RIGHT TO FOOD IN LOCAL PLACES WORKING GROUP

In 2023, California declared access to food a human right, affirming the state’s responsibility to remove barriers that prevent residents from obtaining affordable and nutritious food. In 2025, California Food & Farming Network (CFFN)  –  an organization building a movement centered on racial equity to transform the food and farming system through state policies – began advocating for California lawmakers to pass AB1857: Unlawfully Restrictive Covenants: Grocery Stores and Supermarkets Act. This Act would prohibit the use of restrictive covenants in grocery retail, effectively limiting a form of corporate power in the food system which flies under the radar and limits access to healthy foods for many Californians. CFFN asserts that AB 1857 is a necessary action that the state must take to ensure all Californians can access healthy, affordable food through dignified means.

Metro Caring in Denver, Colorado works with community leaders who have experienced hunger to develop advocacy priorities. A cohort of community leaders identified six tenets that must be realized for the right to food: ​Community ControlAccess to LandFood is Accessible and AffordableFood is SocialFood is Necessary for Physical HealthFood Connects us to our Past​With these goals in mind, Metro Caring is supporting its community in an advocacy campaign to amend the Denver City Charter to include Food as a Human Right; to develop a city-supported community food utility; and to support a food justice fund.In October 2026, with the support of Metro Caring who co-authored the language, the City of Denver proclaimed September as Right to Food Action Month, a reframing of the typical Hunger Action Month. Denver District 3’s Council Woman Jamie Torres said:  “This proclamation is a call to action to residents, organizations, and policymakers alike to build a more resilient, equitable food system so no one in our city goes hungry.”In partnership with the National Right to Food Community of Practice, Metro Caring developed a guide for Denver Metro Area advocates to support pre-election day conversations with candidates for the Colorado State Legislature about SNAP and federal cuts, cost of living, access to clean air and water and access to local food. View Guide for Denver Metro Area.

Earth Innovation, an organization focused on agroecology solutions, is leading a community organizing effort to amend the City and County of Honolulu’s Charter – an event that happens only once every 10 years. The proposal is to include the following:  Section 2-102: “The residents of the City and County of Honolulu shall have the inalienable right to nutritious, affordable, and culturally appropriate food, including access to traditional and locally grown food sources, necessary to maintain health, dignity, and well-being.”  Hawaii is the most expensive state in the nation to live in. More than 90% of the food is imported while climate events disrupt already fragile supply chains, and rates of hunger among families with children are accelerating. Advocates in Honolulu are clear that codifying the right to food in the City and County Charter will reframe the issue from charity to accountability. And a charter amendment for the right to food would codify ancestral values of Aloha Aina (caring for that which feeds us) and Ahupa’a (resource management from the mountains to the sea), reinvigorating the deeply cultural precedent that food is a collective responsibility.  Learn more here:  Advancing the Right to Food in Honolulu, Hawai’i.pdfHonolulu Could Become The First US City Where Food Is A Human RightHonolulu's Right To Food, A Trailblazing Proposal, Faces The Axe

On November 2nd, 2021, Maine became the first state in the U.S. to enshrine the right to food in its state constitution, with more than 60% of the popular vote in favor. The Amendment reads: Constitution, Art. I, §25. Right to food. All individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable right to save and exchange seeds and the right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing for their own nourishment, sustenance, bodily health and well-being, as long as an individual does not commit trespassing, theft, poaching or other abuses of private property rights, public lands or natural resources in the harvesting, production or acquisition of food.Enshrining the right to food in Maine’s Constitution was preceded by a decade of grassroots organizing and advocacy in Maine. This advocacy was led by small farmers and homesteaders, supported by people frustrated by the encroachment of the industrial food system putting unwieldy restrictions on how food is grown and processed, and where it can be sold and distributed. The right to food amendment in Maine grew directly from these concerning changes, and the corporate capture of Maine’s food system. Since its ratification, Maine has sought to clarify the application of the right to food under the current landscape of food law, including the Act to Protect the Right to Food, which went into effect in September of 2025. Right to Food Comes to the United States: The Maine Example by Heather Retberg and Craig Hickman, co-authors of Maine’s Right to Food Constitutional Amendment"Constitutionalizing the Human Right to Food in Maine" by R. Denisse Cordova Montes, Heather Retberg et al.Realizing the Right to Food in Maine: Insights from International Law by Smita Narula Law The Right to Food Grows Stronger Legislative Roots in Maine The Right to Food Comes to America by Wendy Heipt

Growing Hope, an organization focused on strengthening and supporting the local food system through the Growing Hope Urban Farm and the Farmers Marketplace, worked with local residents, growers, workers, institutions, and leaders in Washentaw County to develop a vision for a county that is progressively realizing the right to food. The Washentaw County Right to Food Declaration is a call to action of county and municipal governments, food policy councils, funders, the healthcare system, among others to advance this shared vision of the human right to food and collaborate in building “a food system rooted in dignity, equity and collective care.”On visits to the state capital, Growing Hope’s Executive Director Julius Buzzard built a relationship with Representative Emily Dievendorf, who showed interest in the Right to Food Declaration. Buzzard sent her some draft language, and on July 1, 2026, the Michigan House of Representatives unanimously adopted HR0340, declaring that July 1st would now be recognized as “Food Day” in the state of Michigan. The resolution honors the state’s food producers and food assistance organizations while raising awareness of food insecurity and encouraging Michiganders to support local agriculture and food access programs.Food Day sets a foundation for something bigger though: a right to food in Michigan. Sponsor Rep. Emily Dievendorf was clear in her framing on the house floor: “This resolution is about affirming a simple truth: every person deserves access to adequate, safe, nutritious, and culturally meaningful food… food is a fundamental human right.” Read more about how Michigan is moving towards a right to food here.

In response to major cuts to the federal SNAP program, The Rhode Island Food Policy Council initiated an advocacy campaign calling on state legislators to protect the right to food by ensuring all state residents have regular, permanent, and unrestricted access to adequate food, and work to create the conditions that allow individuals to feed themselves adequately, safely and in culturally acceptable ways. Read more here about how Rhode Island advocates are working alongside the Lieutenant Governor to ensure the protection of the Right to Food  through the Fair Price Grocery Agenda.

Northwest Harvest, an independent food bank based in Seattle, WA, serving a network of more than 350 food justice organizations and high need schools across the state, has written into their strategic plan that “equitable access to culture affirming nutritious foods is a human right, and a means to drive opportunity in Washington.” Core to their public policy program is the goal to create a more equitable food system, rooted in the belief that nutritious food is a human right. Northwest Harvest has begun building a statewide coalition of advocacy partners from the food, farming, and labor sectors to advocate for an amendment to the state constitution to include food as a human right. As a part of their VOTE 2026 campaign, Northwest Harvest, in partnership with the National Right to Food Community of Practice, developed A Right to Food Conversation Guide with Candidates for Washington State Legislature. The guide explores how a Right to Food framework can help shape conversations about food access, hunger, public policy, and civic engagement. It offers practical tools, messaging guidance, and discussion prompts designed to help advocates, organizers, community leaders, and everyday Washingtonians engage more effectively on issues related to food justice.

An advocacy strategy discussion at the 2020 West Virginia Food for All Summit led the The American Friends Service Committee, The Food Justice Lab and Rattle the Windows to begin to organize their communities in support of then-Delegate Danielle Walker’s introduction of House Joint Resolution 30 (HJR 30) to the West Virginia legislature. This resolution sought to amend the state’s Bill of Rights to include food as a human right.Envisioned as a means to break the silent violence of hunger and encourage those with lived experience to share their stories, Voices of Hunger WV convened monthly virtual meetings and engaged participants with lived experience of food and economic insecurity in conversation, pedagogy, and action around advancing the right to food. Though HJR30 never moved beyond the Committee on Health and Human Resources (CHHR), where it was first assigned, Delegate Walker once again led the charge on introducing HR12 to the WV Legislature in 2023. This resolution called for a constitutional amendment to include the Right to Food in the WV Bill of Rights. The bill was referred to the CHHR and then the Judiciary, making a small advancement but not enough to bring it to the floor of the legislature.  Even though the bills to codify the right to food in law did not move forward, the narrative shift toward food as a human right began to take root in different parts of West Virginia among anti-hunger activists, food system development practitioners, farmers and lawmakers. In 2021 the Morgantown City Council, for example, passed a municipal resolution for the Right to Food, and there are emergent initiatives in other cities and counties that advocates are hopeful will follow suit. Meanwhile, the Voices of Hunger WV continues to amplify the stories and experiences of West Virginians facing food insecurity as a way to advocate for the right to food. The Seeding Sparks Fellowship supports community organizers, particularly those with lived experience of food insecurity, and provides advocacy and education opportunities that advance and progressively realize the right to food in West Virginia. The Center for Resilient Communities’ Food Justice Lab continues to sponsor Nourishing Networks, a program that works with communities to understand and then advocate collectively towards food systems change.