QCAP Receives $6,500 Grant to Expand Local Hunger Relief Efforts

QUINCY, Mass. – Food insecurity rose drastically during the pandemic and has yet to decline to pre-pandemic rates as 1 in 6 households and 1 in 5 households with children across the Commonwealth struggle with having enough to eat, disproportionately impacting BIPOC families. Community-based organizations, like Quincy Community Action Programs Inc. (QCAP), have been a critical and steadfast resource, providing a wide variety of food access points for residents. In the last two years, QCAP has received $50,000 in grant funding from Project Bread, and to further local hunger relief efforts in Quincy, the nonprofit has received an additional $6,500 in a project-based grant from Project Bread in September.

QCAP is one of 28 nonprofits to receive unrestricted funds from Project Bread, a statewide anti-hunger organization. Since 2021, Project Bread has granted over $680,000 to nonprofits to support communities hit hardest by COVID-19 and ongoing economic challenges, including Brockton, East Boston, Everett, Fitchburg, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lynn, Lowell, Malden, Mattapan, New Bedford Quincy, Randolph and Worcester. This fall, Project Bread launched the Pathways to Change grant, distributing an additional $58,500 to QCAP and 8 other nonprofits in the same communities to recognize and support their work to address food insecurity and the underlying economic and racial inequities that contribute to it.

With this project-based funding, Project Bread aims to support the creation of spaces for community conversations and engagement around food access that will strengthen relationships between individuals and food programs, support collaboration, and achieve positive social change. The funds can be used to pay for community facilitators, art supplies, compensation for conversation participants, and other activity-related expenses.

“Connecting people with sustainable solutions not only brings immediate relief, it also provides agency and empowers people in the long term. We know that solutions must come from the people closest to the problem,” says Adriana Mendes-Sheldon, Director of Community Partnerships at Project Bread. “We continue to learn from and invest in our community partners because of their strength in creating local, sustainable solutions. Supporting our community partners, like Quincy Community Action Programs Inc, is one of our key strategies for ending hunger statewide.”

In Quincy, QCAP has long sought to address food insecurity, especially in Southwest Quincy, marked as a low-access food desert by the USDA Food Access Atlas in 2015. Based on growing community need and the lack of physical pantry space to support that need, QCAP’s Food Center will be moving into a new larger facility - across the street from the long-time 1 Copeland Street location - this fall. The new building, located at 18 Copland Street, will triple the square footage and increase the nonprofit’s reach to individuals and families in need via on-site services, mobile pop-up pantries, and food deliveries to local low-income residents. Funding from Pathways for Change will enable the SNAP Application Assistance program to register more eligible individuals and families for SNAP benefits both at the new Food Center, as well as throughout Quincy and Randolph at QCAP Mobile Pantry sites. Funding from Project Bread’s Pathways for Change will also help reduce language barriers for clients. The Food Center’s Client Service Specialist speaks Mandarin and Cantonese, and will be on-site in the new facility 20 hours a week answering phones and offering SNAP application assistance.

"We are grateful for and proud of our on-going partnership with Project Bread, especially during this time of great need,” shares Beth Ann Strollo, CEO of QCAP. “This funding is timely as we move into our new South West Community Center - a place for the community to access much needed healthy food and other critical services. This grant from Project Bread will allow QCAP to assist more people in applying for SNAP benefits so that their household budgets may stretch further as the cost of living continues to rise."

Since before the pandemic, Project Bread has been leading Massachusetts’ response to an ongoing hunger crisis that affects thousands of residents statewide, such as supporting school and community meal sites and running the Commonwealth’s only statewide hotline that connects residents with a range of food resources, from SNAP assistance to information on food pantry hours and locations. The nonprofit works closely with legislators and other elected officials as well as in partnership with government agencies, including the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Transitional Assistance, to increase access to and participation in federal nutrition programs, such as SNAP and free school meals.

People experiencing food insecurity should call Project Bread’s toll-free FoodSource Hotline (1-800-645-8333), which provides confidential assistance to connect with food resources, including SNAP benefits, in 180 languages and for the hearing impaired. For more information, visit: www.projectbread.org/get-help.

About Quincy Community Action Programs Inc

Through partnerships, community engagement, and advocacy for racial, social, and economic justice, we provide pathways to assist families and individuals from diverse backgrounds in their efforts to realize economic opportunity and create meaningful connections to improve the quality of their lives. For more information, visit www.qcap.org.

About Project Bread

Project Bread is the leading statewide anti-hunger organization in Massachusetts. Beginning in 1969 with the first Walk for Hunger, the nonprofit focuses on driving systemic change to ensure people of all ages have reliable access to healthy food. Project Bread works collaboratively across sectors to create innovative solutions to end hunger and improve lives across the Commonwealth. For more information, visit: www.projectbread.org.

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