Food Research & Action Center (FRAC)
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"Up" is the number of experts who agree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in the
field. "Down" is the number of experts who disagree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in field.
Headquarters Location: Washington, D.C.
Founded: 1970
Mission: To achieve its goals of ending hunger and expanding access to the federal nutrition programs, FRAC pursues a comprehensive national, state and local strategy.
Tags:
national, childhood nutrition & health, policy, advocacy, food security, undernutrition elimination, research, information services, healthy schools, food stamps
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
James Weill.
Jim Weill has been President of the Food Research and Action Center – FRAC – since February 1998. FRAC is the leading anti-hunger public policy group in America, using research, lobbying, coalition-building and public education to combat hunger. FRAC leads national efforts to improve and expand the reach of programs like food stamps, school lunch and breakfast, afterschool and summer…
See full bio.
Financial Data
Overhead Ratio:
n/a
Total Revenue:
$2,864,377
From the Nonprofit
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Contact Info
Address:
1875 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20009, USA
Twitter:
Story:
FRAC is founded in New York City and pursues lawsuits in 26 states that ultimately led to a requirement that every state must operate either a food stamp or a commodity distribution program to feed the poor in all counties.
The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) is the leading national nonprofit organization working to improve public policies and public-private partnerships to eradicate hunger and under nutrition in the United States. FRAC works with hundreds of national, state and local nonprofit organizations, public agencies, corporations and labor organizations to address hunger, food insecurity, and their root cause, poverty. As Congress Daily has written, FRAC is “the premier anti-hunger group in Washington.” (Source: http://frac.org/about/)
Expert Reviews of Food Research & Action Center (FRAC)
Evidence of Impact Summary:
The Food Research & Action Center is credited for improving public policy and forging stronger partnerships between public and private entities.See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
Their advocacy and leadership are considered strengths.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
Areas for improvement are scattered across experts but include: increasing capacity, expanding programming, and marketing.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
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Impact |
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They are the leading advocacy organization on childhood hunger and nutrition. They have written recommendations for policies that have then been adopted by states and federal agencies. They also provide assistance to states working with families enrolled in food stamps and children participating in the free breakfast and lunch programs. | ||
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They take the lead in analyzing federal nutrition programs, including child nutrition, and mobilizing input to Congress from individuals and organizations around the country. For example, their School Breakfast Score Card has charted the growth of school breakfast access, and has empowered advocates in the states to effectively push for greater participation and better policies at the state level. This is one of two co-chairs, along with the School Nutrition Association of the Child Nutrition Forum, an organization that comes to life every five years to prepare for Child Nutrition Reauthorization. Its useful guides and briefs help practitioners and advocate across the country do their work. This is where we turn when we need to know about pending legislation or the interpretation of regulations. | ||
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The Food Research and Action Center is one of the leading national nonprofit organizations working to improve public policies and public-private partnerships to eradicate hunger and under nutrition in the United States. | ||
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This is the most long-lived and experienced anti-hunger advocacy organization in the US. They have worked effectively for almost two decades to help garner support for federal and state policies that reduce and prevent food insecurity and hunger in the US. | ||
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They have improved access to child nutrition programs through their policy efforts. | ||
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They are identifying childhood hunger issues and ways that school districts in particular can better meet the challenges in providing nutritious meals to those most at risk. | ||
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It has led advocacy efforts for child nutrition for decades and has secured countless wins for children in improvements to federal programs through both legislative and regulatory change, e.g., in the Child Nutrition Reauthorization they've won expanded access to school and summer meals for low income children as well as new programs in the Farm Bill. They also produce excellent research on use of the various Federal food programs that benefit children in each state, which allows more local organizations to advocate effectively at state and city levels. Their "Action Alerts" are distributed throughout the anti-hunger and nutrition community, and increasingly in the public health communities as well, resulting in cohesive action and broad impact in policy advocacy from these different sectors. | ||
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Their successful work increasing access to nutritious foods through the School Breakfast, School Lunch, Summer Meals, and CACFP Programs. | ||
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It has had a tremendous impact on increasing nutrition resources for low-income families, especially through the SNAP program, but on many other fronts as well. | ||
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They are well-poised to enable policy changes. | ||
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This is the premier non-profit that shapes nutrition and hunger legislation. They currently have a campaign to end childhood hunger and work with many afterschool programs to ensure nutritious food is available to the children. Their research is invaluable to nutrition education professionals, legislatures, and other national hunger organizations. It also serves as a liaison or aids in the coordination of federal funds for nutrition programs being allocated at local levels. | ||
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They work on policy and, in my opinion, they do a good job of keeping an eye on federal agencies especially USDA. They are particularly concerned about hunger issues and child nutrition. | ||
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Information received and passed along through school health list serves signifies impact. | ||
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For years, it has been a highly effective advocate for the SNAP program, which helps low income families offer healthy meals to their children. | ||
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They have been longtime leaders on hunger and child nutrition. They have been very effective in Congress, improving federal child nutrition programs, preserving funding, and educating lawmakers. They created and provided direction to the Campaign to End Childhood Hunger. | ||
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Their strength is their reach and their partners; however, it might be useful to offer direct links to local organizations (e.g. via see grants, CBPR opportunities). If this organization has done so, it is unclear and might be outside the scope of their mission. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
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Leadership |
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The leadership demonstrates an extremely strong commitment to ending child hunger and has become committed to reducing childhood obesity as part of their mission. They don't market a lot but are known simply by reputation and word of mouth. | ||
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They have strong leadership and good political connections. | ||
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It is a strong national organizer that helps to focus efforts and exert grassroots pressure to get results. | ||
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I used to know their leadership but I no longer do. But on hunger issues, they are the "go to" nonprofit. | ||
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It is seen as a key leader on federal food programs, especially the child nutrition programs. They have nurtured and supported a nationwide network of advocates for child nutrition. | ||
Advocacy & Leadership |
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Their chief lobbyist, Ellen Teller, is probably the most skilled non-profit lobbyist I have ever encountered. Her knowledge of members of Congress, and that of the Director Jim Weil, is without parallel. It has succeeded in constantly defining and redefining child nutrition as a bi-partisan issue. The staff person who focuses on school food, Madeleine Levin is exceptionally knowledgeable, responsive, and skilled. | ||
Staff & Advocacy |
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It works with hundreds of national, state, and local nonprofit organizations, public agencies, and corporations to address hunger and its root cause: poverty. Their staff are leaders in the field. They testify at most hearings around child nutrition. | ||
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The staff are knowledgeable and have a long-time standing in this field. | ||
Awareness |
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It is well-known throughout the nation as an effective source of information, assistance and guidance to organizations, and people who are interested in helping to prevent or reduce food insecurity and hunger. They have a leadership team and staff who with decades of experience in anti-hunger advocacy and policy work. They are well-respected and relied upon by organizations throughout the country as a reliable source of leadership and support in efforts to ensure the nutritional well-being of children and families. | ||
Advocacy |
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They are a key player in the Child Nutrition reauthorization work and in the regulations and implementation to follow. They do not the 'sexy,' but the essential policy work. | ||
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It ensures that federal laws regarding hunger and nutrition are implemented and evaluated. Their research is always cutting edge and applicable at multiple levels. | ||
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Their data, policy support, and monitoring regarding childhood hunger are strengths. | ||
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Their advocacy in Washington DC is great. | ||
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They are national leaders on SNAP (Food stamps) and provide support and information to a national network of hunger and nutrition advocates. | ||
Marketing & Staff |
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Their marketing materials are informative and timely, their staff is extremely knowledgeable and helpful. Their annual reports are useful and user friendly. | ||
Publications |
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The staff is incredibly knowledgeable about federal food programs and highly responsive to inquiries. Also, the weekly digest and nutrition updates are and invaluable source of information about Congressional action and national landscape for those leading federally-focused policy efforts from outside of DC. The information compiled on their website (e.g., the matrix of child nutrition marker bills) is invaluable. Lastly, with every release of new research they provide all the tools needed (model press releases, tips for talking to legislators) for local organizations to put the information to immediate use, and the staff reaches out in multiple ways (email, action alerts, conference calls) to urge local organizations to action. | ||
Research |
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They have a great strength in both conducting useful research and disseminating that to the media and to partner organization. They have a significant strength in their ability to impact policy makers. | ||
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Its strength is in research and reporting, as well as its state-to-state grasp of child nutrition issues and their positioning in Washington D.C. to influence and inform federal policy. | ||
Advocacy & Research |
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Their evidence of impact abounds. FRAC has won considerable improvements to federal food programs through years of effective policy advocacy and research. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Website |
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I think that because they are such a leader in this field, at times they can act as though there is no room for additional players. Strength comes in numbers and they should embrace new players in the movement and instead of bristling at the newcomers, work with them to effectively make change. I think they also should begin coming into the web 2.0 age. Their website is relatively basic and with hunger/child nutrition/childhood obesity at such a forefront right now they could use some work in improving the website and joining Twitter and other social networking sites to further move the message. | ||
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Their website looks old and unsophisticated, though the information is good. A savvier-looking website might make it more appealing to funders, organizations, and individuals that don't have strong ties to the anti-hunger world but rather are of a new generation that is using up-to-date technology to combat the childhood obesity epidemic. | ||
Long Term Planning |
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I would like to see more room at FRAC for long-term, visionary thinking. It is easy to become so consumed in the day to day legislative struggles, and in its important research and monitoring activities that there is not time to consider the big picture. And I would like to see more effort to build a movement at the grass roots. The Campaign to End Childhood Hunger has been strangely silent, given an emerging movement of parents to improve school food. | ||
Expand Programming |
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One area maybe to focus more on racial/ethnic health disparities vs. socio-economic status disparities. | ||
Research |
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They could increase support for national food systems reform and for community food security activities. They could also improve its in-house research function by partnering with scientific research organizations around the country. | ||
Capacity |
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Maybe they need more staff? | ||
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Management and staffing are often understaffed and as such have minimal presence outside DC metro area. They provide solutions to the local level trying to implement nutrition and hunger programs but is not known for providing resources. | ||
Diversity |
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I believe they need to do a better job of including the income people in every aspect of their work and building a true grass-roots anti-hunger movement. | ||
Mission Focus |
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Sometimes in its single focus on SNAP, they do not see the big picture which includes addressing the problems of the food system. | ||
Partnerships |
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They could use strong partnerships with organizations that from the anti-hunger field. | ||
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I believe they need more funding for advocacy since their team is small and need additional players to bridge the hunger versus nutrition gap. | ||
Neutrality |
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I think they could broaden their perspective to do more with obesity. I think they could influence USDA to do more to address obesity. There is an inherent conflict for USDA because they want us to "eat more" because it benefits the American farmer and the food industry. That is one reason I am worried that we will not succeed in reversing obesity prevalence (even though there are signs that the increase in obesity prevalence is slowing). | ||
Integrate Programs |
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They could create links to other aspects of health - social and emotional health, in schools. | ||
Collaboration |
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They could build stronger connections to the public health community. | ||
Messaging |
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They need to reenergize and retool their messaging and advocacy to reflect growing concerns about childhood obesity and the importance of healthy eating. They could reconnect with the grassroots and state partners. | ||
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They could work on spreading their marketing and promotions to new, more sophisticated audiences. FRAC is a bit of a dinosaur in the "food advocacy" world, and they miss the opportunity to acquire the support of those who are not staunch anti-hunger, anti-poverty advocates. | ||
Marketing |
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They would benefit from monies to develop social marketing campaigns (that include sound action steps for communities) to influence and educate on eradication of hunger by 2015, as well as importance of school meal programs nationwide. In addition, they could use monies to support robust research and evaluation of these methods. | ||
Leadership
James Weill
President
President
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
feedback@myphilanthropedia.org
with your request.