Our History
It started with a newspaper article.
In 2015, Ambassador Tony Hall saw a Dayton Daily News story listing Dayton as one of the cities with the highest rates of hunger in America.
Most people read a story like that and turn the page. Not Tony.
He contacted his longtime associate Rick Carne, and they began working on a plan to address the hunger rate. With the help of the Eichelberger Foundation, the Hall Hunger Initiative was founded in December 2015.
HHI initially partnered with United Way of Greater Dayton and shared office space there. The first big project was supporting the creation of the Gem City Market. Tony served as the Chair of the Capital Campaign, and everyone at HHI made this project a priority. With the market's staff and a group of dedicated volunteers, they raised $5 million. Gem City Market opened in May 2021 with a joyous community celebration.
HHI also began another landmark project at the same time. Working with Montgomery County Commissioner Judy Dodge and Public Health- Dayton and Montgomery County, HHI helped establish the Montgomery County Food Equity Coalition and create our first county-wide food plan. Our continuing participation with the coalition is a perfect example of how we work on partnership.
With the generous support of Aloft, HHI continued to grow and take on more new projects. We outgrew United Way and moved the Fitz Center at the University of Dayton, The new home offered new connections and great community events. One of the most powerful was a community forum hosted by the League of Women Voters featuring Tony Hall and former Ohio Governor Bob Taft discussing bi-partisanship.
Continued growth led to another move, this time to a farm owned by the Agraria Center of Regenerative Practice near Yellow Springs, Ohio. The Agraria Farm is a 138-acre educational and research farm that studies and demonstrates the benefits of regenerative practices at multiple levels—from the environmental, economic, psychological, and social to their impact on human health and well-being.
Our location at a working farm is the ideal way for us to focus on fresh, local food as a key to food security.
In February 2024, HHI became an independent 501c3 nonprofit organization!