Joël McClurg is the Director of Public Policy for Hunger Free Colorado, and has been engaged in anti-hunger policy and advocacy work for the last decade. Joël served as a Public Health and Education Peace Corps Volunteer in Romania, from 2008 to 2010, where he saw firsthand the importance of food security for low-income populations, and how food policy can help or harm local food systems and how a community connects to food resources.

In 2013 Joël obtained an MS in Food Security from Colorado State University, in Fort Collins. Joël has worked to improve food security for at-risk populations in many capacities, such as a data and policy analyst for city-based nonprofits and school districts in Larimer County, or as a food stamp outreach manager for a large, multi-county food bank in Northern California. Joël feels that access to healthful food is a human right that helps people maximize their human potential and build a strong foundation to weather life’s storms.