An estimated 15 percent of American households are food insecure according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This includes 50.2 million homes, where nearly 1 in 4 of the nation's children reside (9.6 million of them under the age of 6).
A six-state, federally funded research project called "Voices for Food" has been launched to address food security in isolated communities known as "food deserts."
In Missouri, four communities have been selected to take part however the communities cannot be disclosed at this time since this is a controlled study.
Food deserts are defined as communities located more than 10 miles from a supermarket or other source of fresh, healthy and affordable food. The project will seek community-based strategies to increase the availability of and access to nutritious food in rural communities with high poverty rates.
The project and funding includes university researchers from University of Missouri Extension and five other states: South Dakota State, Michigan State, Purdue, Nebraska, and Ohio State, who will be working with communities in their respective states.
The grant project and its approach are unique because it will be applied across multiple states and taps into the expertise of multiple disciplines -- including nutrition, community development, agriculture and youth.
"Ultimately, the focus of the grant is to develop and implement sustainable solutions that will increase availability and access to healthy food choices in these rural communities," said Dr. Pam Duitsman, a nutrition and health education specialist with University of Missouri Extension, who has been part of the multi-state planning team who is also coordinator for this project in the state of Missouri.
According to Duitsman, implementation of the project is underway. Community demographics and infrastructure have been studied and four communities in each of the six participating states have been selected -- for a total of 24 communities -- to participate in the Voices for Food program.
Development of food councils will be cultivated and maintained in each of the 24 communities with stakeholder representatives. These councils may include representation from farmers, school administrators, business owners and tribal members.
"This approach is different because it involves stakeholders from the community," Duitsman said. "Opportunities to increase food access are determined through work with residents and food councils of rural communities, to find out what they see as possible solutions to improve food insecurity."
The six-state, partnering university systems will play a key role in providing guidance to the food councils. Extension coaching and nutrition education resources for food pantries in each community will be shared and discussed as development of community food-insecurity solutions are identified.
Implementing a guided client choice model for their food pantries is one component that all selected communities must agree to do.
"This means that individuals are allowed to make their own choices about which foods they use, rather than receiving pre-bagged selections at the food pantry," said Duitsman. "It is hoped that food pantries and their clients will be empowered, so that a system of offering and choosing healthy foods is created and sustained -- even after the grant project is completed."
The Voices for Food grant project was supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2012-01823 from the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Sustainable Food Systems Program.
For more information, contact Dr. Pam Duitsman, in Greene County at 417-881-8909 or by email at [email protected]. Information is also available online http://extension.missouri.edu.
Community on 09/25/2014