Food Insecurity in Western US States

Abstract

This analysis examines how and why many nonprofits and state agencies fighting domestic hunger have increasingly collaborated in unexpected ways. Interviews with nonprofit and state agency leaders in four western US states provide details about these collaborative efforts. Drawing on the concept of collaborative governance, the findings reveal important roles that anti-hunger nonprofits have played for state agencies, serving as experts, co-workers and catalysts for even more collaboration, rather than serving primarily as lobbyists, subcontractors and generic stakeholders. The opportunity for this kind of intimate collaboration emerged from a combination of political and economic developments that changed the incentives for nonprofits and state agencies to work together. The study uses empirical evidence to justify an expansive definition of collaborative governance while also suggesting implications for effective public management in the fight against domestic hunger.