Hunger is rising again.
Hunger no longer belongs in the American story.
Changing that story begins with
how hunger is understood and represented.
That work belongs to communicators who shape what the country sees, believes, and protects.
Hunger becomes unacceptable when what we believe about our country becomes what we expect from it.
That shift does not happen automatically. It happens when the public conversation aligns with what Americans already believe about dignity, fairness, and responsibility.
Communicators play a decisive role in shaping that alignment.
Through the stories they tell, the context they provide, and the narratives they reinforce or correct, communicators influence what feels normal, what feels unacceptable, and what leaders understand the public wants protected. By correcting persistent myths, reclaiming distorted narratives, and telling stories rooted in dignity rather than stigma, they help the country see hunger clearly and honestly.
They make visible the courage of families navigating hardship, the effectiveness of solutions that work, and the shared responsibility that binds communities together. Over time, this work reshapes what feels normal, what feels acceptable, and what feels possible.
When hunger is understood accurately and represented with care, public expectations rise. And when expectations rise, decisions change. Weakening proven solutions that assist families becomes harder to justify, easier to notice, and increasingly costly to ignore. That is how belief becomes public consequence, and how hunger stops being treated as an acceptable feature of America’s future.
Want to help change America's story?
For communicators who want to engage hunger with accuracy, dignity, and purpose.
Public agreement is strong.
Public demand is not.
86% of Americans agree:
"In the United States of America, no one should go hungry."
Source: FRAC National Survey on Hunger, 2014
The American people agree that hunger has no place in this country.
But when hunger is easy to ignore,
it becomes easy to accept.
Ending Hunger in the United States
An Idea Whose Time Has Come!
Why this work matters now.
Hunger is rising again in the richest nation in history. Millions of families are struggling, and progress that once felt steady is slipping.
This is not because people do not care.
It is because hunger is too easy to overlook between moments of crisis.
When hunger fades from view, urgency fades with it.
When stories are fragmented or episodic, understanding erodes.
And when attention drifts, accountability weakens.
The End Hunger Network aims to keep hunger visible, human, and understood by convening the communicators who shape what the public sees, hears, and remembers.
If you work in communications, your voice plays a role in what becomes impossible to ignore.
This work is supported through the End Hunger Network's Communications Hub, where communicators connect to shared context, research, and narrative guidance that strengthens public understanding over time.
No obligation. Participation is flexible.
The stories we repeat can hold hunger in place — or help end it.
Hunger in the United States is not caused by a lack of food or a lack of compassion. It is reinforced by myths that quietly and negatively shape how the public understands the problem. Ideas like:
- Hunger is rare or temporary
- People who struggle simply made bad choices
- Existing programs are wasteful or ineffective
- There isn't enough food for everyone
- There's no hunger near me and I'm not affected.
- Most people are cheating the system
- Hunger is inevitable, not solvable
These narratives do real harm. Besides being inaccurate, they lower urgency, weaken support, and make inaction feel normal.
Communicators are essential because these myths do not correct themselves. They persist when they go unchallenged — and make it easier for harmful assumptions to shape decisions that affect hungry families.
What communicators contribute
Through their everyday work, communicators in this network help:
- Replace myths with accurate, human-centered understanding
- Frame hunger as a shared challenge with proven solutions
- Keep hunger visible beyond moments of crisis
- Strengthen public demand for solutions that work
This doesn’t require adopting a script or speaking with one voice.
It means using your skills, platforms, and judgment to shift how hunger is understood — at scale.
If your work shapes what people see, hear, or believe,
you already have a role in whether hunger remains easy to ignore.
This work didn't start yesterday.
For more than four decades, the End Hunger Network has helped shape how the United States understands hunger and what it believes is possible to change. From groundbreaking global concerts and national broadcast campaigns to digital-first initiatives like "The Greatest Day on Social Media," the Network has focused on one enduring truth: when public understanding shifts, national action follows.
History doesn't change by accident.
It changes when communicators show up.
Communicators already know how to change minds, shape norms, and move people to action.
Major shifts don’t begin with laws or programs alone.
They begin when how people talk about an issue changes.
Communicators have played that role again and again.
When communicators showed up:
- Seat belts became normal, not optional, because safety was reframed as shared responsibility.
- Smoking declined, not just through regulation, but through sustained storytelling that changed social norms.
- HIV/AIDS moved out of silence, because advocates, journalists, and creators refused to let it remain invisible.
- Drunk driving became unacceptable, because campaigns changed what people expected of one another.
In each case, the turning point wasn’t awareness alone.
It was a shift in understanding, attention, and expectation — driven by communication.
Hunger needs that same shift.
Hunger in America persists not because solutions don’t exist,
but because outdated myths and episodic attention still shape how it’s understood.
That’s where communicators matter.
Communicators like you.
