COMMUNITY FOOD SECURITY ASSESSMENT PROJECT FOR WARREN, OHIO

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: OTHER GRANTS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1010138
• Grant No.: 2016-33800-25582
• Cumulative Award Amt.: $31,551.00
• Proposal No.: 2016-02403
• Project Start Date: Sep 1, 2016
• Project End Date: Aug 31, 2017
• Grant Year: 2016
• Program Code: [LN.B]- Community Foods Project Planning

Recipient Organization
TRUMBULL NEIGHBORHOOD PARTNERSHIP
170 N PARK AVE
WARREN,OH 44481

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership (TNP) and partners will complete a Community Food Security Assessment (CFSA) process and community input sessions to develop a Community Food Strategy Plan that includes recommendations and goals for addressing food security needs in Warren, OH. Warren is a small city in the Rust Belt and has faced years of disinvestment and economic decline resulting in high rates of poverty and unemployment. TNP will undergo an extensive data collection and planning process in order to identify barriers to accessing healthy food and to developa series of strategies tocomprehensivelyimproveaccess to food for this low-income community.The CFSA process will include a Task Force representing stakeholders and residents to complete the work plan which will follow the model provided by the USDA - Community Food Security Tool Kit. This model includes creation of community demographic profile; assessments of existing resources, food distribution resources, availability and affordability of food, local agricultural and food production resources, and household food security; and data mapping/analysis. Information will then be presented to the community and input for developing strategies to address issues that emerge will be collected.TNP will then create a strategy plan that summarizes the assessment process and provides a range of short term and long term strategies that can reduce barriers to healthy, fresh food. The strategy plan will include identification of resources for solutions and planning for projects that address food security.

Animal Health Component

10%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

20%

Applied

10%

Developmental

70%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
608	6050	1010	50%
704	6099	1010	50%

Knowledge Area
608 - Community Resource Planning and Development; 704 - Nutrition and Hunger in the Population;

Subject Of Investigation
6099 - People and communities, general/other; 6050 - Communities, areas, and regions;

Field Of Science
1010 - Nutrition and metabolism;

Keywords

community

food

assessment

strategy

Goals / Objectives
Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership (TNP) and partners will complete a Community Food Security Assessment (CFSA) process and community input sessions to develop a Community Food Strategy Plan that includes recommendations and goals for addressing food security needs in Warren, OH.1. Convene and guide a diverse, representative group of community members and stakeholders from government agencies, non-profit organizations, institutions, religious and neighborhood groups, private businesses, and other stakeholders to inform establishment of a task force to carry out a community food security assessment in 2016-2017. The primary partners of TNP, MVOC, Lake to River, and the Trumbull County Health Department will lead guide this process in collaboration with the Task Force.2. Conduct a thorough community food security assessment for Warren, OH to be completed by mid-2017. This assessment will be heavily guided by the USDA Community Food Security Assessment Toolkit, which will be modified to fit the specific needs of Warren. A.TNP will complete a community profile guided by the CFSA Toolkit for the city of Warren including demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. This profile will provide the foundation for the following activities: TNP will identify and invite stakeholders and residents to participate through the assessment process. TNP will host grant partners, stakeholder representatives, and resident representatives at a Task Force meeting to convene volunteers and partners around the scope of work and to incorporate feedback on the implementation process and to engage participation in the following activities. B.TNP and the CFSA Task Force, guided by the CFSA Toolkit, will develop an inventory of existing food related resources available for residents of the city of Warren. This will include federal, state, and local food assistance programs and purchasing incentives, retail stores that carry food for sale, and emergency food programs. This thorough profile will include detail on the types of programs, availability, and participation data. C.TNP and the CFSA Task Force will develop a survey of access to food resources, availability of food at these resources, and barriers to these issues in accordance with the CFSA Toolkit. This will include mapping an inventory of access points to food, available public transportation, and identification of other barriers all in relationship to low-income neighborhoods in the city. D.TNP will develop a survey of the availability and affordability of food items in the community utilizing portions of the CFSA Toolkit materials. This assessment will follow the USDA provided standard food list so the results can be measured against other communities. E.TNP will develop and complete a survey of local agricultural and food production resources in the community. This will include an inventory and assessment of community supported agriculture programs, food co-ops, food production and distribution models, open space available for food productions, community gardens, home gardens, orchards, vineyards, farmer's markets, community kitchens and an inventory of existing urban agriculture infrastructure. It will also include an inventory and assessment of educational and outreach resources, trainings, and technical support for urban agriculture, food production, healthy eating, and related activities. F.TNP will map the resources identified in Activities Band E, revealing proximity to and between various food production, access, retail, and distribution sites in the city. Sites will be identified categorically, and displayed on a Warren City map overlaid with census tract data (income data), residential and commercial vacant land and structures, as well as identification of schools, churches, anchor institutions, and other partner entities. Food desert areas will be identified and highlighted. G.TNP and the CFSA Task Force will engage a minimum of five focus groups with 8-12 residents of Warren City in each group, with no less than 2/3 representation from low or moderate income census tracts, to assess a number of food security issues including budget, food supply, quality and quantity of food available, and occurrences of reduced food intake. These focus groups will also include questions about community and home gardening efforts and how this impacts family diet and food budget. TNP will use the CFSA Toolkit materials as a guide for these focus groups.3.Present data findings to the community and collect community input on how to address the community food security needs identified in the community food security assessment with residents and stakeholders. A.The collected materials will be analyzed and presented in accordance with the methodologies of the CFSA toolkit. Input on the presentation of data as well as discussion to identify gaps and possible strategies to address these gaps will be gathered during this round of public meetings, with no less than 2/3 of these meetings being held in low or moderate income communities. Comments from stakeholders will be gathered and reported as qualitative data. A key goal is to increase public participation in the planning process, especially by traditionally marginalized constituencies and underserved populations. TNP's methodologies are well established for this kind of engagement and will be facilitated in accordance with the CFSA toolkit.4. Produce a Community Food Security Assessment Report that includes the community food security assessment results as well as recommendations and goals for addressing community food security needs. This report, manifest as a "local food resource guide and planning tool" to be named later, will be available in print and electronically. A.TNP will incorporate the assessment survey results and resident and stakeholder input and recommendations into a published local food resource guide and planning tool to be released in the final month of the grant. This publication will include survey results, as well as short-term and long-term strategies to address barriers and gaps in access to food security for residents in Warren. These strategies will be used to guide future programming, collaborative efforts, and funding applications, and will be distributed to a broad constituency of stakeholder for their own review, adoption, and implementation.5. TNP and CFSA Task Force partners will distribute the Community Food Security Assessment Report to the community, encouraging policy makers, organizations, and individuals to utilize it to better address the food security issues in Warren.6. TNP will incorporate strategies, objectives, and action steps into it's own organizational programming slate and community development efforts in both the short and long term effective immediately.7. TNP will use the Community Food Security Assessment Report to assist in creating a plan for our Collaborative Learning Laboratory on our newly acquired one-acre lot that will include office facilities and programming infrastructure. TNP, in partnership with the Trumbull County Land Reutilization Corporation, is renovating a historic property located on a full acre near downtown Warren. This space provides ample room to develop long-term infrastructure to support urban agriculture efforts. TNP will utilize this planning process to inform the development of the site in a manner that supports the infrastructure needs revealed by the local foods assessment. A.TNP will utilize the data and outreach to inform a specific land and curriculum development plan for its own urban agriculture campus near downtown Warren. TNP will take care to ensure development of the site is not only reflective of community need, but pursued in a manner consistent with self sustainability principles outlined in the CFSA toolkit.

Project Methods
TNP will be heavily utilizing the methodology outlined by the USDA in the Community Food Security Assessment toolbox.Data will be collected primarily by surveys, observations, focus groups, and general research. After data is collected and compiled it will be analyzed by TNP staff and partner agencies. Summaries of findings will be prepared.Data will be aggregated into tables, charts, and maps as appropriate as well. This information will be shared publicly for comment and will be used to drive the development of strategies to address barriers identified in the collected data.This planning project is designed to collect and analyze the current state of food security in a small city with high rates of poverty and unemployment, lack of access to full service grocery stores, and limited publictransportation options. To-date there has not been a comprehensive review of food security issues in Warren City across all resource points (retail, social services, community gardens, etc.). Effectively understanding the specifics of what barriers exist for residents and resource points, what gaps exists, and what opportunities there are is critical to successfully making measurable improvements to the health of Warren's residents. A significant portion of the planning project is this effort to collect data and public input in order to develop a Community Foods Security Strategy Plan.TNP identified ten measurable activities in the step-by-step implementation process. Each activity has identified deliverables. The careful utilization of USDA's toolkit and provided resources will ensure that a vetted methodology is being used. This methodology, combined with the successful progression through the activities identified in the project proposal and stakeholdercommittee review of the data collected through this process, will serve as the primary evaluation process. Outlined below are the activities and related deliverables that will serve as measures in the evaluation process.Activity 1: Convening and Development of Community Profile-Identify community stakeholders and residents and conduct outreach to invite them to initial meeting-Hold meeting with grant partners, stakeholders, and residents to go over Community Food Security Assessment (CFSA) project scope and logistical details.-Development of community profile (socioeconomic and demographic characteristics)Activity 2: Creation of a Profile of Existing Resources-Profile of existing food resources.Activity 3: Assessment of Food Distribution Resources-Assessment of food resourcesActivity 4: Assessment of Availability and Affordability of Food Items-Assessment of availability and affordability of food itemsActivity 5: Identification of Local Agricultural and Food Production Resources-Identification of local agricultural and food production resourcesActivity 6: Completion of Warren Food Resource "Heat Map"- Mapping of data collected. Creation of a "heat map."Activity 7: Completion of a Household Food Security Survey-Completion of household food security focus groupsActivity 8: Compilation, Analysis, and Presentation of Data for Public Input- Compiliation and analysis of data for presentation-Presentation of data. Gather community input on how to address the community food security needs presented from the community food security assessment with community members and stakeholders and through community meetings, surveys, etc.Activity 9: Establish Plan for Infrastructure and Curriculum at Urban Agriculture Campus-Development of plan for infrastructure and curriculum at TNP's Urban Agriculture Campus.Activity 10: Design, Print, Publish, and Release Community Foods Security Strategy Plan-Summarize, write, and design final report-Publish and release of final report - public open house for comment, distribution of report to stakeholders

Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience has been stakeholders - both low-income residents of Warren and professionals serving Warren's population. This includesrepresentatives from Warren City Schools, Warren City Health Department, Trumbull County Health Department, city council, public housing, citizen activists, and other nonprofit organizations. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As information is compiled, updates on this information has been dispersed to the CFSA Task Force. This will be the path for future reports created from this plan, using the task force as liaison to reach more members of the community and other organizations with a vested interest in food security and the local food economy within the city of Warren. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?GOAL 2 - 7: In Progress The report created from the above results will be presented in accordance with the methodologies of the CFSA toolkit and through the same outreach networks and mechanisms developed neighborhood by neighborhood through our HUD Community Challenge process at the end of June 2017 through early July 2017. Input on the presentation of the collected data and a discussion on the identification of gaps with possible strategies to address these gaps will be gathered during a round of public meetings, with comments from stakeholders gathered and reported as qualitative data No less than 2/3 of these meetings a will be held in low or moderate income communities. A key goal of these meetings is to increase public participation in the planning process, especially traditionally marginalized constituencies and underserved populations. TNP will utilize the data and outreach to inform a specific land use and curriculum development plan for its own urban agriculture campus near downtown Warren throughout August of 2017. TNP will take care to ensure the development of the site is not only reflective of community needs but also pursued in a manner consistent with the self-sustainability principles outlined in the CFSA toolkit. TNP will also publish the assessment survey results, along with the resident and stakeholder input and recommendations into a local food resource guide and planning tool to be released in lateAugust of 2017. This publication will include survey results, as well as short-term and long-term strategies to address barriers and gaps in access to food security for residents in Warren. These strategies will be used to guide future programming, collaborative efforts, and funding applications, and will be distributed to a broad constituency of stakeholders for their own review, adoption, and implementation.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? GOAL 1: Complete In October of 2016, TNP organized a CFSA Task Force of community members and stakeholders from government agencies, non-profit organizations, institutions, religious and neighborhood groups. The goal of this task force was to assist with the CFSA that would take the course of the following year. Two meetings were held at the Raymond John Wean Foundation on October 20, 2016, one meeting in the afternoon and one meeting in the evening. The task force provided valuable feedback and input on the research TNP would conduct over the next year. Data collection started with a community profile for the city of Warren guided by the Community Food Security Assessment Toolkit, Electronic Publications from the Food Assistance & Nutrition Research Program No. (EFAN-02-013) by Cohen, Andrews, and Kantor. This toolkit would also be used throughout the course of the project. The community profile included demographic and socioeconomic characteristics collected from the USCB and American Fact Finder. TNP staff developed an inventory of existing food related resources available for residents of the city of Warren using Google Earth and the local landmark data collected through OGRIP, USDA SNAP Retailer Database, and 211 (a number provided for Trumbull County residents to located services for transportation or emergency food relief). The inventory included federal, state, and local food assistance programs and purchasing incentives, retail stores that carry food for sale, and emergency food programs. The next step was to develop a survey of access to food resources, availability of food at these resources, and barriers to these issues in accordance with the CFSA Toolkit. This included mapping an inventory of access points to food, available public transportation, and identification of other barriers all in relationship to low-income neighborhoods in the city. TNP then focused exclusively on retail food establishments as part of the assessment of availability and affordability of food items, surveying 24 retail locations within the city that sell food and also accept SNAP benefits. Only stores that accepted SNAP benefits and the Ohio Direction Card were considered for the survey. The criteria was added due to the mission of the federal SNAP program, which is to provide supplemental nutrition to low-income citizens, administered through the Ohio Direction Card, granting beneficiaries access to food that can be purchased, prepared, and consumed at home. The availability and affordability assessments followed the USDA standard food list, which consists of 87 items in 9 categories, and allows for the results to be compared against other communities nationally. TNP also completed a survey of local agricultural and food production resources in the community. This included an inventory and assessment of community supported agriculture programs, food co-ops, food production and distribution models, an inventory of existing urban agriculture infrastructure, and available open space for food production sites, such as community gardens, orchards, vineyards, farmer's markets, community kitchens. TNP mapped the collected resources to reveal proximity to and between various food production, access, retail, and distribution sites in the city. Sites were identified categorically and displayed on a Warren City map overlaid with census tract data (income data). Such sites included residential and commercial vacant land and vacant structures, schools, churches, anchor institutions, and other partner entities. Following data collection, TNP's GROW Program and Warren Enriched engaged residents from low or moderate income census tracts to discuss food security issues, such as budget, food supply, quality and quantity of available food, and occurrences of reduced food intake through five focus groups with no less than 2/3 representation., These focus groups also discussed questions about community and home gardening efforts, and how it impacts family diet and food budget. TNP used the CFSA Toolkit materials as a guide for these focus groups and utilized the outreach network of Warren's neighborhoods established through our HUD Community Challenge to survey households. Specifically, there were three focus groups on household food security and two focus groups on shopping patterns. Fifty-five people, not including the children present, attended the meetings, gave their opinions and shared their stories. The meetings were promoted through local media channels, such as The Tribune Chronicle, WKBN, and WYTV, as well as social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. An online survey was developed in Winter of 2016 and responses were collected through Spring of 2017. Questions for this survey were developed from the same questions used during the focus groups on household food security and shopping patterns andwas used to collect quantitative data on household food security and shopping patterns. 127 participants completed the online survey and SurveyMonkey was used to collect and analyze the data.

Publications

Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project are residents(amajority of the city is classified as a food desert by the USDA and their Food Desert Mapping Tool), NGO, and governmental institutions within and serving the city of Warren, Ohio. Target audiences were reached through social and traditional media, one on one meetings, city council meetings, community focus groups, neighborhood association meetings, public housing staff and management,and strategic planning meetings. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Through this project, Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership has been able to take advantage of many of the training webinars provide by New Entry, particularly helpful wasthe Fundamentals of FacilitationWorkshop that took place in August of 2017 in New York City. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results were disseminated through traditional means such as community strategic planning meetings and traditional media, as well as social media. Through the printing of the Warren Community Food Security Strategic Plan, the information will continue to be disseminated throughout the community. There will also be a larger press event scheduled to bring attention to the state of local food access at the Warren Farmers Market which is a small farmers market in downtown Warren where local farmers and makers can sell their products directly to consumers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In October of 2016, TNP convened a CFSA Task Force, a diverse and representative group of community members and stakeholders from government agencies, non-profit organizations, institutions, religious and neighborhood groups. The goal of this task force was to guide and help with the CFSA that would take place over the up and coming year. There were two meetings held at the Raymond John Wean Foundation on October 20, 2016, for the convenience of attendees, one meeting took place in the afternoon and the second was held that evening. The task force provided valuable feedback and input on the research TNP would conduct over the next year. Data collection started with the development of a community profile for the city of Warren guided by the Community Food Security Assessment Toolkit an electronic publication from the Food Assistance & Nutrition Research Program No. (EFAN-02-013) by Cohen, Andrews, and Kantor. This toolkit was also used throughout the project. The community profile included demographic and socioeconomic characteristics collected from the United States Census Bureau and American Fact Finder. TNP staff developed an inventory of existing food related resources available for residents of the city of Warren using Google Earth and the local landmark data collected through Ohio Geographically Referenced Information Program, USDA SNAP Retailer Database, and 211 (a number provided for Trumbull County residents to located services for transportation or emergency food relief). The inventory included federal, state, and local food assistance programs and purchasing incentives, retail stores that carry food for sale, and emergency food programs. The next step was to develop a survey of access to food resources, availability of food at these resources, and barriers to these issues by the CFSA Toolkit. This included mapping an inventory of access points to food, available public transportation, and identification of other obstacles all in relationship to low-income neighborhoods in the city. TNP then focused exclusively on retail food establishments as part of the assessment of availability and affordability of food items, surveying 24 retail locations within the city that sell food and also accept SNAP benefits. The requirement that stores take SNAP and the Ohio Direction Card to be included in the survey was added due to the mission of the federal SNAP program, which is to provide supplemental nutrition to low-income citizens. This program administered using the Ohio Direction Card which can be used similarly to a debit card at qualifying retailers. For several stores, the required packaging size to meet the toolkit's criteria was not available. Size and price for these items were recorded, and per-ounce prices were calculated and extrapolated to the toolkit-required size. For some stores, this meant multiplying the sticker price, and for some stores, it meant dividing. It is understood that this is not necessarily a realistic price, especially for items that come in sizes much larger than the called-for size. However, often a larger than recommended size was the only one available for an article, and not coming to terms with the packaging would have meant omitting the item entirely from the survey. Not all stores in the Warren corporate limits allowed TNP to perform surveying. Some of the stores not included in the study may have prices outside of the range presented. Not all stores that permitted surveying by TNP carried each item; no store sold all items. The availability and affordability assessment followed the USDA provided standard food list consisting of 87 items in 9 categories (Appendix A) so the results could be measured against other communities and compared nationally. TNP also completed a survey of local agricultural and food production resources in the community. This included an inventory and assessment community supported agriculture programs, food co-ops, food production and distribution models, open space available for food productions, community gardens, orchards, vineyards, farmer's markets, community kitchens and an inventory of existing urban agriculture infrastructure. TNP mapped the resources collected revealing proximity to and between various food production, access, retail, and distribution sites in the city. Sites were identified categorically and displayed on a Warren City map overlaid with census tract data (income data), residential and commercial vacant land and structures, as well as identification of schools, churches, anchor institutions, and other partner entities. TNP's Garden Resource of Warren (GROW) Program and Warren Enriched worked to engage residents during five focus groups with no less than 2/3 representation from low- or moderate-income census tracts. The purpose of these meetings was to assess many food security issues including budget, food supply, quality and quantity of food available, and occurrences of reduced food intake. These focus groups also included questions about community and home gardening efforts and how it impacts family diet and food budget. TNP used the CFSA Toolkit materials as a guide for these focus groups and utilized the outreach network established neighborhood by neighborhood through our HUD Community Challenge process to survey households. Specifically, there were three focus groups on household food security and two focus groups on shopping patterns. Total attendance for the series of meetings was 55 people not including children that also attended the meetings and gave their opinions and shared stories. These meetings were promoted through local media channels including the Tribune Chronicle, WKBN, and WYTV. Social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram was also used to promote attendance at these meetings. An online survey was developed in Winter of 2016 and responses were collected through Spring of 2017. This survey was used to collect quantitative data on household food security and shopping patterns. The total number of participants for the online survey was 127, and SurveyMonkey was used to gather and analyze the results. Questions for this study were developed from the same questions used during the focus groups on household food Security and Shopping Patterns. The collected data and materials were analyzed and are summarized in this report. This report is presented by the methodologies of the CFSA toolkit and through the same outreach networks and mechanisms developed neighborhood by neighborhood through our HUD Community Challenge process. Input on the presentation of data as well as discussion to identify gaps and possible strategies to address these gaps will be gathered during this round of public meetings, with no less than 2/3 of these meetings being held in low- or moderate-income communities. Comments from stakeholders will be gathered and reported as qualitative data. A key goal was to increase public participation in the planning process, especially by traditionally marginalized constituencies and under-served populations. TNP utilized the data and outreach to inform a specific land and curriculum development plan for its urban agriculture campus near downtown Warren. TNP will also ensure the development of the site is not only reflective of community need but will also be perused in a manner consistent with self-sustainability principles outlined in the CFSA toolkit. TNP also incorporated the assessment survey results and resident and stakeholder input and recommendations into the Warren Community Food Assessment Strategic Plan. This publication includes survey results, as well as short-term and long-term strategies to address barriers and gaps in access to food security for residents in Warren. These strategies will be used to guide future programming, collaborative efforts, and funding applications, and will be distributed to a broad constituency of stakeholder for their review, adoption, and implementation.

Publications

• Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: The Warren Community Food Security Strategic Plan, Community Food Security Assessment Report, and Urban Agriculture Collaborative Learning Campus Plan are referenced in the other products tab of the final report. They are released rather than published and are available electronically by contacting Cassandra Clevenger at [e-mail]