Target Hunger
Fighting Hunger. Shaping LIves. Strengthening our Community.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Immediate Food Assistance
Target Hunger programs address two critical needs, immediate food aid and the systemic, underlying causes of poverty that lead to food insecurity. All of our programs include a data collection and impact analysis component.
Immediate food aid is delivered in the following ways:
Food Pantries, located at both municipal service centers and community-based sites. During regular operations, we conduct 20 distributions each month serving high-poverty neighborhoods where residents meet US Department of Agriculture eligibility guidelines. We distribute 25-pound boxes of grains, fruits, vegetable, and protein. Whenever possible, fresh produce is included.
Emergency Food Packs, approximately 265 packs a month, are distributed to anyone in need. An ID is requested, and an individual is limited to receiving help once every 3 months. Packs include a daypack with a 7-12 pound distribution of high calorie, easy-to-fix meats, dry cereals, and juice.
Educational Food Fairs distribute 10,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables through 50+ events hosted March through November at sites in USDA-designated food deserts where residents lack access to fresh produce. There are no eligibility guidelines although the areas are high-poverty zones. Seventy collaborating nonprofits provide, on a rotating basis, additional outreach alongside our team.
Senior Delivery Programs help almost 700 low-income seniors who reside in our primary service area and survive on fixed incomes. Seniors and people with disabilities who have health issues and/or who lack transportation qualify for home delivery, and drivers are trained to provide both personal interaction and to make referrals to other agencies as needed. We also provide monthly delivery to seniors at 10 activity centers, adult day care, and apartment communities. Our Senior Services Coordinator, who is certified by the State of Texas as a Community Health Worker, provides helpful navigation services for clients and conducts cultural mediation to facilitate client connections to health care, social services, and other community.
Mobile Pantry Distribution Program includes weekly food distributions at low-income apartment communities and churches. This program has not only increased access to food in the community, but has provided training and experience for a much larger mobile pantry program that is scheduled to launch in 2020.
Programs Addressing the Root Causes of Hunger
Programs addressing the root causes of hunger allow Target Hunger to work in collaboration with several key community groups to help clients achieve self-sufficiency and break cycles of poverty that contribute to ongoing food insecurity.
Navigation Services connect clients to a wide range of programs, such as utility or rental assistance, financial counseling, and more under the supervision of a certified Community Health Worker.
Willie H. and Gladys R. Goffney Community Garden, a 2-acre, 100-bed organic garden in Kashmere Gardens, produces pounds of nutritious produce annually, most of which is distributed to Target Hunger’s pantry clients.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Association of Fundraising Professionals - Member 2020
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of meals served or provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Immediate Food Assistance
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Meals are calculated based on the weight of product distributed.
Number of clients receiving the grocery shopping services
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Immediate Food Assistance
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
1. Achieve sustainable financial stability & growth
2. Be recognized as an effective community hunger relief model to be emulated elsewhere in the USA
3. Optimize human & physical infrastructure
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
1. Achieve sustainable financial stability & growth
- Systematically improve donor engagement to build a culture of philanthropy yielding renewable unrestricted funding
- Strengthen grant-writing systems to grow philanthropic resources
- Study earned revenue opportunities in support of TH mission; Implement if appropriate
2. Be recognized as an effective community hunger relief model to be emulated elsewhere in the USA
- Increase visibility, awareness & differentiation of TH brand in important markets
- Demonstrate & improve program success though an assessment program that measures qualitative & quantitative outcomes; Research optimal client results
- Enhance strategic partnerships to address the “root causes” of hunger
- Develop & expand nutrition & garden programs
3. Optimize human & physical infrastructure
- Conduct staffing needs assessment
- Study all facility needs including showcase garden/pantry/program space
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Target Hunger addresses food insecurity in northeast Houston, both by meeting an immediate need through distribution of nutritious food and by addressing poverty, the underlying cause of food insecurity.
Our program is unique both because of its size and its programs designed to alleviate the root causes of poverty.
Target Hunger is one of the Houston Food Bank's largest distribution partners. In 2019, we served 20,000 unduplicated clients through our pantry distributions, food fairs, at-home deliveries, and partner programs. By June 2020, we had already seen nearly 17,000 unduplicated clients.
Food distributions happen in the following ways:
- At pantry sites throughout our service area, including community centers, apartment complexes, and religious institutions.
- Through in-home delivery to seniors and people with disabilities who are unable to leave the house.
- At food fairs at schools and other community sites in partnership with a range of social service agencies.
- As emergency food packs for individuals who need nutrient-dense, portable food during challenging times.
We maintain a community garden that produces fresh, nutritious produce that is distributed to our clients throughout the year. In order to address the need for more urban gardens that are sustainable and do not rely on ground soil, Target Hunger is building an extensive above the ground crate garden in the unused area of our large parking area at our headquarters on Shotwell Street. This will transform the space into a lush container garden site that is anticipated to be fully functional by January 2021.
Our client Navigation Service capabilities and partner programs have given us a way to have long-term impact on our community. We are in the process of training more staff to earn the state's Community Health Worker credential so that at every interaction with clients, these staff can help evaluate what connections to social service programs can help clients stabilize their finances, home life, and health, all of which will reduce their risk of long-term food insecurity. Our partner programs demonstrate how non-profit agencies can collaborate effectively to greatly improve client outcomes.
Target Hunger partners with four key agencies that demonstrate how intensive collaboration can break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. We work closely with the Houston Health Department’s Community Re-Entry Program, Urban Enrichment Institute, 5th Ward Head Start Program, and SERjobs, pairing food distribution with job training and life skills.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Achieve sustainable financial stability & growth by growing unrestricted funding:
10% by 12/31/2020
25% by 12/31/2021
50% by 12/31/2022
Be recognized as an effective community hunger relief model to be emulated elsewhere in the USA
- Create Marketing Committee & RFP for marketing plan by 5/31/ 2020
- Create Program Evaluation Task Force by 1/30/2020.
- Invigorate the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) process & begin conducting data-driven client outcome assessments by 12/30/2020
- Develop a partnership strategy that includes considerations for growth, process, & outcomes by 12/30/21
Optimize human & physical infrastructure
- Establish Staffing Needs Assessment Task Force & report to board: Current status by 3/30/2020; Future needs by 6/30/2021
- Create Facility Task Force by 11/30/2020 Recommendation & Board report by 11/30/2021
- Create Garden Futures Task Force by 3/1/20; Recommendation & Board report by 6/30/2020
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Target Hunger
Board of directorsas of 01/22/2024
Ms. Demethra Orion
Sharon Asinelli
ExxonMobil Global Services Company
Steve Barrett
Sam Louis
Holland & Knight, LLP
Kelley Lang
Audrey Cosby
Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church
Michael Aubuchon
Frost Bank
Jeffrey Mechlem
Page, Inc.
Demethra Orion
Orion Smith, Inc.
Alan Henson
Pariveda Solutions
Meredith Hopson Beaupre
JP Morgan
Nina Hunt
Macquarie Energy
Charles Caldwell
Caldwell Boudreaux Lefler PLLC
Giri Chilukuri
Humana
Solly Y. Diaz
Houston Health Department
Sparkle Grueso
Sodexo Energy & Resources
Ryane Jackson
Houston Methodist Hospital
Tyler Johnston
Barbara Schell
Trafigura Trading
Ronnie Shields
Signal Energy
Anna Deans
Midway
Sakita Douglas
Harris County
Juliet Foster
KPMG
Eden Rooney
KPMG
Shala Walker
Mar Vista Investment Partners, LLC
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 03/10/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.