Project 1: The “all-important food supports analysis” project

Unlike other services like transportation, we don’t track every single time somebody uses a food pantry or food support service in a community or faith-based center.

No single number will give you a complete picture of the situation. However, by gathering multiple data sources and tracking them over time, you should be able to get an idea of how much food insecurity there is in your community. Here’s your list:

• Schools: School data on reduced or free lunch and breakfast, backpack weekend food programs, etc.
• Food banks: Food banks typically keep track of the number of meals they serve and the type of people using the service (e.g. families, single men, etc).
• Faith-based resources: Food support programs in faith-based and community-group settings may keep data and might be willing to make it available.
• Homeless shelters and soup kitchens: Some may keep data on their residents needing food. Unlike the government, they’re not necessarily obligated to give you the data, but they probably will.
• Domestic violence shelters: They may track visits to food support in the shelter program. Maybe take snapshot once per month and track over time.
• Child welfare data: While not easy to acquire, there may be a way to assess data on adult and child clients needing food support.
• American Community Survey: The ACS is an ongoing survey that provides vital information on a yearly basis about the United States and its people. Information from the survey generates data that help determine how more than $675 billion in federal and state funds are distributed each year.

As mentioned, this won’t be as simple an assessment as the transportation situation, but if you get these numbers, you should at least be able to tell if the situation in your community is going in a good or bad direction. In this project, you will be gathering as much data as you can to paint a picture of local food programs. This is a first step in identifying challenges.