It was hard to imagine how to have an effective "conversation" with 650 people, but my trip to the Democratic Leadership Council's (DLC) 11th Annual National Conversation in Nashville this past weekend managed to increase my faith in our governing process.

I'm glad people are talking about new ideas, and I'm particularly glad they wanted to talk about how to end hunger and poverty. Although it was my first time attending and being a discussion leader, I was not naive: with 350 elected officials from every state in attendance, I knew there would be lots of conversation about getting Democrats elected, too, like how to use the new online media to win elections or how to "take back" the education issue. And, since we were in the land of the Grand Old Opry and the Wildhorse Saloon, I also knew that there would be lots of opportunity for some good dancin' and singin'. (Here's where I need to reassure our readers that Share Our Strength is a non-partisan organization working hard to end childhood hunger). However, my session was entitled "Hunger and Poverty: New Ideas for the Oldest Problem," and my objective was clear: to lasso the power in the room and put it squarely against our mission.

What I found was that most mayors, council members, state senators, and state representatives were not surprised by the extent of childhood hunger, nor did they needed to be convinced to address it in their states. They just needed to know how. Eric Gioia, New York City Council Member representing Queens, was fresh off of a week of participating in "The Food Stamp Challenge," where he lived off the $21.00 of food for a week. He told the audience that he had never been so hungry in his life, that he actually gained two pounds (because he had to eat fattening, low-cost food) and that he'd never had more press coverage. He said, "I looked around the subway car one morning, did some math, and realized that 8 of the people in my car were probably food-insecure or hungry, based on the hunger stats in my district." Heather Hudson, Mayor of Greenville, Mississippi, wanted the world to know that her citizens still suffered from the aftermath of Katrina and Rita, and that leadership, cooperation, and resources to address hunger and poverty were desperately needed. "How can we get national nonprofits and the federal government to re-focus on this issue and coordinate their efforts?" she asked.

Ronald Rice, Council Member from the City of Newark, had watched several large churches in his district struggle with hundreds of volunteers to meet the demand for more food from their pantries. "How can we get the local nonprofits who fight hunger to work together, and at least talk to each other, to be stronger together?" he asked.

My response was to share Share Our Strength's strategy to end childhood hunger in the United States. Through our work in creating a plan for Washington, DC, as well as a coalition of leaders to implement that plan, I'd realized that, like many things, leadership and resources (as well as the right strategy that is created by a wide variety of stakeholders) are the answer. We've now taken our planning process to the state of Washington and Florida. And we're convinced that we must surround children with access to nutritious food where they live, learn and play. In effect, we must create a net through which no child can fall. The strategy is based on leveraging the good government programs that are already in place for low-income families: school breakfast, after-school snacks, WIC, food stamps, EITC. Combined with private sector leadership and resources, we believe we can end childhood hunger.

The "conversation" was lively. The ideas are there. In many states, the political will is getting there. It's time to turn the ideas into action.