Non Technical Summary
Center for Community Action will create a five-year strategic plan addressing feeding needs in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. This will be obtained through the establishment of the Huntingdon County Food Council. The Food Council will be composed of members with various expertise surrounding food access and needs within the County. The Council will be tasked with participating in training exercises, data collection activities, and data analysis sessions to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the barriers that residents face and the gaps in resources to accessing nutritious and affordable foods.Data will be collected through surveys and in-person conversations with residents. The results of surveys will be used to learn what the most prominent issues are that Huntingdon County residents face when accessing food. Possible solutions to those issues will be identified by the Council. The Huntingdon County Food Council will use the data to create a five-year strategic plan. The strategic plan will identify food gaps within the County along with possible solutions and action steps to achieve the suggested solutions. Solutions to identified issues will be focused on collaboration with local agencies, food retailers, and agriculture producers. The result will create a strong foundation for improving access to healthy, nutritious food for all Huntingdon County residents that will directly impact the overall health and economy of Huntingdon County while strengthening communities within.

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
608	6099	0001	100%

Knowledge Area
608 - Community Resource Planning and Development;

Subject Of Investigation
6099 - People and communities, general/other;

Field Of Science
0001 - Administration;

Goals / Objectives
The first major goal is to identify key community stakeholders to develop a Food Council for Huntingdon County and initiate the first meeting. The Food Council will be comprised of various members to ensure that all residents of the County are represented.1. Identify Stakeholders - Stakeholders will be identified with careful consideration to ensure that there is representation from all sectors of the food industries and population groups. This includes, but is not limited to, retail grocers, low-income representatives, farmers and local agriculture representatives, human service agencies, healthcare professionals, school districts, etc. Each stakeholder will be asked for commitment to participate in all meetings, training, and activities throughout the process.2. Schedule Initiation Meeting- The initial Council meeting will be scheduled by the program director based upon the best day, time, and location for the selected Council members. The meeting will be held both in-person and virtually to create a hybrid option for added convenience and an increased likelihood of attendance for Council members.3. Identify Chairperson and Secretary for the Council- The Council will nominate members for the positions of Chairperson and Secretary at the initial meeting. The positions will be filled by majority vote.4. Execute Initial Meeting- The initial meeting will be held. Present members will be documented using a sign-in sheet for record keeping. The Council member designated as the secretary of the Council will be responsible for recording the meeting content via written meeting minutes.5. Schedule future monthly meeting dates, times, and locations- A regular monthly meeting schedule will be set and determined based upon the schedule and convenience of each Council member. A list of meeting dates, times, and locations will be promptly distributed to each Council member along with electronic meeting invitations (where possible) by the Program Director to aid in establishing consistent attendance by all Council Members at meetings.Once the Food Council and its membership is established, members will participate in training and activities to increase and strengthen their knowledge and understanding of poverty, food insecurities, and the strategic planning process.1. Determine Training Topics - Council members will be asked about their level of understanding regarding various subjects surrounding food insecurities and strategic planning including, but not limited to, poverty, nutrition, strategic planning process, data collection and analyzation, etc. Training courses will be chosen based on topics that Council members feel that they lack the most knowledge and understanding about. A list of topics that the consensus of the Council feel would be most beneficial will be created.2. Identify Training Facilitators and Schedule Trainings/Activities- Program Director will research experts on the identified topics and identify the best facilitator based upon the knowledge gaps within the Council and will reach out to facilitators to determine cost and schedule training on dates, times, and locations that are most convenient for Council members.3. Determine if Adequate Training has Been Provided - the Program Director will follow up with each council member via phone and/or email to determine if each feels confident that they have received adequate training in each determined topic to have a strong concept of the information they received to aid in making decisions on the Food Council. Additional training will be scheduled for any areas of concern. A contact log that includes the results of each conversation will be completed by the Program Director.The Council will develop and implement a data collection plan in addition to marketing materials as the third major goal. The data collection plan will include a broad array of surveys and tools to collect data surrounding food insecurities from the community to be used for planning. Marketing materials will be developed to engage participation from the community in the data collection process.1. Identify and Develop Data Collection Tools- The Council will determine what information is necessary to obtain to get a full understanding of the food insecurities and gaps within the County. The Council will identify strategies for collecting the data insuring that the tools and methods created reach a vast audience that captures accurate results from a wide population of residents and communities within the County.2. Create Data Collection Plan- The Council will create a plan of best practices to distribute data collection tools. Methods will be focused on reaching as many people within the County as possible across all areas and age groups. The process will include innovative strategies using electronic data collection combined with in-person and paper collections to add convenience for residents to participate.3. Create Marketing Materials - The Council will develop marketing materials to distribute to the public. The marketing materials will include a mix of paper and electronic publishing to capture a larger audience. Marketing materials will aim at informing the public of the process and encouraging participation in the data collection process along with encouraging the public to submit their ideas and comments to the Council for consideration.4. Identify Realistic Timelines Along with Roles and Responsibilities- The Council will determine dates, times, and logistics for the data collection process with each method being assigned their own timeline and identified Council Member(s) to oversee the process. Timelines and role assignments will allow for adequate time to reach as many residents as possible with specific dates listed, including checkpoints, to ensure the process is being completed accurately, timely, and by a vast majority of the residents and communities.The final major goal is that the Council will thoroughly analyze data to implement strategies and objectives to create a five-year strategic plan for the County. The plan will identify specific weaknesses and gaps currently causing food insecurities within the County and will offer strategies with specific action steps to address those issues.1. Analyze Data- The collected data will be analyzed and compiled into a simplified results report for the Council to review.2. Identify Critical Needs - The Council will determine what the top factors are that create food insecurities in the County from the results of the data collected. These critical needs will become the top priorities listed within the strategic plan.3. Create Potential Solutions - Addressing the critical needs within the County will be discussed within the Council. The Council will determine potential solutions for the needs with a focus on utilizing community resources to offer remedy to the identified issues. These specific solutions will become the action steps for each identified top priority.4. Develop Strategic Plan - The five-year strategic plan to address feeding needs within Huntingdon County will be formally developed and compiled. The plan will be reviewed by the Council for editing. The plan will be finalized by Council vote at a regular monthly meeting and will be recorded in the meeting minutes.5. Publicize Plan and Initiate Formal Adoption - The finalized strategic plan will be presented to the Huntingdon County Commissioners. A request for adoption of the strategic plan as part of the County Comprehensive Plan will be made. The plan will also be made available to the public.

Project Methods
We intend to use multiple methods to ensure that the result of a five-year strategic plan to address feeding needs in Huntingdon County is thorough and comprehensive. These methods will be used throughout the planning, training, data collection, data analyzation, outreach, and strategic plan process.The Project Director is very knowledgeable about human service agencies, low-income individuals, and the existing food resources within the county. This knowledge will be used to aid in the selection of the Huntingdon County Food Council membership. The Project Director will ensure that each of the following areas will be represented on the Council by knowledgeable representatives to ensure that input is accessible from all aspects that relate to feeding needs: low income, human service agencies, local food pantries, local retail grocers, school districts, healthcare professionals, agriculture, middle class population, and local industries. A membership list along with the area of expertise each member brings to the Council will be kept by the Program Director.Selections for training will be determined based upon the comprised membership during the first meeting. Important topics relating to feeding needs will be discussed to determine what areas are lacking the most knowledge by Council members. These topics that will be made available to the council via a topic discussion list include, but are not limited to poverty, strategic planning, data collection, marketing, data analysis, local feeding resources, and nutrition. Careful consideration will be given to determining where lacking areas can be strengthened within the Council and what training will need to be outsourced to provide comprehensive, adequate training to all members within the proposed budget.The data collection process will be executed using a wide variety of methods to reach a broad audience and to capture as much data as possible. Information on income, transportation, available resources, current food access methods, barriers, health information, etc. will be collected to obtain a comprehensive understanding of current food access in the county and the barriers and gaps in accessibility. This process will be conducted using paper surveys, online surveys, in-person conversations, and data reports from the State, County, and local food pantries. Coordination will be established with healthcare professionals, food pantries, and other organizations to help aid in the data collection process. The success of the data collection process will be determined by the percentage of surveys completed compared to the population of the County.An outreach plan will be developed by the Council to ensure public awareness and encourage participation in the process. Flyers and brochures will be created to inform the public of the process. Surveys and data collection efforts will be developed. Effective outreach will be accomplished when multiple methods for data collection are established along with a wide distribution of marketing materials throughout the County.Data will be analyzed by the Council. The results from each survey will be compiled into a final report. The report will then be converted to a visual representation of the results for a simplified snapshot of the county data to be used for marketing distribution. The results of the County survey will then be compared to the State, County, and Local data that is currently available to establish trends. This will allow for determination of where there are gaps and berries in specific areas of the County, or the County compared to the State.The areas of concern as shown through the data collection process will be identified based upon the most critical needs. These areas of concern will become the focal point of the strategic plan. Research will be conducted to determine how other areas are implementing changes to address the identified concerns. Potential solutions will be established by the council with specific action steps and possible funding sources to be included in the five-year plan for the County.