Progress 09/01/15 to 02/28/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Ferguson, MO, which began as a transportation hub in the 1850's, is located approximately 20 miles from downtown St. Louis. Through the mid-1990's the city's population grew exponentially, as executives settled in homes close to transportation and employment. From the 1940's to the 1970's, Ferguson's population, which was predominantly white, quadrupled from 5,724 in the 1940's to 28,759 in the 1970's. From the 1970's to the 1990's, Ferguson's socioeconomic and ethnic composition shifted due to the politics and public policies of the neighboring City of St. Louis. Throughout North County, many inner-ring suburbs became disproportionately African American as residents from the City of St. Louis began seeking lower rents, as white residents were moving to west and south St. Louis suburbs. Today, Ferguson is inhabited by approximately 21,000 residents, who are ? African American. Approximately, 23% of residents live at or below the poverty line and 68% of children attending the Ferguson-Florissant School District are eligible for the free or reduced-lunch program. The median household income is roughly $41,000, the median home value is $89,000 and roughly 56% of homes are owner-occupied. In 2014, Ferguson was the epicenter for civil unrest after the shooting of a young African American male, Michael Brown, by a white police officer. His shooting and the acquittal of the officer prompted the US Department of Justice to investigate Ferguson's municipal court and law enforcement practices, such as warrants, ticketing, unlawful stops, and use of force. Ultimately, the Department of Justice sued the City of Ferguson for violating the civil rights of African American residents. Issues of racial justice can be a barometer for the degree of food insecurity, and Ferguson is no exception. From the household resident survey, one of four (26%) respondents stated they struggle to feed themselves as some time during the average year. Throughout the research process, it was paramount that diversity of respondents closely resembled Ferguson's socioeconomic, ethnic, and age demographics. Unfortunately, after extensive outreach efforts encouraging residents to take the Household resident survey, racial demographics did not represent Ferguson. While Ferguson's residents are ? African-American, the survey's respondents were ? white. Data should be viewed as originating from a self-selected non probability sampling. Referencing the 2016 Census data for Ferguson (Pop: 21,203): 55% of residents are female 67% of residents are African-American descent 52% are 34 years of age or younger with more than half of those under 34 years of age being children 29% of residents are 50 years or older 57%of residences are owner-occupied 40% of Ferguson residents live in rental housing Median household income is $40,660 23% of residents have a Bachelor's degree or higher; 87% of residents have a high school diploma Nearly 23% of residents live in poverty When comparing Ferguson's demographics to the demographics reported by survey respondents, the following was revealed from the respondents: 82% of respondents were female 24% of residents identified themselves as African-Americans 17% were between the ages of 18 and 34 years old 45% were 45 years of age or older 18% lived in rental housing; 92% lived in single family dwellings 59% had a household income greater than the median of $40,600 79-98% of respondents did not have anyone in their household using government sponsored food assistance programs, eg SNAP, SSI, WIC or free or reduced school meals The average survey respondent does not fully represent the average Ferguson resident who is more likely to be female, between the ages of 25 to 49 years of age with a high school diploma. Additionally, with 23% of Ferguson's residents living in poverty, the average survey respondent earns more than the average Ferguson resident. This was demonstrated by the low percentage of respondents relying on government sponsored food assistance and income distribution. Changes/Problems:Through the CFA process, the participation of a representative sample of residents for surveying was difficult to achieve even with additional outreach. EarthDance made connections to certain groups very late in the previous CFA process, too late to organize focus groups. Focus groups will be created as part of the dissemination process to gain further data that is representative of the the demographics reported in the Census (v2015). Another problem that arose during the execution of our project was the lack of funding for JFC members during the fall and winter of 2015-2016. This delayed the primary data collection based on our expected timeline. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The Ferguson Community Food Assessment served the six members of the Junior Farm Crew with training and professional development. Activities included understanding the CFA process generally and understanding the activities that make up a food system (production, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste management). They were trained on how to interact with the public to conduct CFA outreach (public speaking training and practice conducting one-on-one surveys in person); conducting grocery store audits (understanding the purpose and actually conducting the audits); and interpreting survey results (analyzing the survey takers' demographics to understand representative sampling). JFC participation provided an opportunity for the youth to raise their consciousness about food issues impacting communities of color. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of the community food assessment have been shared with the EarthDance Board of Directors and the Community Food Assessment Advisory Committee. Thanks to a grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health, EarthDance excited to say that we are working to provide more extensive dissemination of the CFA results and increase engagement with the Ferguson community to work towards reaching the goals outlined in this report. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
A CFA Advisory Committee (CFAAC), comprised of 15 representatives from the non-profit, community, business and education sectors was formed to: Connect EarthDance to community members and leaders to shape the CFA's framework, process, & goals Develop recommendations to strengthen assets & address the issues uncovered during the assessment Broaden EarthDance's reach with additional constituents The CFAAC, using a magazine cover story visioning process, created a vision of success of Ferguson's food system for the year 2020 and beyond. In addition, the CFAAC generated a community environment scan, which included the facilitators (strengths and opportunities) and barriers (weaknesses and threats) to the vision. Creating future strategies that take advantage of the facilitators and address the barriers is paramount to successfully achieving the vision of success. For Ferguson, some of the facilitators and barriers are: Facilitators A robust farmers market, open weekly from May to October and monthly for the remaining months An organic farm school, EarthDance, located in Ferguson Supportive school district with new resources allocated to farm to school programming & gardening Senior volunteerism with approximately 15% of residents being 60 years of age or older Higher than average number of young people (~30%) compared to the state's average Supportive urban farming municipal policies Multiple plots of vacant land, some located near Ferguson's most densely populated areas of residents living in apartments International, national and local interests and/or investments, due to the 2014 focus on civil rights & criminal justice issues Barriers Residents' lack of awareness, interest and action (and possibly apathy) about the effects of diet & nutrition on health outcomes Financial & economic barriers of residents leading to the inability to purchase healthy & nutritious food (~ 22% of residents live in poverty & median income is 12% lower than that of the state) Limited volunteer participation Ingrained food choice habits & routines Following the CFAAC's initial meeting, the CFA team (comprised of EarthDance Founding Director Molly Rockamann, CFA Coordinator Jessica Perkins, a GIS mapping specialist, a production specialist and an outreach specialist) created a profile of community characteristics using existing demographic and socioeconomic data through US Census (V2015) data. A GIS mapping specialist was engaged to create maps that included grocery store locations, restaurant locations, MetroBus routes, age and income distribution, along with land use for Ferguson. The CFAAC met 3 times during the 6-month planning process and the core team met every 2 weeks for a total of 8 meetings. The community engagement process, which was survey-based, was executed by the CFA coordinator and 6 members of the EarthDance's Junior Farm Crew (JFC), young people in the farm's summer jobs program. By involving the JFC in the CFA process, EarthDance continues its development of another generation of food leaders who are active and empowered participants in the stages of developing knowledge, defining problems, and generating solutions. For primary data, the CFA survey team performed outreach and conducted 3 different surveys with Ferguson Farmers Market vendors, customers and Ferguson residents. The online household resident survey was active for almost 100 days from June 2016 until September 2016; and 250 residents responded to the survey. To encourage participation and to expose people to a Ferguson food system asset, respondents received a $5 Ferguson Farmers Market gift certificate. During July and August 2016, the JFC, using the food retail survey instrument, conducted a thorough audit of 14 food retailers, including large/super grocery stores (2), mid-sized grocery stores (5), small grocery stores (2), convenience food stores (2), non-traditional retailers (2), and a pharmacy. This was a representative example of 50% of Ferguson's 27 food retailers. Overall, nearly 300 people were consulted during the CFA process. Key takeaways from the Ferguson CFA included: 44% of adults and 44% of school age children eat zero to two servings of fruits and vegetables daily; only 16% of adults and 25% of children eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily. 27% of respondents said that the high cost fruits and vegetables keeps them from consuming 5 portions daily People with the lowest incomes, especially those living in northwest Ferguson, to a large degree and, northeast Ferguson, to a lesser degree, have few to no healthy food store options available to them Aldi's is the best value in Ferguson for health and budget-conscious shoppers, carrying 100% of the USDA's "food basket" items at an average of 30% less cost than the community's other grocery outlets 51% of respondents want to learn more about gardening and farming 29% of respondents are extremely interested in cooking classes Moving from data collection, synthesis and analysis, the CFAAC developed five goals and possible recommendations for each goal. Goal 1: Food production increases in Ferguson Create agricultural commercial zoning class Promote urban agriculture and incentivize producers Develop a long-term strategy for sustaining school gardens during summer closures; partner with churches & summer camps Goal 2: Residents have access to fresh, nutritionally balanced food that is affordable Develop more community gardens at schools, churches & food pantries Expand Double Up Food Bucks program & increase program awareness Launch a mobile farmers market in Ferguson to stop at MetroBus stations & apartment complexes Goal 3: Residents exhibit fewer diet related health outcomes Conduct periodic health & nutrition fairs for community Incentivize healthy lifestyle programs in schools and neighborhoods Expand farm to institution programs to include hospitals, nursing homes, schools & childcare centers Goal 4: Residents have a greater understanding of how to obtain, grow, store & prepare nutritional food Increase local resident participation in EarthDance Organic Farm School classes and Farm & Garden program Partner with FFSD & YMCA to build awareness & staffing of community gardens; make gardening an inexpensive family outing Conduct parent-child cooking classes using school kitchens an emphasize on healthy cooking on a budget Goal 5: Producers have technical expertise and infrastructure to expand operations & develop value added products Develop a wholesale buying club for producers Create a year-round grocery co-op with kitchen incubator apprenticeship program Advocate for tax incentives and rezoning Raise awareness of existing technical/financial resources available through USDA, MO Soil & Water, Missouri University & Lincoln University Extensions
Publications
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