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Description
Many studies have shown that access to healthy food in the US is unevenly distributed and that supermarkets and other fresh food retailers are less likely to be located in low-income minority communities, where convenience and dollar stores are more prevalent grocery options. I formed a partnership with Phoenix Revitalization Corporation, a local community development organization engaged in Central City South, Phoenix, to enhance the community's capacity to meet its community health goals by improving access to healthy food. I used a community-based participatory approach that blended qualitative and quantitative elements to accommodate collaboration between both academic and non-academic partners. Utilizing stakeholder interviews, Nutrition Environment Measures Surveys (NEMS), and mapping to analyze the community's food resources, research revealed that the community lacks adequate access to affordable, nutritious food. Community food stores (n=14) scored an average of 10.9 out of a possible 54 points using the NEMS scoring protocol. The community food assessment is an essential step in improving access to healthy food for CCS residents and provides a baseline for tracking progress to improve residents' food access. Recommendations were drafted by the research partnership to equip and empower the community with strategic, community-specific interventions based on the research findings.
ContributorsCrouch, Carolyn (Author) / Harlan, Sharon (Thesis advisor) / Eakin, Hallie (Committee member) / Aftandilian, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Contemporary urban food security in the US is influenced by complex, multidimensional, and multi-scale factors. However, most assessment methods and intervention efforts in food security research are: 1) narrowly focused on environmental factors (i.e. the presence or absence of quality food outlets), 2) divorced from the human dimension and, 3) ultimately disempower communities to affect change at the local level. New approaches are needed to capture the lived experiences and unique perspectives of people potentially most vulnerable to food insecurity, while also empowering people to become change agents in their lives and in the wider community. This thesis argues that sustainability problem solving frameworks such as transformational sustainability research (TSR), and community-based participatory research (CBPR) provide promising bases from which to address these deficiencies. Through interactive workshops with youth in Canyon Corridor, a neighborhood in Phoenix, Arizona, I demonstrate the potential of concept mapping, sketch mapping, and intervention mapping methods that prioritize participation and co-production of knowledge to: 1) better understand the contextual, community-identified factors that contribute to food security or food insecurity, 2) identify and adapt interventions for the local context and, 3) promote community agency and action. Workshop outcomes suggest the relevance of these frameworks and methods, and the potential for more people- and place-based approaches to food security research.
ContributorsTalbot, Kathleen (Author) / Eakin, Hallie (Thesis advisor) / Wiek, Arnim (Committee member) / Szkupinski-Quiroga, Seline (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Food security literature has a heavy emphasis on physical barriers, often employing spatial analysis or market-based approaches, but the human dimensions of food security remain unexplored. This has resulted in a disconnect between the understanding of the problem and proposed interventions, as the contextual factors and lived experiences of residents are not considered. There are many barriers and opportunities for food security that are not spatially fixed (e.g. family relations, social capital) that may be important but are unrepresented in these types of studies. In order to capture these barriers and opportunities, community stakeholders need to play a fundamental role in the problem analysis and visioning stages. This study utilized community-based participatory research methods to engage an important stakeholder in the future food environment, youth, to 1) understand how the youth of Canyon Corridor describe their food environment, and thus capture contextual aspects of food security 2) adapt CBPR methods to engage youth in a visioning session to elicit their ideal community food environment and 3) determine if these applications of CBPR can empower youth of Canyon Corridor to mobilize towards a more secure food environment. I found that while the youth did identify many barriers to food security (i.e. transportation, cost, availability), this community also had significant strengths, particularly social capital, that allowed them to overcome what would be food insecurity. Despite their conclusions on food security, youth did desire many changes for the future food environment and felt increased empowerment after the workshops. Thus this shows the need for incorporating methods that also acknowledge the role of social and individual factors and how they interrelate with the physical environment in relation to food security.
ContributorsSchoon, Briar (Author) / Eakin, Hallie (Thesis advisor) / Wharton, Christopher (Christopher Mack), 1977- (Committee member) / Szkupinski-Quiroga, Seline (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012