Foundation, together with Project Bread and Children’s HealthWatch, is pleased to join Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley for an exploration of pre-existing racial and ethnic inequities in food access, now dramatically exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion will include data from before and during the pandemic, with a focus on opportunities to achieve equity in food access as part of recovery for all.

Research commissioned by Project Bread in 2019 with funds from the organization’s 50th Walk for Hunger and additional funding from the Boston Foundation, and conducted by Children's HealthWatch in partnership with the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, highlights the role of systemic barriers, institutional racism, and discrimination as factors in the disproportionate rate of food insecurity experienced by Latinx people in East Boston, despite clear strengths evident in the community.

Boston Indicators has partnered with the organizations responsible for research to produce a follow-on research brief which analyzes how these longstanding food insecurity challenges have been compounded during the current pandemic.

Welcome
Paul S. Grogan, President & CEO, The Boston Foundation

Opening Remarks
Ayanna Pressley, Congresswoman, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Research Presentations
The State of Hunger
Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, MPH, Executive Director, Children's HealthWatch
Ana Poblacion, PhD, MS, Research Scientist, Children's HealthWatch

Food Insecurity Since the Pandemic
Trevor Mattos, Research Manager, Boston Indicators

Summary Overview
Erin McAleer, MSW, President, Project Bread

Discussion and Q&A
Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, MPH, Executive Director, Children's HealthWatch (Moderator)
Manny Lopes, CEO, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center
Catalina López-Ospina, Director, City of Boston Office of Food Initiatives