A Message from Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin
“Food is a basic human right. In New Jersey, we’re proving that when we work together, hunger is solvable.”
My Fight to End Hunger in New Jersey
New Jersey is at its best when we look out for one another. Ending hunger is not an abstract goal for me—it’s personal. I’ve met parents who skip meals so their kids can eat, seniors stretching a fixed income, college students choosing between textbooks and dinner. That’s not the New Jersey we believe in, and it’s not the future we’re willing to accept.
​
We can do better, and we are. Together with community partners, food banks, houses of worship, schools, and businesses, we’re building a statewide network that treats food as what it is: a basic human right. We’re strengthening school meals so every child can learn with a full stomach, modernizing our safety-net programs so families can access help with dignity, and investing in local pantries and the people who make them run. We’re also connecting New Jersey’s farmers and food producers with the neighbors who need them, because when we shorten the distance between our fields and our families, everybody wins.
​
This work is about more than calories. It’s about dignity, mental focus in the classroom, stability at home, and the freedom to dream bigger. It’s about the moral clarity to say that in a state as resourceful and compassionate as ours, no one should go to bed hungry ever.
​
I’m grateful to every volunteer, nonprofit leader, educator, grocer, farmer, and public servant who shows up day after day. If you need help, we will meet you with respect. If you’re ready to help, we’ll put your hands and heart to work. Let’s finish this together.
​
— Speaker Craig J. Coughlin
My Story
The Honorable Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin has served in the General Assembly since 2010, representing the 19th Legislative District. He is the longest serving Speaker in New Jersey history, now in his fourth term.
​
Highlights of the Speaker’s legislative tenure include raising the state’s minimum wage, delivering property tax relief, investing in childcare and mental health programs, increasing public school funding, ending surprise medical bills, and improving the state’s environmental remediation programs to provide a cleaner, safer future. These initiatives were made possible by the responsible state budgeting and fiscal stewardship during his time as Speaker.
​
Speaker Coughlin has spent his legislative career fighting for the working people of New Jersey. The first bill passed in his tenure as Speaker was the Equal Pay for Women Act. Under his leadership, the Democratic caucus has spearheaded numerous bills to provide tax relief for the people who need it most— middle-class families and seniors.
​
After securing passage of the ANCHOR program, the largest property tax relief program in state history at the time, Speaker Coughlin authored the StayNJ program, which will cut seniors’ property taxes in half. Coupled with expansions in prescription drug assistance programs of PAAD and Senior Gold, New Jersey seniors will see real savings and improved affordability.
The issue closest to Speaker Coughlin’s heart is the fight against hunger. His policy agenda has prioritized food security for New Jersey families and ending childhood hunger. He has worked to expand free school lunches and sponsored four expansive anti-hunger bill packages, including increasing aid to food banks by 500%, and creating a first-in-the-nation Office of Food Security Advocate. His ultimate goal, in concert with a coalition of community leaders on this issue, is the elimination of hunger in New Jersey by 2030. Speaker Coughlin stresses the importance of local engagement on food security to highlight the needs in every community—including his annual bowling fundraiser to benefit local food pantries in his district, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars and recruiting volunteers.
