Performing Department
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Non Technical Summary
Hawai'i Public Health Institute (HIPHI) will grow healthy food access and local food security withkeiki (children) across Hawai'i by (1)increasing participation in USDA's Summer Food ServiceProgram and Seamless Summer Option meal programs by 15% statewide, (2) increasing ediblegardens, farms, and orchards on school campuses and youth program sites by 15% statewide, and (3)installing a minimum of 2,000 food trees on school campuses and youth program sites statewide overthree years.Bridging Hawaii's food production and meal programs to feed keiki year-round is critical and urgent.Hawai'i is the most remote island chain in the world, importing 85% or more of its food supplydespite a year-round growing season. Hawai'i also ranks second highest in the nation for childhoodfood insecurity, and sixth lowest in the nation for children's economic well-being.The Hawai'i Farm to School Hui, a program of HIPHI, is an established, community-based, statewidecoalition of regional networks, government and health agencies, schools, and families that throughthis project will work together to address issues of equity, poverty, hunger, and heavy reliance onimported foods. Key organizations will provide training and technical assistance, marketing andoutreach, volunteer recruitment and coordination, and ongoing assessment of summer food programsand youth food production initiatives to meet the food needs of low-income individuals whileimproving the long-term food self-reliance of Hawaii's communities.
Animal Health Component
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Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
Bridging Hawaii's food production and meal programs to feed keiki year-round is critical and urgent.Hawai'i is the most remote island chain in the world, importing 85% or more of its food supplydespite a year-round growing season. Hawa i'i also ranks second highest in the nation for childhoodfood insecurity, and sixth lowest in the nation for children's economic well-being.The Hawai'i Farm to School Hui, a program of HIPHI, is an established, community-based, statewidecoalition of regional networks, government and health agencies, schools, and families that throughthis project will work together to address issues of equity, poverty, hunger, and heavy reliance onimported foods. Key organizations will provide training and technical assistance, marketing andoutreach, volunteer recruitment and coordination, and ongoing assessment of summer food programsand youth food production initiatives to meet the food needs of low-income individuals whileimproving the long-term food self-reliance of Hawaii's communities.Hawai'i Public Health Institute (HIPHI) will grow healthy food access and local food security withkeiki (children) across Hawai'i by:1. Increasing participation in USDA's Summer Food ServiceProgram and Seamless Summer Option meal programs by 15% statewide.2. Increasing ediblegardens, farms, and orchards on school campuses and youth program sites by 15% statewide.3. Installing a minimum of 2,000 food trees on school campuses and youth program sites statewide overthree years.
Project Methods
The Hawai'i Farm to School Hui and Island Networks areleaders, key connectors, and community-based drivers for increasing youth foodaccess and long-term local food security. For this project they willconduct a synchronized marketing, outreach, and volunteer coordinationcampaign toincrease participation in summer meal programs and expand school orchards for increased food productionwithin our communities, uplifting families, local food producers, and sustainable food systems statewide.This project connects various organizations and youth-serving institutions across the state in buildingfood resources and increasing sustainable access to food for Hawaii's youth through an investment inpartnerships and capacity building.The Hawai'i Farm to School Huiand the Island Networkscoordinate on-the-ground activities on their respective islands to support schoolgardens, local food procurement, and education in agriculture and nutrition. Island Networks are neededdue to the challenging geographic layout of Hawai'i across the six mainislands, and they aredeeply integratedinto local communities.TheHui is a statewide networkcomprising the fiveIsland Networks and nearly fiftycommunity-based organizations, coalitions,and publicagencies with a collectivemission to strengthen Hawaii's farm toschool movement.The Hui("partnership"in Hawaiian)leverages public and private funds to build capacity at the state, regional, and local levels;develop and share resources; provide professional development; and engage in policy development andadvocacy. Sixty volunteer members play active roles as participants and leaders of eleven working groups ofthe Hui, with topics ranging from Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE), School Food Systems, andLegislation & Policy. The Hui plays a critical leading role in state-level policy development and advocacy,including enactment of several measures passed by the Hawai'i State Legislature and signed by theGovernor. These include successful efforts to establish a State Farm to School Program and Coordinator role,develop a coordinated framework of support for preschool through post-secondary (P-20) agricultureeducation in Hawai'i, urging institutional procurement of local food from community-based food hubs, andcommitting to key goals of 30% local school food by 2030 and 50% by 2050.In 2020, HIPHI, on behalf of the Hui, was one of five awardees to receive the USDA NationalInstitute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program (FASLP) grant for"Growing a Sustainable Farm to School System in Hawai'i" (Grant No. 2020-70026-33222). Keydeliverables of this 2-year, $224,840 grant include creation and dissemination of an online Hawai'i Farm toSchool Toolkit, providing a free online early college English course (ENG 100) in farm to school and foodsystems, and hosting a Youth Food Summit with the Hawai'i Youth Food Council (HYFC).To mark its tenth anniversary in 2020, the Hui contracted an independent firm, Groundswell Services,Inc., to conduct a 10-year retrospective evaluation of the network's health and overall impact. The evaluationfound that because of the Hui, Hawai'i children are eating more locally grown and healthy foods, morestudents are engaged in garden-based learning, institutionalization of farm to school is making progress, andmembers believe they are stronger by working together as a Hui. The Hui's continued work includespartnering with HIDOE for full implementation of the Hawai'i Farm to School Program; promoting use ofthe Hawai'i Farm to School Toolkit; expanding the Hawai'i Garden to Cafeteria Program, which allowsschools to grow food on campus and serve it in school meals (pilot completed 2020); continuing mentorshipof HYFC and expanding youth leadership; and expanding teacher professional development for P-20 foodsystems education and workforce development.The project will engage Dr. Debbie Gowensmith, an experienced third-partyevaluator, for evaluation development, planning, and execution. Dr. GowensmithisVice President of Groundswell Services, Inc., providing consultation in community-based research andevaluation. Dr. Gowensmith has over a decade of experience as an evaluation practitioner, specializing inculturally responsive, participatory evaluation methods. She has worked over the past two years onevaluation projects with the Hawai'i Farm to School Hui, has worked for the past 18 years with Hawai'inonprofits, and specialized in mixed methods evaluation of collaborative networks for her Ph.D.Dr. Gowensmith will use participatory approaches within a sequential explanatory mixed methodsevaluation design. For process evaluation, project tracking against the implementation table will be utilized,with focused discussions with project partners at biannual intervals providing context about facilitators andbarriers to progress. Outcomes will be evaluated annually against the stated project objectives and outcomes.The evaluators will engage project partners in decision-making about how best to gather information fromadditional project stakeholders to learn more about intended and unintended outcomes. Input from theseproject stakeholders will be sought annually. Each year after data gathering and analysis, the evaluators willfacilitate a sense-making discussion with project partners to encourage learning from the project and makingadjustments in response, as needed. The focus of data gathering and analysis will be for programimprovement. In the last quarter of the project, data-gathering and sense-making will focus on understandingthe perceived facilitators and barriers to project success in order to capture lessons learned.