History of CHC and National Hunger Fellows Program

Since the 1930s the United States government has engaged in the fight to eliminate hunger and poverty through its foreign assistance and domestic anti-poverty programs. In 1984 Congress recognized that it could play an even larger role in addressing international and domestic hunger through the establishment of the Select Committee on Hunger. Over the select committee's ten-year life, hundreds of hearings were held and legislation passed that strengthened U.S. efforts to lessen and eliminate this solvable, worldwide problem. Congressman Mickey Leland of Texas served as the first chairman of the select committee until his untimely death during a humanitarian mission to Ethiopia in 1989. Congressman Tony P. Hall of Ohio became the second and final chairman of the Select Committee on Hunger.

At the beginning of the 103rd Congress (1993), all select committees were eliminated as a symbolic cost-cutting measure. In an effort to use this disappointing event as a means to elevate the problem of hunger, Chairman Hall embarked upon a highly publicized 22-day hunger fast. The momentum and publicity generated by this unusual act led to the creation of two new anti-hunger entities on Capitol Hill: the Congressional Hunger Caucus and the Congressional Hunger Center. These twin successors accomplished much in their first year of operation. However, leadership of the 104th Congress eliminated the Hunger Caucus, along with all other caucuses, on the first day of the 104th Congress, January 4, 1995.

In 1993, Congressman Hall and his long-time friend, Republican Congressman Bill Emerson, established the Congressional Hunger Center as a certified 501(c)3 and recruited early private donations to fund a small staff and programs.

In 1994 the Congressional Hunger Center successfully initiated a challenge grant from VISTA to establish a model anti-hunger leadership program, the Mickey Leland National Hunger Fellows Program. Several years, a name change or two, and more than 185 fellows later, 2002 finds the Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellows Program in its 9th year.