This research focuses on the work of the Urban Aboriginal Community Kitchen Garden Project (the Garden Project). The Garden Project aims to be a culturally appropriate health promotion project with urban Aboriginal people, drawing on traditional Indigenous approaches to health and healing, and rooted in community food work. The project is situated within the context of colonialism, the destruction of traditional foodways, and subsequent increased need for Indigenous people to rely on a dominant food system that is seen as destructive to human and ecological health. The purpose of my research is to describe the Garden Project’s main goals and achievements from the perspective of project leaders, project participants as well as through my own observations and experiences. The research methodology was guided by participatory and community based approaches to research and qualitative methods were employed, focusing primarily on semi-structured interviews with project participants and project leaders. I also participated in and observed the project for two years, from September 2006-September 2008. Data collection and analysis happened through an iterative process of action and reflection. Based on my time with the Garden Project, I suggest that it can be seen simultaneously as a community food security, health promotion, and Indigenous health project. It connects participants with food as a natural product, builds skills around cooking and growing food, and increases knowledge about food system issues. Drawing on the health promotion discourse, it can be seen building community and social support networks, treating the whole person, and empowering participants to take actions around their own health needs. It is rooted in Indigenous approaches to health and healing in the way it promotes individuals’ physical, mental/emotional and spiritual health, the health of the community through cultural revitalization, and the health of the Universe through the opportunity it provides for awareness about ecosystem health. This research project was very site specific. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that food work with urban Indigenous people, carried out in a culturally sensitive manner, may be a powerful leverage point for promoting health with this population. These types of projects can also be vehicles for social change.

This research focuses on the work of the Urban Aboriginal Community Kitchen Garden Project (the Garden Project). The Garden Project aims to be a culturally appropriate health promotion project with urban Aboriginal people, drawing on traditional Indigenous approaches to health and healing, and rooted in community food work. The project is situated within the context of colonialism, the destruction of traditional foodways, and subsequent increased need for Indigenous people to rely on a dominant food system that is seen as destructive to human and ecological health. The purpose of my research is to describe the Garden Project’s main goals and achievements from the perspective of project leaders, project participants as well as through my own observations and experiences. The research methodology was guided by participatory and community based approaches to research and qualitative methods were employed, focusing primarily on semi-structured interviews with project participants and project leaders. I also participated in and observed the project for two years, from September 2006-September 2008. Data collection and analysis happened through an iterative process of action and reflection. Based on my time with the Garden Project, I suggest that it can be seen simultaneously as a community food security, health promotion, and Indigenous health project. It connects participants with food as a natural product, builds skills around cooking and growing food, and increases knowledge about food system issues. Drawing on the health promotion discourse, it can be seen building community and social support networks, treating the whole person, and empowering participants to take actions around their own health needs. It is rooted in Indigenous approaches to health and healing in the way it promotes individuals’ physical, mental/emotional and spiritual health, the health of the community through cultural revitalization, and the health of the Universe through the opportunity it provides for awareness about ecosystem health. This research project was very site specific. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that food work with urban Indigenous people, carried out in a culturally sensitive manner, may be a powerful leverage point for promoting health with this population. These types of projects can also be vehicles for social change.

This research focuses on the work of the Urban Aboriginal Community Kitchen Garden Project (the Garden Project). The Garden Project aims to be a culturally appropriate health promotion project with urban Aboriginal people, drawing on traditional Indigenous approaches to health and healing, and rooted in community food work. The project is situated within the context of colonialism, the destruction of traditional foodways, and subsequent increased need for Indigenous people to rely on a dominant food system that is seen as destructive to human and ecological health. The purpose of my research is to describe the Garden Project’s main goals and achievements from the perspective of project leaders, project participants as well as through my own observations and experiences. The research methodology was guided by participatory and community based approaches to research and qualitative methods were employed, focusing primarily on semi-structured interviews with project participants and project leaders. I also participated in and observed the project for two years, from September 2006-September 2008. Data collection and analysis happened through an iterative process of action and reflection. Based on my time with the Garden Project, I suggest that it can be seen simultaneously as a community food security, health promotion, and Indigenous health project. It connects participants with food as a natural product, builds skills around cooking and growing food, and increases knowledge about food system issues. Drawing on the health promotion discourse, it can be seen building community and social support networks, treating the whole person, and empowering participants to take actions around their own health needs. It is rooted in Indigenous approaches to health and healing in the way it promotes individuals’ physical, mental/emotional and spiritual health, the health of the community through cultural revitalization, and the health of the Universe through the opportunity it provides for awareness about ecosystem health. This research project was very site specific. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that food work with urban Indigenous people, carried out in a culturally sensitive manner, may be a powerful leverage point for promoting health with this population. These types of projects can also be vehicles for social change. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

Food insecurity (FI) is a significant risk factor in malnutrition which can lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes. The association of FI to undernutrition can additionally lead to impaired cognitive development in children. Nearly $100 billion is spent annually on federal nutrition programs yet FI still affects 1 in 8 American households pointing to the urgent need for the further refinement of our national/regional anti-hunger models. One notable and underutilized tool is the community food security assessment (CFA) which seeks to eliminate FI at the local level by improving food access throughout the community. A major limitation in knowledge about CFAs is the dearth of empirical studies of their effectiveness. The principal aim of this dissertation research was to statistically examine secondary data on U.S. counties where CFAs have been conducted and to determine whether they helped reduce individual FI over a two-year, post-test period. Repeated measures of ANOVA across the longitudinal time frame for n=66 counties revealed the main effect of FI was not statistically significant. A majority (56.9%) of 37 counties experienced a decrease in FI over the period. Linear regression found that unemployment was a significant influence in communities that experienced decreases in individual FI at the county level during the pre-test/post-test interval (β = .387 [.067], p<.01). This dissertation found that CFAs can be more effective in areas of higher unemployment as well as geographically where FI is initially higher, however further research is clearly needed in more communities over a longer time period. Also, the study suggests that proper development and structure of state and local-level food policy councils (FPCs) may lead CFAs to find better structure, funding and best practices to become more effective. Overlays prepared with ArcGIS mapping demonstrate that, in general, CFAs are not being performed in areas of highest FI when measured at the county level. The most important take-away from the visual mapping is the dearth of studies performed in the southeastern and southwestern regions of the country where county-level FI is higher, on average, than the rest of the country. These regions coincide with much of the Southern Black Belt and areas where Hispanic or Latino populations are most prevalent suggesting that communities in these regions may be able to benefit from the intervention.

Community food security (CFS) is a new, community-based, collaborative approach to achieving food security. CFS seeks to merge social justice and environmental sustainability goals in the pursuit of food-secure communities. The Good Food Market (GFM) is a new CFS initiative wherein a subsidized community food market operates in a food desert. Through a qualitative case study approach, I examine and evaluate the programmatic design of The Stop’s Good Food Market, and explore its contribution to community food security. The research is framed within a larger study of food security. Research findings are based on semi-structured and structured interviews with GFM coordinators and customers, as well as participant observation and literature reviews.

Food is something that we all need to survive but it is not something that we all have access to. In the mid 1990’s, a community-based movement arose to systematically address injustices in access to this basic human necessity. The community food security movement approaches issues of food security at each stage of the life cycle of food to ensure that each stage is sustainable, socially just, and equitable. This study uses this framework to challenge traditional notions of food security by critically examining the economic, social and environmental barriers to food equity in Austin, Texas. Austin is said to be one of the best cities to live in the United States, but not because it is food secure. This study therefore examines the food landscape of Travis County and the accessibility of food resources to meet the food needs of area residents. It utilizes a combination of quantitative analysis of food retail locations, focus groups and surveys to gather information about the food needs of underserved residents in Travis County. / text

Community food security (CFS) is a new, community-based, collaborative approach to achieving food security. CFS seeks to merge social justice and environmental sustainability goals in the pursuit of food-secure communities. The Good Food Market (GFM) is a new CFS initiative wherein a subsidized community food market operates in a food desert. Through a qualitative case study approach, I examine and evaluate the programmatic design of The Stop’s Good Food Market, and explore its contribution to community food security. The research is framed within a larger study of food security. Research findings are based on semi-structured and structured interviews with GFM coordinators and customers, as well as participant observation and literature reviews.

<p>Multilaterally, Canada’s food system is not succeeding – this is related to jurisdictional disconnect in policy objectives and outcomes between aspects of the system. This “good food gap” requires integrated, system-focused solutions.Considering an ecosystems approach to biocultural anthropology and the community food security perspective, this thesis studied food banks’ use of fresh, local produce in Hamilton, Ontario – a city particularly affected by poverty and food insecurity. Mixed methods allowed a more holistic investigation: a nutritional assessment of 108 model grocery parcels from three Hamilton food banks over a local growing season was complemented by semi-structured interviews with 13 key stakeholders including food bank staff, clients and produce suppliers and others involved in community food work in Hamilton.</p> <p>Average parcel contents met or exceeded some nutritional targets, but other results were concerning: parcels contained high sodium levels, few servings of milk and alternatives and vegetable and fruit servings were seasonally-limited with fresh, local produce making a significant contribution during the harvest months. Also, parcels varied individually but those for smaller households were significantly more adequate than those for larger households. Non-nutritive benefits to food banks’ use of fresh, local produce were identified and seen to extend beyond the emergency food sector (EFS) though poor produce quality was considered a drawback. Infrastructure, knowledge and networks were the main categories of facilitating or limiting factors. These findings are situated within stakeholders’ discussions of the relationships between emergency food, food security, nutrition, culture and their future aspirations. The results support the position that overcoming the good food gap in Hamilton can be best accomplished by both improving the food bank system – such as through increasing the use of fresh, local produce – and moving beyond emergency food towards a just, sustainable, rights-based food system through the community food centre model.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

The neoliberal political economy guiding our present food system has contributed to our present unsustainable situation, characterized by wicked problems such as environmental degradation, food insecurity and diet-related illness. Our current condition demands a new conception of sustainability to guide creative and counter-hegemonic interventions that can supplant the dominant oppressive structures and processes presently characterizing development efforts. While community gardens have been recognized as common grounds for food systems transformation, research has largely missed this opportunity for exploration. Drawing from the planetary and emancipatory frameworks of transformative learning, and a conception of sustainability rooted in life values, counter-hegemony, and social justice, this case study explores how a collective community garden is a critical pedagogy space for stakeholders to change their own reality within their food system. Using narrative inquiry as a methodology, I conducted semi-structured interviews with garden stakeholders (n=12). The lived experiences of study participants revealed the transformative potential of the Farmacy Garden rooted in the community food security movement. As a space that inspires critical consciousness for humanization, study participants deepened their awareness of new choices and possibilities in their food system rooted in life values. As a space that inspires social action for community economies, the Farmacy Garden promoted transactions rooted in reciprocity and gift-based exchange. Through critical hope and creative imagination for integral development, study participants are envisioning and exploring alternatives that can guide us in the challenging and contradictory work of "making new worlds" (Gibson-Graham, 2008, p. 628). / Master of Science in Life Sciences / The Farmacy Garden (FG) is a collective community garden built on public land in a small town in rural, southwest Virginia, with a mission to promote health, increase food security, and build community capacity among low-income residents in the region. As an educational garden funded within a public health context, the FG programs and evaluation parameters have prioritized health outcomes over other potential benefits of the site. This study embraces a whole-systems perspective, providing an opportunity to cultivate a richer understanding of the role the FG plays as a critical pedagogy space for sustainability and food systems transformation. Drawing on the planetary and emancipatory conceptions of transformative learning, and narrative inquiry as a methodology, this case study explores the perceptions and experiences of FG participants and practitioners (n=12) through story and critical reflection using semi-structured, narrative interviews. The lived experiences of these stakeholders reveals the FG's role as an educational site that enables participants and practitioners to cultivate new understandings of themselves, invigorate new forms of social action, and nurture new imaginaries that provoke possibilities beyond the current condition.

The work described herein is situated in a larger study investigating regional food systems as a method for improving food access for vulnerable communities. This research is part of the United States Department of Agriculture's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative project titled Enhancing Food Security in the Northeast for Underserved Populations (EFSNE). This work is ongoing and currently in year five of five. One of the primary objectives in year five is to facilitate the development of Learning Communities in each of the eight communities participating in the study. To do so, the research team planned to develop tools and strategies for facilitation. The team identified a need to match strategies to the specific situation of each community. Thus, a tool was identified that might be useful in assessing the needs and readiness of the communities with respect to their access to healthy food sources. This research simultaneously evaluated the usefulness of the tool while assessing community readiness in six of the eight project communities. The tool used in this study, was a community level behavioral change model, the Community Readiness Model (CRM). The model was originally developed by the Tri-Ethnic Center in Colorado. We followed the CRM protocol for identifying participants. Twenty-four individuals from six locations involved in the EFSNE study participated in the interview process. The interviews were conducted using the semi-structured interview guide provided in the CRM protocol. We amended the guide by tailoring questions to address food access and ensuring questions were asked at the five levels of influence found in the Socio-Ecological Model. The final guide contained 40 questions; 18 were required by the protocol to score each community. Interviews were conducted by telephone by one researcher, transcribed, and then scored by two researchers according to the CRM protocol. The mean overall readiness score for the six communities assessed was 4.9 (SD 1.0). This score is firmly rooted in the pre-planning stage of readiness. Scores ranged from 3.7 to 6.2 on the 9-point scale. The CRM scoring protocol coupled with the overall readiness scores indicated that the three urban communities scored higher (mean 5.7, SD 0.6) than the three rural communities (mean 4.1, SD 0.7). While we found a utility to having scores on a continuum to quickly assess the communities of study, we found the qualitative data obtained from the interview process imperative to understanding the scores and the communities. We concluded that with a few amendments, the Community Readiness Model is a useful methodology to understand food access at the community level. Revealing the stages of readiness for food access change in the study communities contributed to our understanding of what types of programs exist for food access, what the communities' attitudes and feelings are around food access and guided strategy development for moving readiness for change forward. This lens also revealed that there is a need for education on existing and development of new food access policies. Furthermore, this work contributes to the practice of assessing community food security while simultaneously contributing to the development of parameters for community food security theory in food systems scholarship.