Community FEAST

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Hunger Free Communities in Idaho ( Southeast
Oregon) A Continuum of Community Response
Presented by Peter Lawson Branch
Coordinator,Oregon Food Bank Ontario,
Oregon plawson_at_oregonfoodbank.org
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Our Time TogetherToday

• Session Oneintroductions, overview definitions
• Session TwoA Place To Start
• Session ThreeTaking Action
• Session Fournext steps for Idaho

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GOAL Community-Wide Response

• Form A Core Group of dedicated community members
• Identify what is going on in your community.
  Whats going well, whats not.
• Plan (NASP)
• Implement and Evaluate

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Session One

• Introductions
• Hunger 101-Defining Food Insecurity
• in our nation
• in Idaho Eastern Oregon
• Celebrating our successes
• Communication, Collaboration Education
  Solutions to addressing Hunger Its Root Causes

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Introductions

• How Many of You.
• Know where Ontario, Oregon Is?
• Work for an agency that serves low income
  individuals?
• Volunteer?
• Are familiar with the term food insecurity?
• Are Broncos Fans?

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Hunger 101

• Food Insecurity? Whats That?

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Idaho Hunger

• Food Stamp Participation
• highest increase in caseload
• 3rd lowest participation rate 50
• no State Food Stamp Outreach Plan or efforts
• 10 of 30 DHW offices closed in 2010
• Child Poverty 19.7
• Unemployment 8.4 (June 2010)
• Seniors at risk of hunger 15th worst in nation

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Hunger in Eastern Oregon Remember-Its a River,
Not a Wall

• Food Stamp Participation
• Child Poverty 25
• Unemployment-11-20 (Malheur/Harney Counties)
• 10,000 Emergency Food Boxes in 2009/2010
• Regional Food Bank distributes 744,000 lbs of
  food per year

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All the best intensionsbut its just not working

• First-ever workshop
• Were working harder than ever, but we still have
  many struggling
• What is it going to take?

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SESSION 2

• We know there are challenges, but how do we even
  know where to start?

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Session 2 Finding The Tools

• Community Score Cards
• Community Food Assessments

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Session 2 Finding The ToolsBefore We Start

• Acknowledging there is a problem is the first
  critical step. Everything else comes second.
  Thank You to our community leaders who are
  addressing the challenges in their areas.

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Session 2 Finding the ToolsThe Score Card

• 1. Identifying Challenges Obstacles
• By the numbers (using available Data to start a
  conversation)
• Poverty Statistics for your County
• Free Reduced Lunch Qualification
  Participation Rates
• Unemployment Rates
• Food Stamp Participation Rates

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Session 2 Finding the ToolsThe Score Card

• 2. Identifying Existing Resources
• Supplemental Emergency Food Programs aka Food
  Pantries/Meal Sites?
• Federal/County Government Assistance Offices
  (SNAP, TANF, WIC)
• Child/School Nutrition Services (Free Reduced
  School Breakfast/Lunch/Snack Programs, Extension
  Services?)
• Senior Nutrition Services (Senior Meals, Meals on
  Wheels, Senior Brown Bag)
• Grocery Stores
• Area Producers (Farmers/Ranchers/Processors)
• Farmers Markets
• Community Gardens
• Chambers of Commerce/Small Business Development
  Centers?
• Transportation Resources (accessibility of car
  pool/ride share programs, public transit, buses
  to/from school/etc)

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Session 2 Finding the ToolsThe Score Card

• 3. Recognizing who is and is not
• at the table
• Who are these people in your community?
• Key Communicators
• Community Stakeholders
• Community Gatekeepers

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The Score Card

• Sounds good, but how do we get the Score Card
  Information?
• Contacts (in the room/at the summit)
• Web Resources
• Post-Summit Support

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Session 2 Finding the ToolsWhats A CFA?

• CFA Stands for Community Food Assessment-a
  collaborative and participatory process that
  systematically examines a broad range of
  community food issues and assets, so as to inform
  change actions to make the community more food
  secure.

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Session 2 Finding the Tools

• Score Card? CFA? They sound like the same thing
  to me!
• Think of it this way A Score Card is the place
  to brainstorm and outline.
• A CFA is a way to put it into an understandable
  format that can be shared with the broader
  community.

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CFA Reports

• Interfaith Food Farming Partnership,
  EMOhttp//www.emoregon.org/food_farms.php
• Southeast Oregon Regional Food Bankhttp//www.ore
  gonfoodbank.org/ofb_services/food_programs/
• Gorge Grown Food Networkhttp//www.gorgegrown.com
  /default.cfm

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Session ThreeMake a plan for your Community
Feast

• Soyou have a core group of community members
  invested and interested
• You have looked at your community and have a
  sense of what is going well and what is not
• Time to develop a community plan

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Overview

• - The Local Picture
• - Intro to Community Food Systems Organizing
• - Your Food systems vision
• Creating a CFO Plan
• Resources Tools
• Next Steps Evaluation

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Community FEAST

• Food
• Education
• Agriculture
• Solutions
• Together

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FEAST?

• A FEAST event is an opportunity for participants
  to engage in an informed and facilitated
  discussion about Food, Education and Agriculture
  in their community and begin to work towards
  Solutions Together that will help build a
  healthier, more equitable and resilient local
  food system.

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What is community foods organizing?

• Community Foods Organizing is the process of
  bringing together a variety of stakeholders to
  reshape a local food system that is more
  responsive to the needs and assets of a
  community.
• The goal is promoting a healthier community
  maintaining respect, promoting and celebrating
  culture, and ultimately improving its economic
  well being.

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• CREATING ORGANIZING PLANS
• Step One Create a local vision
• Step Two Who are your partners?
• Step Three What information do you need?
• Step Four Next Steps-
• - Leadership - Date to reconvene
• - Additional partners

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Key Things to Remember

• Community Food Organizing always highlights a
  communitys resources assets as well as its
  needs.
• The act of doing an assessment is an organizing
  tool.
• CFO must include the grassroots of a community.
• CFO is done with communities, not to them.
• Its about the conversation!!!!

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Planning Tips

• Feature LOCAL Food Farms
• FEASTs should be planned with a local steering
  committee reflect local realities.
• Plan for evaluation.
• This is both short term long term work.
  Results may not be instant.
• Remember this is a celebration!!!

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Peter RC Lawson Southeast Oregon Regional Food
Bank (a program of Oregon Food Bank) PO Box
716 Ontario, Oregon 97914 [phone]
Office [phone] Cell plawson_at_oregonfoodbank.
org