Feeding the Future

“Our mission is to provide meals for children struggling with hunger, while teaching them a critical life skill to help them break the cycle of food insecurity.

The effects of childhood food insecurity go far beyond hungry children in the classroom. Food insecurity among children has real long-term consequences.

Studies have shown that children suffering from food insecurity not only suffer from obvious health consequences, but it also affects a child’s cognitive ability. This can lead to a number of behavior problems making them more likely to be suspended, repeat a grade, have higher absence rates, and perform worse on standardized testing (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Pediatrics, and the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry).

This can go on to affect the kinds of employment they can successfully compete for, their consequent earning capacity, and ultimately their lifetime earnings. And those are only things that involve the children themselves, saying nothing of the effect childhood food insecurity has on the community as a whole.”

  • Steven Cota-Robles, Executive Director

The Tucson Family Food Project is in the process of fundamentally changing the landscape of childhood food insecurity for Tucson’s school-aged children through a revolutionary approach.

Every week TTFFP teaches kids how to cook a new recipe FOR THEMSELVES using fresh, local, and seasonal produce. We believe that we must try something new to fight this incredibly urgent problem!

Through instructional YouTube videos and easy to follow instructions, The Tucson Family Food Project is giving kids the life skills they need to make food for themselves - giving them their best chance of living a happy and healthy life.

Our Mission Statement

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world.

Long Term Goals & Strategies

  • Grow program throughout Tucson

    • We have identified 39 age appropriate schools in the Tucson Unified, Flowing Wells, Amphi, and Sunnyside School Districts to incorporate into our program.

  • Restore and renovate a closed TUSD middle school to use as our flagship headquarters

    • We are currently working with the TUSD to map out the details of this process. This project has been discussed with the Superintendent of TUSD, as well as multiple TUSD board members, each of whom has committed to voting for the project’s approval.

  • Development of Regenerative Farm

    • Using the remaining school grounds, we will start a regenerative farm to sustainably grow ingredients for our recipes, while at the same time serving as a carbon sink for the surrounding area. With widespread implementation of this model nationwide, we aim not only to Feed the Kids, but also help in the fight against climate change, addressing two of the biggest issues of our time simultaneously.

  • National Growth

    • Replicate closed school model across Arizona and The U.S., feeding America’s food insecure students and their families—and empowering children by teaching them essential life skills and self-confidence.